Keep your hardware.
Assert your sovereignty.

Be a leader. Do not be the product.

Your next computer purchase should answer your needs, not a supplier's replacement cycle. Your private life and working data should not be the price of using your own machine. You can reject unnecessary replacement, unwanted data collection and dependence on terms you cannot influence.

Choose software you can maintain, data you can move and providers you can replace. For individuals, that means more say over the tools in your home. For businesses, it means keeping options open and building skills you retain. For Europe, it means developing the ability to operate essential systems without depending on decisions made outside its control.

Linux makes that a practical direction: preserve useful hardware, run maintained software and choose the people who support it. Sovereignty grows through those choices, from one laptop to an organisation's infrastructure.

More than 25 years of everyday Linux.

We have used Linux as our daily driver and for our business needs for more than 25 years. It has always been a real option. Our view today is stronger: Linux is our recommendation for everyday computing and enterprise environments, including workstations used by nontechnical people.

You do not need to become a system administrator to use a browser, write a document, join a call or organise your photos. With a suitable desktop and compatible applications, moving can be straightforward and everyday use can be familiar. The important preparation is checking your own files, applications and hardware, then showing you where things are.

That is why we want to show ordinary tasks, not just talk about operating systems. A short demonstration of a normal working day can answer more than a long list of features.

Make your computer work for you.

You do not need a large IT department to explore this. An individual can start with an older laptop excluded from the supported Windows 11 upgrade path, then check their browser, documents, calls and hobbies. That machine may still have years of useful work in it. Moving to a maintained Linux distribution can give it a supported operating system instead of leaving it on an unpatched Windows installation.

The scale changes the amount of coordination, not the principle: know what must work, protect your data and keep a way back.

A personal starting point: Omarchy.

Omarchy is an interesting entry point for personal experimentation, with a ready-made Linux desktop and a distinctive approach to everyday computing. It is a way to discover a different workflow and decide what you enjoy using.

Start with the project's installation guide, or explore its Try Omarchy virtual-machine options. A spare computer or virtual machine keeps the experiment separate from your main working setup. Back up before installing: the full-disk option erases the selected drive, and the guide requires changes to firmware security settings. Check those requirements before using a managed work laptop.

Enjoying one desktop is a useful beginning. Choosing a business standard also involves application compatibility, maintenance and support. Omarchy is one route into exploration; the wider Linux ecosystem offers other desktop styles and support models.

Short demos, real tasks.

We are planning short demonstrations of everyday Linux use, from finding your applications to keeping your files safe.

• Your first ten minutes: connect to Wi-Fi, find your applications, change settings and get comfortable with the desktop.
• A normal working day: email, calendar, documents, PDFs and a video call with screen sharing.
• Bring your files: move documents, photos and browser bookmarks, then check that they open correctly.
• Keep an older laptop useful: check the hardware, install a maintained system and try the tasks it needs to handle.
• Stay in control: software updates, backups and restoring a file when something goes wrong.

These are planned demonstrations, not published videos. We will add each demo here as it becomes available.

A support deadline is not a hardware failure.

Windows 10's ordinary support ended on 14 October 2025. Computers still run, but installations outside an applicable security-update programme stop receiving routine operating-system security fixes. Continuing to use them online leaves newly discovered vulnerabilities unpatched. Meanwhile, Windows 11's hardware requirements exclude some otherwise capable PCs from a supported upgrade.

There are temporary bridges: eligible consumers and organisations can enrol in Extended Security Updates, with different terms and timelines. Supported Windows releases still receive updates. The problem is the older machine with no suitable long-term supported Windows path, not that every Windows computer has stopped receiving patches. See Microsoft's consumer support options and commercial ESU guidance.

Buying a Mac replaces the computer: Apple's macOS licence terms restrict installation to Apple-branded hardware. For keeping an existing PC with a maintained, general-purpose desktop and a broad application ecosystem, Linux is the practical mainstream route. For browser-based work, development and many everyday tasks, our view is that it can be the best fit in its own right.

Install a maintained distribution, keep it updated and check the actual hardware: graphics, Wi-Fi, suspend, peripherals and firmware. Linux can extend a machine's useful life, but it cannot restore firmware support that its manufacturer has abandoned.

Europe is turning dependence into a policy question.

Control over essential digital services is becoming a strategic concern for European institutions. Who can change the terms, maintain the software, move the data or keep a service running when a supplier relationship changes? An operating-system decision belongs in that wider assessment.

The European Commission's June 2026 technological sovereignty package and EU Open Source Strategy put reducing strategic dependencies and developing open digital ecosystems on the policy agenda. The Commission also describes public procurement, shared components and institutional expertise as routes to more independent services. Read the public-administration guidance.

For Europe, keeping working hardware is only part of the case. The ability to maintain systems, choose European support providers and change suppliers without replacing the whole environment is a practical form of independence. Our reading is that this policy direction increases pressure to build credible alternatives to concentrated non-European dependencies. It creates a practical reason to prepare before a contract, budget or policy deadline forces a rushed decision. These strategies do not establish a blanket EU requirement for every organisation to abandon Windows.

Sovereignty depends on open standards, maintainability, portable data and a choice of capable providers. Linux is developed internationally; changing the desktop alone does not resolve dependencies in identity, cloud storage, collaboration or business applications.

The expertise already extends across Europe.

Schleswig-Holstein's open-source strategy describes a professionally supported Linux workplace alongside LibreOffice, collaboration tools and changes to directory and infrastructure services. It treats training, user acceptance and a diverse supplier landscape as part of the transition.

The Commission's Open Source Programme Office network and Open Source Observatory provide further routes to shared knowledge. Distribution communities, maintainers, internal IT teams and specialist providers all contribute. An organisation can draw on that experience and develop its own skills, instead of making the move dependent on a single supplier.

The pieces are available to assemble and test. The remaining work is to connect them to actual applications, people and operating requirements.

Spikes are signals worth investigating.

StatCounter's 2026 desktop web-usage series contains substantial movement. In its US series, Linux rises from 3.71% in May to 11.87% in July and 17.78% in August, then returns to 3.69% in September. Europe shows a smaller rise and retreat.

Sources: StatCounter USA series and Europe series, using the desktop, combined-operating-system CSV export. Chrome OS is a separate category. The CSV values can differ slightly from a cached headline snapshot and may be revised.

These are signals in measured traffic, not a census of installed computers. The sharp retreat matters as much as the rise: the figures alone cannot distinguish new human users from changes in sampling, automated traffic or operating-system classification. StatCounter explains its page-view-based approach and revision process in its methodology.

We see a reason to investigate, alongside the much more concrete evidence of institutional strategies and workplace programmes. Together they make a useful case for testing alternatives. They cannot predict how quickly a particular organisation will migrate.

Our recommendation for enterprise.

We have extensive experience with UHT Linux in enterprise environments. In that experience, it works exceptionally well across almost all the use cases we have encountered. We recommend Linux as a foundation for business operations, from employee workstations to servers and infrastructure.

An enterprise deployment brings the pieces together: applications, centrally managed identities, access policies, updates, monitoring, backups and recovery. This is where our experience with UHT Linux informs our recommendation. Other distributions, internal teams and specialist providers also offer established paths; the right choice depends on the organisation's requirements.

The starting point should be how to deploy and operate Linux well. Check specialist applications, contractual support requirements and hardware integrations, and retain a supported alternative for the exceptions. An assessment defines the deployment scope; it does not mean starting from the assumption that Linux is only an experiment.

Your infrastructure already speaks Linux.

For many companies, Linux is already part of daily operations behind the scenes: servers, cloud workloads, containers and the services people reach through a browser. Bringing it to the workstation extends an existing capability to the desktop.

Single sign-on, credential vaults, certificates and web interfaces are established parts of Linux environments. Employees can use familiar services while IT builds on skills and standards it already understands. Verify the specific identity provider, vault client, certificate tooling and device-compliance requirements in your organisation; that is integration work with an existing ecosystem.

UHT is our approach to a strong foundation.

UHT is our take on configuring, integrating and hardening Fedora's immutable Linux platform. Fedora Atomic desktops such as Silverblue already provide a strong foundation, with a read-only base system, atomic updates and rollback. Our work builds on that foundation and the wider Linux security ecosystem to fit the environment we operate.

Our experience also includes openSUSE Aeon, an immutable Linux desktop, Ubuntu and NixOS. The same goals of dependable workstations, controlled access and maintainable operations can be achieved with other distributions. The configuration, update model and support arrangements differ; the outcome does not depend on choosing UHT.

Keep security tooling accountable.

Endpoint inspection, credential storage and access controls are part of the workstation design. Our agentless EDR analysis looks at isolated probes, privileged agents and the operational tradeoffs. We are also developing a credential vault focused on scoped access to everyday secrets, with production validation still ahead.

Build expertise you keep.

Developing Linux competence in-house is a lasting business advantage. Skills in identity, networking, certificates, automation and troubleshooting can serve both workstations and infrastructure. Teams can understand how their systems work, resolve more issues themselves and make better decisions about outside support.

Document the setup, train colleagues and keep configuration under version control. Use external specialists where they help, while keeping the knowledge and access needed to operate your own systems. Sovereignty includes having the people and skills to exercise your choices.

From a small business to an enterprise fleet.

A small company may need dependable workstations, shared files and someone to call for support. A medium-sized business may need consistent setup and access across several teams. A larger organisation adds fleet policy, staged changes and formal recovery requirements. Linux can support each scale; match the operating model to the business.

We have used Linux daily and for our business needs for more than 25 years. Our recommendation draws on that operating experience, alongside the work of distribution communities, internal IT teams and specialist providers.

Turn the recommendation into a deployment plan.

For people and teams whose work already lives in browsers, terminals and cross-platform applications, Linux can be the main working environment today. The operating system, applications, identity tools, encrypted storage and recovery components exist. Map those components to your daily work or business requirements, then verify the intended deployment.

Familiarity with Windows is useful, but it does not establish that every employee still needs it. Equally, an application launching on Linux does not prove the whole workflow works. A controlled trial turns both assumptions into evidence.

For organisations ready to move, plan a managed rollout with clear ownership, support and recovery. For people whose main concern is unfamiliarity, a small, supported trial is a useful first step. Both can lead to the same dependable working environment.

Choose the right first tasks.

• Good candidates: browser-based operations, reporting dashboards, SSH, Linux-friendly engineering and development.
• Assess the exceptions: document fidelity, spreadsheet macros, specialist software, video meetings, printing, smart cards, docks and accessibility needs.
• Keep a supported Windows path where needed: some work may remain on Windows; some may use a tested remote application. Include its licensing, connectivity and support costs.

A job title is not a compatibility result. Test the actual tasks, documents and peripherals with the people who use them.

Test the whole working environment.

A desktop trial needs applications, identity, storage, updates and support to work together. Evaluate compatible distributions and service providers against the organisation's requirements. Existing Microsoft identity or device-compliance policies may constrain the choice: support for some Linux distributions does not imply support for all of them. Microsoft's Linux management guidance is one part of that assessment.

Choose the release lifecycle deliberately. For example, Fedora's roughly thirteen-month support cycle requires regular planned upgrades; other distributions offer different support arrangements. Whichever model fits, test updates and recovery and assign responsibility for maintenance. Fedora's lifecycle explanation.

A trial with a useful outcome.

Start with your own daily tasks or a small, representative group and clear success criteria. Preserve a tested return path, including any work created during the trial. Provide onboarding and support, then measure:

• Completion of critical daily tasks and compatibility of real documents.
• Login, meetings, printing, suspend/resume, offline use and peripheral reliability.
• Recovery from a failed update or lost laptop, with verified data restoration.
• User experience, support effort and total cost, including retained Windows services.

The result is a practical decision for one computer, a small business or a larger fleet: what is ready to move, which dependencies need work, and where Windows still fits. Expansion follows demonstrated fit.

Short demos, real tasks.

We are planning demonstrations of business workflows and managed Linux operation, covering both the employee experience and the work behind a dependable service.

• A normal working day: email, calendar, documents, PDFs and a video call with screen sharing.
• Run a small business: shared files, business applications, printing and everyday collaboration.
• Manage enterprise access: central identities, security-key login and role-based access to machines and services.
• Operate the fleet: staged updates, monitoring, recovery and the support workflow behind a dependable deployment.
• Stay in control: software updates, backups and restoring a file when something goes wrong.

These are planned demonstrations, not published videos. We will add each demo here as it becomes available.

A support deadline is not a hardware failure.

Windows 10's ordinary support ended on 14 October 2025. Computers still run, but installations outside an applicable security-update programme stop receiving routine operating-system security fixes. Continuing to use them online leaves newly discovered vulnerabilities unpatched. Meanwhile, Windows 11's hardware requirements exclude some otherwise capable PCs from a supported upgrade.

There are temporary bridges: eligible consumers and organisations can enrol in Extended Security Updates, with different terms and timelines. Supported Windows releases still receive updates. The problem is the older machine with no suitable long-term supported Windows path, not that every Windows computer has stopped receiving patches. See Microsoft's consumer support options and commercial ESU guidance.

Buying a Mac replaces the computer: Apple's macOS licence terms restrict installation to Apple-branded hardware. For keeping an existing PC with a maintained, general-purpose desktop and a broad application ecosystem, Linux is the practical mainstream route. For browser-based work, development and many everyday tasks, our view is that it can be the best fit in its own right.

Install a maintained distribution, keep it updated and check the actual hardware: graphics, Wi-Fi, suspend, peripherals and firmware. Linux can extend a machine's useful life, but it cannot restore firmware support that its manufacturer has abandoned.

Europe is turning dependence into a policy question.

Control over essential digital services is becoming a strategic concern for European institutions. Who can change the terms, maintain the software, move the data or keep a service running when a supplier relationship changes? An operating-system decision belongs in that wider assessment.

The European Commission's June 2026 technological sovereignty package and EU Open Source Strategy put reducing strategic dependencies and developing open digital ecosystems on the policy agenda. The Commission also describes public procurement, shared components and institutional expertise as routes to more independent services. Read the public-administration guidance.

For Europe, keeping working hardware is only part of the case. The ability to maintain systems, choose European support providers and change suppliers without replacing the whole environment is a practical form of independence. Our reading is that this policy direction increases pressure to build credible alternatives to concentrated non-European dependencies. It creates a practical reason to prepare before a contract, budget or policy deadline forces a rushed decision. These strategies do not establish a blanket EU requirement for every organisation to abandon Windows.

Sovereignty depends on open standards, maintainability, portable data and a choice of capable providers. Linux is developed internationally; changing the desktop alone does not resolve dependencies in identity, cloud storage, collaboration or business applications.

The expertise already extends across Europe.

Schleswig-Holstein's open-source strategy describes a professionally supported Linux workplace alongside LibreOffice, collaboration tools and changes to directory and infrastructure services. It treats training, user acceptance and a diverse supplier landscape as part of the transition.

The Commission's Open Source Programme Office network and Open Source Observatory provide further routes to shared knowledge. Distribution communities, maintainers, internal IT teams and specialist providers all contribute. An organisation can draw on that experience and develop its own skills, instead of making the move dependent on a single supplier.

The pieces are available to assemble and test. The remaining work is to connect them to actual applications, people and operating requirements.

Spikes are signals worth investigating.

StatCounter's 2026 desktop web-usage series contains substantial movement. In its US series, Linux rises from 3.71% in May to 11.87% in July and 17.78% in August, then returns to 3.69% in September. Europe shows a smaller rise and retreat.

Sources: StatCounter USA series and Europe series, using the desktop, combined-operating-system CSV export. Chrome OS is a separate category. The CSV values can differ slightly from a cached headline snapshot and may be revised.

These are signals in measured traffic, not a census of installed computers. The sharp retreat matters as much as the rise: the figures alone cannot distinguish new human users from changes in sampling, automated traffic or operating-system classification. StatCounter explains its page-view-based approach and revision process in its methodology.

We see a reason to investigate, alongside the much more concrete evidence of institutional strategies and workplace programmes. Together they make a useful case for testing alternatives. They cannot predict how quickly a particular organisation will migrate.