European alternatives to Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is the operating system installed on most business PCs and laptops. It supports an enormous range of hardware and applications, and decades of corporate software was written for it first. Management tooling, driver support and plain familiarity keep it the default choice in many offices, where staff need no training to find their way around it.

Because it sits underneath everything else, the operating system is the hardest layer to change later and the one that decides which accounts, updates and telemetry a whole fleet depends on. Public bodies looking at digital sovereignty tend to start exactly here. A European alternative to Microsoft Windows generally means a Linux desktop with support you can buy in the EU. SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop and Ubuntu Desktop suit managed fleets, and Zorin OS targets users arriving from Windows.