Amidst sporadic European efforts to push back against the grip of American tech giants on public infrastructure, the administration of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany’s northernmost state, claims that its decision to migrate from Microsoft software to free, open-source solutions has been successful.
With US tech billionaires, such as Elon Musk, openly accusing the European Union of censorship and supposed overregulation, some governments across the continent have been ditching American software for open-source solutions.
Denmark announced earlier this year that its Ministry of Digital Affairs was switching from Microsoft to LibreOffice. More recently, Switzerland’s data protection authorities declared international cloud services unsuitable for handling personal data.
However, one German state has been leading this charge for quite some time, with Schleswig-Holstein, the country’s northernmost state, beginning its open source journey early. Now, state officials are claiming success.
According to Dirk Schrödter, the Minister for Digital Transformation of the state, one particular number proves the financial case for implementing open source for government use cases.
More specifically, the state has been transitioning from Microsoft to LibreOffice, a private, free, and open-source office suite. It’s a successor project to OpenOffice.
The ministry says that the state will save over 15 million euros ($17.5 million) in licence costs for Windows, Microsoft Office, and other tools next year alone. Savings should be similar in the following years, too.
That’s, of course, the money Schleswig-Holstein previously paid Microsoft every year, the ministry explained in a statement. Almost 80% of workplaces in the state government have made the switch, the ministry added.
The remaining 20% still rely on Word or Excel for now, but the ministry plans a one-time $9 million investment in 2023 to complete the migration and further enhance the open-source solutions in the state.
In other words, the fact that the state is now saving money means that digital sovereignty might not be just a political buzzword. It’s actually financially smart.
Data security is, of course, key. Officials in both Germany and Denmark have in the past cited the US Cloud Act, which requires American companies to grant US authorities access to data stored abroad. Naturally, countries view this as a red flag, as it is fundamentally incompatible with the principle of sovereignty.
This is especially relevant now that the Donald Trump administration has released its new national security strategy, which sharply criticizes European allies and suggests the continent is in cultural decline.
Many experts suspect that the US tech barons have pushed the administration to further pressure the Europeans who dare to regulate the place they live in.
Just last week, X owner Musk called for the EU to be abolished in response to the bloc’s issuance of a $140 million fine against the platform. Several top Trump administration officials joined the billionaire in his fury.
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