French City of Lyon Ditches Microsoft for Open Source in Bold Digital Sovereignty Move
The French city of Lyon has announced a sweeping move away from Microsoft products in favor of open-source software—a decision that further signals Europe’s growing appetite for technological sovereignty.
According to city officials, the primary motivations behind this transition include a desire to reduce dependence on American IT conglomerates, extend the operational lifespan of municipal hardware, and thereby lessen the environmental impact of digital infrastructure. Abandoning commercial software also aligns with Lyon’s broader strategy to reinforce digital independence, a goal the municipality intends to pursue over the coming years.
As part of this initiative, Lyon will completely phase out Microsoft Office, replacing it with OnlyOffice—an open-source productivity suite developed by Ascensio Systems and distributed under the GNU Affero General Public License version 3. In lieu of Microsoft’s collaborative and video conferencing tools, the city will adopt the French platform “Territoire Numérique Ouvert,” which translates to “Open Digital Territory.”
Approximately two million euros have already been allocated for the development and integration of the new system. Funding was provided by the French National Agency for Territorial Cohesion, which supports regional transitions to localized, independent digital solutions. Notably, “Territoire Numérique Ouvert” is already in use across nine French communities, serving several thousand users.
Lyon’s departure from American software is particularly noteworthy in light of a recent decision by Denmark’s Ministry of Digitalization, which also declared its intent to divest from Microsoft products. Meanwhile, the European Union has, in recent years, championed the concept of digital sovereignty, actively exploring ways to mitigate the risks associated with storing citizen and organizational data within U.S.-controlled infrastructure.
Such moves have compelled American tech giants—including Microsoft and AWS—to issue prominent assurances about “data localization” and the supposed impossibility of U.S. government interference. However, as Lyon’s example illustrates, a growing number of European institutions prefer not to rely on promises but to build robust, sovereign alternatives.
The Lyon municipality serves over a million residents and employs nearly 10,000 staff. The loss of such a client is undoubtedly a blow to Microsoft’s local partners, though unlikely to shake the company’s global financial standing. Nevertheless, decisions like these may very well signal the rise of a larger regional trend.
Indeed, the movement among European cities and government bodies to abandon American software appears to be accelerating—gaining the momentum of an avalanche that may soon prove unstoppable.
