When the U.S. government imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) in early 2025, the consequences were far-reaching yet quickly enforced.
The restrictions cut off the ICC chief prosecutor’s access to Microsoft services, including email, followed by a freezing of his personal and institutional bank accounts in affected jurisdictions.
While this was happening, the Dutch government was watching, coming to the bitter realization that access to essential services depended on decisions made in the U.S.
Hence, their response to this is DAWO, short for Digitaal Autonome Werkomgeving Overheid, or Digital Autonomous Work Environment for Government in English.
It is a framework that looks to tackle the government’s digital stack, covering the OS, an office suite, collaboration apps, cloud services, IT management tools, and AI, with all of it being built around a NixOS foundation.
I just wish there was a snowman’s chance in hell of the UK getting rid of Microsoft. They’re a strategic risk and their software makes me welcome the merciful geomagnetic storm or nuclear EMP that’ll erase it all.
I could take the end of the world as long as Redmond got nuked a few minutes before me and I could enjoy a few glorious Microsoft-free moments.
I would argue that Microsoft are better than they used to be (I quite like TypeScript, and WSL) but perhaps only marginally. I’m lucky that I don’t have to use Windows. I just use Linux these days.
In terms of sovereignty, I think Europe should try to find alternatives to Microsoft for critical things, even if the only reason for that is because Microsoft is American. As the OP article shows, the US government can make it painful for Europe to rely on American companies like Microsoft, regardless of what Microsoft themselves choose to do.