Technology Switzerland's Federal Government is Replacing Microsoft on 3,000 Computers

[lokamoka820]

Content source

https://itsfoss.com/news/switzerland-replace-microssoft-pilot/

Switzerland's federal government has launched a pilot program to replace Microsoft 365 with open source alternatives across 3,000 workstations. That's about 7% of the federal workforce. The target is to complete the migration by end of 2027.

This move follows a successful proof-of-concept and a new digital sovereignty law. A separate fast-track military migration is also already underway.

According to Matthias Stürmer, professor at the Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH), Microsoft’s supremacy in public institutions poses three problems that are driving this migration.

First is the risk of foreign access. US cloud legislation could expose Swiss government data to foreign authorities.

Second is the risk to service continuity, as dependency on a single foreign vendor creates operational risk.

The third risk is the escalating costs as proprietary licensing fees are rising with no Swiss leverage.

Switzerland's military cybersecurity unit, Cyber Command, is not waiting for the civilian pilot. It is already poised to replace Microsoft 365 entirely with openDesk by October 2026.

It is pretty much the same reason. Military doesn't want foreign governments accessing sensitive Swiss data.

 

[Jonny Quest]

It reminds me of the steps the US took against Kaspersky. First outlawing it from government use, then it went into the public consumer version.

 

[Marko :)]

It reminds me of the steps the US took against Kaspersky. First outlawing it from government use, then it went into the public consumer version.

Banning Microsoft products anywhere would be counter intuitive due to how widespread they are. Moving away from Microsoft's products in Europe makes a lot of sense though, not only for security reasons but as a cost-cutting measure as well. It would save governments millions of € by replacing them with free and open source software.

 

[Victor M]

due to how widespread they are.

Tha's EXACTLY why we need to stop MS, it has become TOO POWERFUL.

 

[Marko :)]

Tha's EXACTLY why we need to stop MS, it has become TOO POWERFUL.

By banning it you won't achieve anything. If you want to break Microsoft, you simply need to move away from it. For example, governments need to cancel their contracts and install Linux and open source Office suite on their PCs. This would start domino effect with entire education sector switching as well. Companies will follow too when they see government switched and save money. And so on, so on.

I do agree that Microsoft and generally big tech became too powerful, but you can't switch over night. It's complex issue that needs time for resolving.

 

[Zero Knowledge]

Yeah good luck with that. In 6 months we will see another story saying "XXX country/state moved back to MS Office".

Last time I checked LibreOffice couldn't even get document comparability correct. If I was running a government I would just buy M365 subscriptions and be done with it.

 

[Marko :)]

Yeah good luck with that. In 6 months we will see another story saying "XXX country/state moved back to MS Office".

Last time I checked LibreOffice couldn't even get document comparability correct. If I was running a government I would just buy M365 subscriptions and be done with it.

LibreOffice is bad regarding compatibility, true. However, it isn't the only solution. Office EU and Euro-Office are already in development and will be fork of ONLYOFFICE; as such it will have great compatibility with MS Office formats. SoftMaker's FreeOffice is also great when it comes to compatibility, but it's closed source.

 

[lokamoka820]

Why is it always the case that when discussing non-Microsoft Office suites, the focus of the criticism centers on compatibility with Microsoft Office? Why should Microsoft Office formats hold such a dominant position in the first place? Anyone genuinely wanting to move away from Microsoft Office should abandon Microsoft Office formats and compatibility entirely, starting fresh with their chosen product. Seeking compatibility essentially keeps the door open for a return to Microsoft; to truly break free, the relationship must be severed completely.

Imagine someone wants to switch to another messaging platform for privacy reasons, but they always complain that services like Telegram or Signal can't send messages to WhatsApp.

 

[TuxTalk]

LibreOffice is bad regarding compatibility, true. However, it isn't the only solution. Office EU and Euro-Office are already in development and will be fork of ONLYOFFICE; as such it will have great compatibility with MS Office formats. SoftMaker's FreeOffice is also great when it comes to compatibility, but it's closed source.

I bought Softmaker NX, its one of the best MS replacements. I pay 29 euro for 5 devices for a year. Come on MS, you are nuts with those prices you ask.

 

[Zero Knowledge]

LibreOffice is bad regarding compatibility, true. However, it isn't the only solution. Office EU and Euro-Office are already in development and will be fork of ONLYOFFICE; as such it will have great compatibility with MS Office formats. SoftMaker's FreeOffice is also great when it comes to compatibility, but it's closed source.

So what's the point when M365 or Office cost probably a few bucks at most in volume for 5000 seats. Government's are wise not to lock into a ecosystem the problem is they are wasting our money. In the end it's probably more cost effective to buy volume MS Office license than deal with tech support and problems with open source suites. In the end it's our money and I want it spent as efficiently as possible. If it means MS then so be it.

 

[Marko :)]

So what's the point when M365 or Office cost probably a few bucks at most in volume for 5000 seats. Government's are wise not to lock into a ecosystem the problem is they are wasting our money. In the end it's probably more cost effective to buy volume MS Office license than deal with tech support and problems with open source suites. In the end it's our money and I want it spent as efficiently as possible. If it means MS then so be it.

Some governments will develop their own open source alternative to the Office. Some will use open source Office from some EU company. Either way, money stay within the EU which isn't the case when using Microsoft Office.

 

[lokamoka820]

So what's the point when M365 or Office cost probably a few bucks at most in volume for 5000 seats. Government's are wise not to lock into a ecosystem the problem is they are wasting our money. In the end it's probably more cost effective to buy volume MS Office license than deal with tech support and problems with open source suites. In the end it's our money and I want it spent as efficiently as possible. If it means MS then so be it.

You're right if it's only a matter of cost-effectiveness, but since Microsoft moved to the cloud and enabled it by default, this represents a huge privacy issue for governments.