Technology Excellent! Denmark Set to Replace Microsoft Software with Open Source Alternatives

[lokamoka820]

Content source

https://news.itsfoss.com/denmark-set-to-replace-microsoft/

Denmark's Digital Ministry is replacing Microsoft services with LibreOffice and Linux.

For years, Big Tech has been tightening its grip on public institutions across the world, quietly slotting themselves into critical infrastructure that powers the daily running of governments.

Their allergy to privacy and bowing to their overlords (read: the country they're based in) has long been a thing of concern. There have been numerous cases where surveillance laws forced these companies to hand over user data without consulting, or even notifying, the governments of those affected.

For governments, this isn't just a privacy issue, but a sovereignty issue. And in Denmark, the Ministry of Digital Affairs has decided it’s time to push back.

Denmark's Open Source Move​

Speaking with Politiken (paywalled), Denmark's Minister for Digital Affairs, Caroline Stage Olsen, revealed that the Ministry is moving away from Microsoft services, replacing Windows with Linux and Office 365 with LibreOffice.

This is set to happen in a staggered manner, where half of the staff will be switched to Linux and LibreOffice by summer (June-August), with full adoption expected by autumn (September-November) this year.

Speaking about the move on LinkedIn, the minister emphasized that:

It is not about isolation or digital nationalism. We should not turn our backs completely on global technology companies; many of them provide solutions that we benefit from. This applies both today and in the future.

But we must never make ourselves so dependent on so few that we can no longer act freely. Too much public digital infrastructure is currently tied up with very few foreign suppliers. This makes us vulnerable. Also, financially.

 

[bazang]

Germany tried. One German state or municipality did the switch to Linux, but then it ended up switching back to Windows.

The Danish effort will not last.

 

[Oldie1950]

Germany tried. One German state or municipality did the switch to Linux, but then it ended up switching back to Windows.

The Danish effort will not last.

The Munich city administration had switched to Linux. However, the administration has since returned to Windows. The German state of Schleswig-Holstein is currently beginning the transition of its IT from Windows to open-source software and later to Linux.

 

[nicolaasjan]

Germany tried. One German state or municipality did the switch to Linux, but then it ended up switching back to Windows.

The Danish effort will not last.

Microsoft moving its German headquarters to Munich might have something to do with it ($$$ ).
Wikipedia (read the Timeline).

• 23 November 2012 - Savings from LiMux environment over 10 million euros.
• November 2017 - The city council decided that LiMux will be replaced by a Windows-based infrastructure by the end of 2020. The costs for the migration are estimated to be around 90 million Euros.
• May 2020 - Newly elected politicians in Munich take a U-turn and implement a plan to go back to the original plan of migrating to LiMux.[44]