End of Windows 10: this French town refuses to throw away its PCs, switches to Linux and saves €69,300
PrimTux training session for teachers from the three pilot schools. Refurbished in a short circuit with the CCI Campus Center, these computers should have been scrapped after the shutdown of Windows 10. © City of Blois / Nicolas Wietrich
The City of Blois refuses to give in to the injunctions of the digital giants. Confronted with the planned abandonment of Windows 10 support for hundreds of computers still functional, the community has decided to radically change direction and is gradually converting its school IT equipment to the free PrimTux operating system, specifically designed for primary education.
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A local experiment in a national groundswell
Of the 277 computers deployed in the 34 public schools of Blois, 154 machines were at risk of being scrapped. “Microsoft’s decision is incomprehensible, it is environmental nonsense and a real diktat for communities”denounces Rachid Meress, deputy delegate for digital. Rather than capitulating to this planned obsolescence, the Municipality launched a test phase in three establishments: Victor-Hugo, Malala-Yousafzai and Tourville.
This Blesois initiative comes at the precise moment when Windows 10 is bowing out after a decade of existence. The end of support, effective since October 2025, threatens to relegate some 400 million computers to global scrapyards. Faced with this perspective, the April association has launched the campaign “Goodbye Windows, hello Free”a real call for digital disobedience. And the figures prove him right: according to StatCounter, Linux has crossed the 5% market share threshold on desktop computers in the United States in June 2025, compared to 1.84% five years earlier. Internationally, the increase reached 4.1%, while the system did not exceed 1.69% in 2020.
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Microsoft’s decision is incomprehensible, it is environmental nonsense and a real diktat for communities, associations, certain companies and for many individuals who will find themselves with computers made obsolete even though they still worked very well.
50 computers have already been refurbished “in short circuit” with the help of learners from the CCI Campus Center. Another 50 are expected to follow before the end of the school year. The cost of this migration ranges between 0 and 50 € per machine, compared to a minimum of 450 € for a new computer equipped with Windows. The operation also extends the life of the equipment by an additional five to ten years.
PrimTux, a contraction of “Primaire” and “Linux”, comes from a teaching community passionate about technology. This environment offers applications calibrated according to the programs of each cycle. “PrimTux is very easy to use, children are immediately at ease”assures Stéphane Deudon, creator of the distribution. National Education itself supports the initiative. Alexis Kauffmann, from the Digital for Education department, confirms that the ministry “supports this project as part of the development of digital commons”.
Blois is among the first city-prefectures to embark on this path. If the experimentation is convincing, all classes will switch to this free solution. Benjamin Vételé, deputy for Education, is even considering “in partnership with associations, a network of loans or donations of computers using PrimTux for certain families”. A way of combining digital sovereignty, budgetary frugality and technological emancipation, while joining an unprecedented French mobilization to save machines from planned obsolescence.
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