The Netherlands is following China, France, and Russia in moving to break the global stranglehold of US tech dominance, it was revealed this week. The Dutch government was shocked into action after the US remotely disabled the computers of judges in the Hague who criticized Israel leader Benjamin Netanyahu. The sudden loss of ICC staff’s Outlook email accounts caused significant problems. The US reserves the right to unilaterally sanction anyone, anywhere in the world--all your Google accounts could disappear in an instant. Bye-bye, gmail. “The Dutch government is creating its own digital work environment based on the Dutch Linux distribution NixOS,” said Jasper Bakker of news website Tweakers. The spreading realization: smart countries protect their digital sovereignty. . HARDWARE, TOO China is trying to ditch both software and hardware. Beijing in 2019 ordered government offices to switch away from foreign PCs, and fortunately has a great many locally produced computers to fill the gap. China’s Ministry of State Security this summer told some state-linked organizations to quickly remove a customized version of Windows 10 from their machines, Bloomberg reported in August. Other organizations are set to “clean” their systems of the program by February of 2027. Russia, France, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Italy and Austria are also replacing Microsoft programs with alternatives in various government areas, particularly in military sectors. In Hong Kong, a number of government departments have already replaced Microsoft Office products with alternatives. . THE PROBLEM IS THE PUBLIC But security specialists worldwide note that large-scale switching will be a challenge. While multiple countries are clearing their governmental systems of dominant US programs, virtually all computers owned by members of the public are filled with it—and few consumers will take the trouble to switch away from Microsoft Office, let alone from the Windows operating system. Even in China, Microsoft is dominant at consumer level. The Windows program accounted for 87.64% of desktop web traffic in China as recently as July 2026, StatCounter reported. Fortunately, alternative operating systems like Huawei’s HarmonyOS work well, and are growing in popularity. Russia has enforced a total ban on Western software for government and military, mandating the use of domestic Astra Linux. . ALTERNATIVES As for Europe, the best hope is the rise of easy-install alternatives. These do exist. - France, like the Netherlands, is opting for changing the operating systems, transitioning 2.5 million civil servants to Linux. They have also been told to ditch MS Teams and use Visio, a local alternative. - Individual German states are also opting for Linux, and are using Open Document Format and LibreOffice in place of MS Office. . WEAPONIZATION IS THE ISSUE The problem is not US software, which works perfectly well. The issue is the way the programs are weaponized. When the US weaponized GPS against a Chinese ship they (wrongly) suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction, the world realized they needed an alternative, and now has one: Baidu. When the US weaponized SWIFT against Russia, the world realized they needed an alternative, and became aware of one: CIPS. And when the US weaponized Microsoft Outlook against judges in the Netherlands, the Dutch government finally sprang into action. Sometimes you need a shock to get you moving. . .