Just…use…linux!?
Which is exactly what they would do if they were to switch. Starting from scratch would be incredibly stupid, and there’s no reasonable way to secure a brand new system when we simply don’t employ enough programmers of that kind at the govt level.
And make their own distro. No need to build something from scratch! For fucks sake!
Why make their own distro? Just use fucking Ubuntu or Red Hat or Suse. You don’t need HeyDereHiDereHoDereOS.
Why make their own distro?
Because the Canadian government needs to make a simple solution as shitty as possible and hire hundreds of consultants to insure it will never work. They never got Phoenix Pay working.
I mean, I’ve seen a lot of noise by Canada and Europe about how they need to distance themselves from the United States, meanwhile if you look at the world’s top visited websites, more than half of them are US based, from major search engines like Google to AI stuff like Gemini and ChatGPT to marketplaces like Amazon and eBay to social media like Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn to video media hosting like Netflix, Youtube and Twitch. Canada has one entry: Pornhub. EU countries have two: XVideos in France and XHamster in Cypress.
“Switching to our own operating system” means switching from an American corporation, to some American non-profit foundations. Trading Microsoft for GNU/Linux. Still running on Intel x86 architecture machines. Don’t get me wrong, the attempt is adorable, but you’re four decades behind in a four decade old discipline.
Because you want a an OS optimised for the needs of public administration. It doesn’t need to be a new Distro but it should be a tailored configusration, just lije thf Duch are doing right now based on NixOS.
But then how else will they be able pay Accenture $10 million to vibe code something that’s a piece of shit that doesn’t work?
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).
Or, wait, use another already existing one?!!
Or, wait, use another already existing one?!!
Which is exactly what an increasing number of EU countries are doing.
Our lord and saviour Linux 😌🙂↕️☺️
The article is suggesting to make a debian-based distro
also our own pickup trucks and suvs
Even better, our on small fuel efficient cars. Most people don’t need a massive gas guzzler.
Why do people keep buying them then? The advertising works to make them ‘think’ they need it
Also american emissions regulations incentivized making them huge… efficiency per wheelbase area. Guess which one is easier to improve and market?
BeaverOS
with the Maple Desktop Environment.
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.
My guess would be all kinds of proprietary tools that would need various degrees of rewriting which takes design, time, and money. It’s harder than normal software since, y’know, you could essentially destroy someone’s life.
Those proprietary tools mostly run on DOS, Windows XP, and in some cases Windows 7.
That’s a solved issue for the most part, between DOSBox, ReactOS, Bazzite and Linux with WINE. And for the most part, those tools can still run XP in offline mode; they’re never going to be upgraded to a modern OS anyway.
The Canadian government mostly moved to web-based systems a number of years ago anyway; it’s public servant computers that are mostly stuck with Windows — and they don’t need to be.
The bigger challenge is in how to get them off Google Chrome, since there’s a lot of stuff that requires Chrome (as opposed to Chromium) to run properly.
between DOSBox, ReactOS, Bazzite and Linux with WINE
Assuming it does work, how are you going to explain that to Joe Enduser that knows nothing about any of this? I actually don’t even know what ReactOS nor Bazzite are (though I’ve heard the names) and I’m a software engineer for a living and have linux on some of my systems. I think the helpdesk budget would certainly increase. I’m not sure how much of this is solvable with certain strict machine images.
ReactOS is essentially a ground-up reimplementation of Windows XP.
Joe Enduser doesn’t really know anything about Windows either, so the help desk shouldn’t have any issues.
Plus, as we already established, Joe Enduser will do just fine with Chrome wherever it’s running; those specialized OSes are for specialized tools run by specialists.
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…
One more way to say fuck the US by not using Microsoft
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.
Yes and nobody seems to acknowledge that. They think data sovereignty is all that matters. But Microsoft has stated no they have to listen to the US no matter what any other countrys laws say. I thought countries would have been more upset about that but nope.
I’d use CANos
MaplOS?
Missed opportunity for CanaDOS
I have absolutely zero faith the government could create a whole secure operating system with the apps it would need.
Just use Linux ffs
ABOOT would be a fun name for a Linux distro
develop
Why would that be point or needed?
So they can hire hundreds of IT consultants to fuck the dog around Ottawa cafes for three years, then deliver a system that doesn’t work/ ne fonctionne pas.
This is how government IT works. They couldn’t even implement a system to pay themselves.
I’m really glad that a lot of countries are starting to do this 🥰
Ethereal whisper in the wind : “Liiiinuuuux…”
