New Delhi, Aug. 31 -- In April, the French government began the transition of 2.5 million civil servants from Microsoft Windows to homegrown and open-source European alternatives such as Linux by 2027. This initiative is part of a larger trend in Europe, where countries like Germany, Denmark, Italy, Austria, and Spain have also taken similar steps by gradually adopting open-source alternatives to assert their digital sovereignty and technological independence while addressing concerns regarding data surveillance, privacy law and rising licensing costs.

This is not just a remote continental experiment, as the initiative is rooted in the notion that technological dependence on big corporations can have strategic consequences. Digital sover...