US sanctions push the Netherlands off Microsoft toward a NixOS-based stack

The U.S. government imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, and as a result the court's chief prosecutor lost access to Microsoft services, including email. That was the moment the Dutch government decided it had to reduce its reliance on software and services that are made in or based in the United States.

The outcome is DAWO, short for Digitaal Autonome Werkomgeving Overheid, or Digital Autonomous Work Environment for Government. Work on the program is already underway.

What the new system covers

As Tweakers reports, via It's FOSS, the program is designed to refresh the technology the Dutch government uses so that the country can no longer lose access to critical systems at the whim of a foreign state. Everything from operating systems to office software and cloud services had to be devised and rolled out from scratch. The system is built around NixOS. Three service providers were given the job: SSC-ICT, DICTU and DUO-ICT, while the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations oversees the effort.

Why NixOS

From a technical standpoint, NixOS was the key choice. Its Nix package manager installs each package in its own directory with immutable and signed contents, which makes the setup easy to reproduce across many machines. That matters when a government has to serve very different needs. It has been suggested that up to 90% of a configuration can be carried over from one deployment to another. As a bonus, NixOS can also run on computers that Windows 11 would usually balk at.

Trials and timelines

Switching from Microsoft software and services to brand-new alternatives is a long and complicated process, but steps are being made. Eight municipalities are running trial programs right now, and the first stable version of the platform is expected to be ready by the end of 2027.

A wider European shift

The Netherlands is far from the only European country worried about the U.S. government's ability to cut off access to software and services. Germany has already jumped ship from Microsoft-based systems, while Denmark and France are also rethinking their tech stacks in much the same way.