The French city of Lyon is replacing Microsoft Office with open-source alternatives in a move framed as a step towards digital independence, lower emissions and longer-lasting hardware.

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City officials said this week that Lyon, which serves over one million residents, will adopt OnlyOffice and PostgreSQL alongside a Linux-based operating environment. The decision forms part of a wider effort to reduce reliance on American tech firms and assert greater control over public-sector digital infrastructure.

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Lyon is also deploying a collaborative suite called Territoire Numérique Ouvert (Open Digital Territory), a locally developed alternative for videoconferencing and document sharing. Nine French communities are already using the suite, which is being supported by a €2 million government grant to improve deployment across local data centres.

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OnlyOffice, developed by Latvia’s Ascensio Systems, is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License and aims to provide full compatibility with existing document formats.

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Lyon employs nearly 10,000 public servants, making this one of the more high-profile municipal shifts away from Microsoft in Europe. While the software giant will not feel the financial hit, the political symbolism is more significant.

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The move comes just weeks after Denmark announced a similar decision, and reflects a growing push within the European Union to build sovereign digital infrastructure. US cloud providers have been under pressure to address concerns over data jurisdiction, especially in light of American laws that could compel them to share data stored in European facilities.

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Whether this trend accelerates remains to be seen, but Lyon’s decision adds momentum to Europe’s shift towards open-source alternatives.

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