{"id":126839,"date":"2026-05-14T16:31:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2026\/05\/14\/kde-bags-e1-3m-as-europe-realizes-it-might-need-an-os-of-its-own\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T16:33:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:33:17","slug":"kde-bags-e1-3m-as-europe-realizes-it-might-need-an-os-of-its-own","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2026\/05\/14\/kde-bags-e1-3m-as-europe-realizes-it-might-need-an-os-of-its-own\/","title":{"rendered":"KDE bags \u20ac1.3M as Europe realizes it might need an OS of its own"},"content":{"rendered":"

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OSes<\/p>\n

Germany’s Sovereign Tech Fund backs the desktop venture whereas public sector curiosity in homegrown alternate options grows<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The KDE venture turns 30<\/a>\u00a0in 5 months, however it already received an early birthday current:\u00a0\u20ac1,285,200 from Germany’s Sovereign Tech Fund<\/a>. That is \u00a31.1 million, or $1.5 million in
\nUS bucks.<\/p>\n

The KDE workforce already has some concepts about the way it will spend it, and
\nthe project’s
\nthank-you note<\/a> mentions\u00a0a couple of:<\/p>\n

\n

The funding will probably be used to strengthen the structural reliability and safety of KDE\u2019s core infrastructure, together with Plasma, KDE Linux, and the frameworks underlying its communication companies.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This isn’t the primary time we now have talked about the Sovereign Tech
\nFund’s largesse. In 2023, it gave \u20ac1 million to GNOME<\/a>, after which in 2024 it funded both
\nFreeBSD and Samba<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since then, Donald Trump started his second US presidency, and the push for European digital sovereignty has gained
\nsignificantly extra urgency \u2013 as we reported from this
\nyear’s Open Source Policy Summit<\/a> in Brussels.<\/p>\n

KDE Linux is the desktop venture’s technologically radical in-house
\ndistro, which remains to be in growth. Now we have talked about this a pair
\nof instances, when
\nit was announced in 2024<\/a> as “Venture Banana,” and once more in 2025, when it reached alpha<\/a>.<\/p>\n

KDE Linux borrows a few of its design from Valve’s
\nSteamOS 3<\/a>. Each are immutable distros, based mostly on Arch Linux, with
\ntwin Btrfs-formatted root partitions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For failover, these replace one
\none other, equally to ChromeOS (and each clearly use KDE Plasma as
\ntheir desktop). This has required growth work – for example,
\nearlier than SteamOS, Btrfs required distinctive partition IDs – and for that,
\nValve partnered with Spanish staff’ cooperative Igalia, which can also be
\nengaged on the Rust-based
\nServo web rendering engine<\/a>. For that effort, final 12 months Igalia additionally\u00a0received
\nSTF funding<\/a>.<\/p>\n

SteamOS has thousands and thousands of customers, and ChromeOS a whole lot of thousands and thousands – even when its future
\nreplacement is coming into view<\/a>. The resilience of those OSes in frequent, maintenance-free use is about
\nas properly established as end-user-facing Linux will get. One might interpret
\nthe STF cash as some stage of endorsement of the concepts behind KDE
\nLinux. Maybe it is going to quickly be a part of this quick checklist of European
\nalternatives to Microsoft Windows<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Curiosity in transferring European organizations away from American cloud
\ncompanies is rising quickly, after all. On the small finish of the dimensions,
\ndigital artist Wimer Hazenberg just lately described How
\nI Moved My Digital Stack to Europe<\/a>. Taking a broader view, earlier
\nthis week, the Monetary Occasions reported on Life
\nwithout US Tech<\/a>. It describes how Worldwide Felony Court docket decide
\nNicolas Guillou was the goal of US sanctions, and located himself locked
\nout of every part that relied on American corporations.<\/p>\n

In October final 12 months, The Register<\/span> talked about comparable points
\nconfronted by ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, when reporting allegations that the ICC was kicking
\nMS Office to the curb<\/a>. (A couple of months in the past, Microsoft conceded
\nsome “inaccuracy” from its spokesperson<\/a> in that case.) It appears he
\nwas not alone.<\/p>\n

The ICC is transferring to OpenDesk<\/a> from German group
\nZenDIS<\/a>, each of which we
\ntalked about in our report
\nfrom FOSDEM on messaging systems<\/a>. These are apps and suites, somewhat
\nthan OSes \u2013 they go away the query of the host OS open. Which means
\norganizations with massive current funding in Home windows (and
\ninstitutional information of supporting Home windows) can preserve it for
\nnow, whereas transferring to new instruments.<\/p>\n

That is not fast sufficient for many who wish to banish American
\nOSes sooner. Final month, The Reg<\/span> talked about France’s Directorate
\nfor Digital Affairs, DINUM, which is planning
\nto adopt Linux<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some extra data is rising about the way it might do it. Moderately than
\nconstructing a complete new distro of its personal \u2013 akin to KDE Linux, or the
\nFedora-based EU OS proposal we looked
\nat last year<\/a> \u2013 DINUM is constructing a Nix configuration, which it could possibly
\nmerely apply to generate a whole bespoke immutable OS picture.<\/p>\n

The bottom\u00a0picture is known as S\u00e9curix<\/a>. The venture web page describes it as an OS base for safe
\nworkstations, designed based on the ANSSI recommendations
\nfor the secure administration of information systems<\/a>. As an
\ninstance of find out how to use it, there’s Bureautix<\/a>. Moderately than authenticating towards
\ndifficult community directories akin to LDAP or the Pink Hat-backed FreeIPA<\/a>, Bureautix retains it native:
\nconsumer configuration is synced from servers to shopper machines alongside
\nwith the software program configuration, and customers register with a YubiKey. <\/p>\n

The names S\u00e9curix and Bureautix are nods to the
\nwell-known indomitable Gauls Ast\u00e9rix and Ob\u00e9lix, created by author Ren\u00e9
\nGoscinny, who died in\u00a01977 aged 51, and artist Albert Uderzo, who died
\nin 2020 at 92<\/a>. These historic Gauls have outlived their creators: the
\nnewest album, Ast\u00e9rix
\nin Lusitania<\/a> got here out in October 2025, and this vulture recommends
\nit.\u00a0\u00ae<\/p>\n<\/div>\n