I have absolutely zero faith the government could create a whole secure operating system with the apps it would need.

Just use Linux ffs

Ethereal whisper in the wind : "Liiiinuuuux..."

Just.....use....linux!?

Linux is right there, no need to reinvent the wheel.

Libre Office to replace most of Microsoft 365 suite.

Pick a distro and help develop it to make it more robust.

ABOOT would be a fun name for a Linux distro

I’ll probably take shit for my comment, so preface: I use FOSS and self-host a lot of stuff at home, my Elbows are Up, and Fuck M$. Now then…

Yeah, the federal government could give up MS licenses for the public service and switch to OpenBSD or Linux and use LibreOffice. Excellent! Big savings.

Now then, how about all the ancient databases and applications used by the CRA and regulatory agencies. Will they keep working or will they need attention? Downtime is not an option.

Then there’s weird things like lab equipment and remote devices that provide earth sensing data for weather forecasts and probably tsunami warning for all I know.

Every one of those things needs, at least, thorough consideration and many will need specific attention from developers who are familiar with some pretty old tech. The public service does not have that capacity on hand. Contracting (expensive) private sector companies is a given.

I haven’t even mentioned the requirements for handling protected data or liability. Who does the government sue for damages if there’s an unpatched exploit in OpenBSD?

Anyway, all the above can be addressed. Nothing’s impossible. But the estimated cost-savings are not realistic. Like, at all.

You may now tear me to shreds.

hOSer

Or, wait, use another already existing one?!!

openbsd is Canadian, give theo 5 million dollars

Author of the article missed the Netherlands going to NixOS by a week.

And Canada already has a homegrown operating system that's just waiting for someone to read the handbook thoroughly, read the manual, install it themselves, and see what's up. Canada has already played host to a free operating system with OpenBSD thanks to crypto being a munition back in the 90s and there's no reason to not look at both Nix and OpenBSD if they're going to head down that road.

I'll go ahead and write the international treaty:

Canada and the Netherlands agree to go halfsies on a trusted NixOS and OpenBSD repo.

Again what I've been saying for years, just use Linux, people.

But nooooo, Canadian healthcare prefers tonstore their patient data in the USA on servers of Microsoft, even though MS already testified that the US government can access that data whenever they want, so yay!

Why self host everything and be responsible if you can simply pay a dictatorship?

I'm really glad that a lot of countries are starting to do this 🥰

BeaverOS

We could save even more by crowdsourcing much of it with partners around the world with the same goals.

When Microsoft said they would operate in our country, but not obey our laws, it was the begining of the end.

One more way to say fuck the US by not using Microsoft

also our own pickup trucks and suvs

I said this exact thing to multiple Australian universities and government heads.

Not only would it save money, it would develop local industry and expertise.

No reply of course. No one's interested if it doesn't help make them rich!

On top of OpenBSD, I really don’t see why Canada needs a Windows replacement when open source replacements already exist? And we can already run NextCloud-AIO with EuroOffice on top.

The only things missing are AI and surveillance— and there’s a perfectly functional open source agentic tool that can run open models. And nobody really wants the surveillance.

This is good news that more countries are starting to think of tech independence. It was bound to evolve that way over time but the questionable tech bros crowd caused it to happen way more quickly because, just like the railroad barons of the past, they'll lie, cheat, steal and threaten for more money and power and people eventually get tired of being under someone's thumb (holy shit I just had spellcheck tell me that thumb has a "b". I, and probably many others, did not know that).

Yes but also what is important is establishing meaningful, stringent, enforceable, independent security auditing of the tools that Canada chooses to use, they must be open in this sense if not fully open source. There is the obvious but quite unfortunately likely possibility Canada could throw out Microslop only to recreate the worst parts of it domestically. Canada must keep their eyes on two balls in this sense, getting rid of Microslop AND doing better at the entire framing of how these tools are built and maintained otherwise all the effort to get rid of Microslop will become a slap in the face when you end up in almost the same place... which none of this is meant to bash Canada at all, this is just how these things tend to want to go given the forces at work....

Time for someone to pick up TempleOS or maybe Plan 9.

I'd use CANos