4 ms·

I am living in Spain, and from my point of view, Netherlands is one of the ones doing the most for FOSS in Europe today! It sees much faster real-world adoption

I am living in Spain, and from my point of view, Netherlands is one of the ones doing the most for FOSS in Europe today! It sees much faster real-world adoption of FOSS in ministries and municipalities than other countries, the government seems eager to fund FOSS (again, compared to other countries) and generally be welcoming to the ecosystem. Browsing around, there seems to be lots of FOSS projects funded by money coming from the Dutch state. Kind of interesting how the perspective is so different from the inside! Maybe it's the typical "the grass is always greener..."?

michelb 6mo ago
Not sure. I think Germany and France are way ahead?
- embedding-shape 6mo ago
  Yeah, probably if you asked me for "Top 3 countries for FOSS in Europe" I'd pretty much say France, Germany and Netherlands, hence me saying "is one of the ones" :) Compared to the rest of the countries, those three probably do way more than all the rest together.
- rglullis 6mo ago
  NLNet is funding open source projects to the tune of tens of millions of euros per year, and it is Dutch.
  - weinzierl 6mo ago
    NLnet (the foundation) is Dutch, but as far as I know NLnet Labs (which does the work and spends the money) is at least partially funded by Germany (through the Sovereign Tech Fund). I don't have the numbers at hand and cannot dig them up right now. If anyone knows the extent of participation of each country that'd be definitely interesting for others too.
    - embedding-shape 6mo ago
      I think NLnet Labs is indeed like 50% funded through German Sovereign Tech Fund, but most of NLnet + the rest of NLnet Labs is funded via EU project funds or other public programs. I don't think NLnet receives anything at all from the Dutch government AFAIK, and NLnet Labs gets tiny amount of funds via Dutch SIDN subsidy I guess, but that's pretty much it. This is all (tried to) rememberings from meetings in 2024 sometime, so could be different today.
    - oever 6mo ago
      NLnet Labs was started by NLnet but now independent. https://nlnetlabs.is.not.nlnet.nl/ https://nlnetlabs.is.not.nlnet.nl/ Funding for NLnet Labs is largely from paying customers for development of DNS software. NLnet funds development of the full stack of communication technologies from chip design to office suites. Funding for NLnet comes from public institutions, private companies and citizens.
oever 6mo ago
This map shows that the Dutch municipalities are nearly all in the Microsoft cloud. https://mxmap.nl/ https://mxmap.nl/
- touwer 6mo ago
  Love it! All European countries should have one
  - zoobab 6mo ago
    In Belgium, 72% of the communes are on Microsoft 365: https://jurgen.gaeremyn.be/2025/03/08/european-critical-dependencies/ https://jurgen.gaeremyn.be/2025/03/08/european-critical-depe... "Purely based on the MX-records, we learn that 72% of Belgian municipalities run Microsoft mail servers and 60% of the Dutch municipalities. For Scandinavia, it’s 64% in Norway and 57% in Sweden. In Finland, it’s a whopping 77% if the cities that are being served by Microsoft."
    - jimnotgym 6mo ago
      Running a Microsoft mail server doesn't automatically mean you are on 365. You can still host Exchange onsite
  - sam_lowry_ 6mo ago
    Heh, here you go: http://mxmap.be http://mxmap.be https://mxmap.ch/ https://mxmap.ch/ https://kommune-epost-norge.netlify.app/ https://kommune-epost-norge.netlify.app/ for Norway and https://swedish-mail-dependency.netlify.app/ https://swedish-mail-dependency.netlify.app/ for Sweden. France even has an official map of this kind, with publicly visible recommendations: https://suiteterritoriale.anct.gouv.fr/conformite/cartographie https://suiteterritoriale.anct.gouv.fr/conformite/cartograph... Disclaimer: I made mxmap.be after seeing Swiss ant Dutch counterparts. I did not look at MX records only but also at EHLO replies, SPF and DMARC records and at fronting services.
    - dkga 6mo ago
starefossen 6mo ago
Norwegian Government has a couple of thousand open repos for their code https://norwegian-public-organizations.vercel.app/ https://norwegian-public-organizations.vercel.app/ Most notably the Labor and Welfare Administration with 3000+ open repos.
- embedding-shape 6mo ago
  Yeah, also pretty dope! Sweden also basically spearheads the whole "open data" thing for a long time too :) Too many great stuff happening across the continent to just say one or two countries are doing everything, in that you're right.
- whinvik 6mo ago
  Funny that its hosted on vercel. Probably because its employee driven rather than top down. Saves all the bureaucracy to get someone to sign a budget item to buy a domain.
  - victorbjorklund 6mo ago
    Not sure that site in itself is owned and operated by the Norwegian government.
- mcsolid 6mo ago
  This is cool (and on Vercel too)
rollyboo 6mo ago
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michelb 6mo ago

Not sure. I think Germany and France are way ahead?

embedding-shape 6mo ago
Yeah, probably if you asked me for "Top 3 countries for FOSS in Europe" I'd pretty much say France, Germany and Netherlands, hence me saying "is one of the ones" :) Compared to the rest of the countries, those three probably do way more than all the rest together.
rglullis 6mo ago
NLNet is funding open source projects to the tune of tens of millions of euros per year, and it is Dutch.
- weinzierl 6mo ago
  NLnet (the foundation) is Dutch, but as far as I know NLnet Labs (which does the work and spends the money) is at least partially funded by Germany (through the Sovereign Tech Fund). I don't have the numbers at hand and cannot dig them up right now. If anyone knows the extent of participation of each country that'd be definitely interesting for others too.
  - embedding-shape 6mo ago
    I think NLnet Labs is indeed like 50% funded through German Sovereign Tech Fund, but most of NLnet + the rest of NLnet Labs is funded via EU project funds or other public programs. I don't think NLnet receives anything at all from the Dutch government AFAIK, and NLnet Labs gets tiny amount of funds via Dutch SIDN subsidy I guess, but that's pretty much it. This is all (tried to) rememberings from meetings in 2024 sometime, so could be different today.
  - oever 6mo ago
    NLnet Labs was started by NLnet but now independent. https://nlnetlabs.is.not.nlnet.nl/ https://nlnetlabs.is.not.nlnet.nl/ Funding for NLnet Labs is largely from paying customers for development of DNS software. NLnet funds development of the full stack of communication technologies from chip design to office suites. Funding for NLnet comes from public institutions, private companies and citizens.

oever 6mo ago

This map shows that the Dutch municipalities are nearly all in the Microsoft cloud. https://mxmap.nl/ https://mxmap.nl/

touwer 6mo ago
Love it! All European countries should have one
- zoobab 6mo ago
  In Belgium, 72% of the communes are on Microsoft 365: https://jurgen.gaeremyn.be/2025/03/08/european-critical-dependencies/ https://jurgen.gaeremyn.be/2025/03/08/european-critical-depe... "Purely based on the MX-records, we learn that 72% of Belgian municipalities run Microsoft mail servers and 60% of the Dutch municipalities. For Scandinavia, it’s 64% in Norway and 57% in Sweden. In Finland, it’s a whopping 77% if the cities that are being served by Microsoft."
  - jimnotgym 6mo ago
    Running a Microsoft mail server doesn't automatically mean you are on 365. You can still host Exchange onsite
- sam_lowry_ 6mo ago
  Heh, here you go: http://mxmap.be http://mxmap.be https://mxmap.ch/ https://mxmap.ch/ https://kommune-epost-norge.netlify.app/ https://kommune-epost-norge.netlify.app/ for Norway and https://swedish-mail-dependency.netlify.app/ https://swedish-mail-dependency.netlify.app/ for Sweden. France even has an official map of this kind, with publicly visible recommendations: https://suiteterritoriale.anct.gouv.fr/conformite/cartographie https://suiteterritoriale.anct.gouv.fr/conformite/cartograph... Disclaimer: I made mxmap.be after seeing Swiss ant Dutch counterparts. I did not look at MX records only but also at EHLO replies, SPF and DMARC records and at fronting services.
  - dkga 6mo ago

starefossen 6mo ago

Norwegian Government has a couple of thousand open repos for their code https://norwegian-public-organizations.vercel.app/ https://norwegian-public-organizations.vercel.app/ Most notably the Labor and Welfare Administration with 3000+ open repos.

embedding-shape 6mo ago
Yeah, also pretty dope! Sweden also basically spearheads the whole "open data" thing for a long time too :) Too many great stuff happening across the continent to just say one or two countries are doing everything, in that you're right.
whinvik 6mo ago
Funny that its hosted on vercel. Probably because its employee driven rather than top down. Saves all the bureaucracy to get someone to sign a budget item to buy a domain.
- victorbjorklund 6mo ago
  Not sure that site in itself is owned and operated by the Norwegian government.
mcsolid 6mo ago
This is cool (and on Vercel too)

rollyboo 6mo ago

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