The Dutch government is testing a new open-source digital work environment called DAWO (Digital Autonomous Government Work Environment) as an alternative to Microsoft products. The move was prompted by a 2025 incident where, due to U.S. sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Microsoft cut off the chief prosecutor's access to company services like email.
This event highlighted the vulnerability of government functions to foreign policy, spurring the push for "digital sovereignty." DAWO is a complete system, including an operating system based on NixOS, an office suite, and cloud services. Eight municipalities are currently piloting the system, with a stable version planned for the following year.