A new community-led initiative called “EU OS” to develop a Linux distribution initiative looks like a positive development. It is specifically created to address the unique requirements of the European Union's (EU) public sector organizations.
For me, this initiative stands out for its commitment to the EU's digital sovereignty, reducing reliance on external vendors, and creating a secure, independent digital ecosystem.
EU OS is not an entirely new operating system and uses a Linux foundation based on Fedora and KDE Plasma as the desktop environment.
It is not the first time a Linux-powered operating system has been proposed for the EU. Similar goals have inspired earlier projects like France's GendBuntu for law enforcement use and Munich's LiMux for government administration.
All of these Linux-based OSes share the same principle of creating a standardized Linux distro for use in the public sector.
The main advantage of EU OS lies in its focus on standardization rather than creating something entirely new. It offers a shared Linux foundation that can be fine-tuned with additional bits, regardless of whether it be for national, regional, sector-specific, or organizational use.
What Drives EU OS?
According to EU OS, the concept of “public money – public code” serves as the foundation for ensuring that such a public investment brings value to the public sector.
Thanks to the absence of licensing fees, EU OS is set to significantly reduce costs while providing organizations freedom from vendor lock-in and reliance on the whims of a select group of software suppliers.
This also introduces flexibility in planning software migrations and hardware upgrades, allowing the adoption of new technologies at manageable costs (both in terms of money and time).
Though, in my opinion, they could have based their project on the likes of openSUSE or even KDE's upcoming distro, both of which are backed by Europe-based organizations, unlike Fedora, which is a US-based project.
💬 What are your thoughts on EU OS? Could they have collaborated with regional players?
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The article has been updated with more accurate information, with the title also reflecting that.
Updated on March 25, 12:00 UTC.
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