German state ditches Microsoft Exchange, Outlook in push for digital sovereignty

Schleswig-Holstein is one of the 16 states of Germany attempting to completely ditch Microsoft tools like Teams, Word, Excel, and Outlook in public offices. The state has recently announced a milestone: It migrated 40,000 mailboxes from Microsoft Exchange and Outlook to Open-Xchange and Thunderbird. Not everyone seems to be happy.

The state administration says that the transition puts the state a great deal closer to its goal of a digitally sovereign IT workplace.

“From the State Chancellery and the ministries, through the judiciary and state police, to the other state authorities – our approximately 30,000 employees have embarked on a new path together,” digitization minister Dirk Schrödter said in a statement.

“We want to become independent from big tech companies and ensure digital sovereignty. Now we can also say in email communication: mission accomplished.”

A total of 40,000 mailboxes contained over 100 million emails and calendar entries.

The state's transition to open source is gradual. Last year, the administration began rolling out Libre Office as its new standard office software, replacing Microsoft Office. After the mail transition, the MS Office suite is also gradually being removed from the state computers.

“There is hardly a comparable project of this magnitude worldwide,” said Schrödter.

The transition is not yet over. Schleswig-Holstein plans to replace Microsoft SharePoint with Nextcloud software as the central collaboration platform, which is already used in numerous administrative departments.

The Linux operating system is being tested as an alternative to Windows. The state relies on OpenTalk for video conferencing and also plans to convert telephone systems to an open-source solution.

The minister hopes that the state’s experience, from data analysis to monitoring in the data center, will help others on similar journeys.

“All of these are important building blocks on the path to Schleswig-Holstein's digital sovereignty, with greater transparency and security for our administration,” Schrödter said.

However, according to a report from NDR, a public broadcasting organization in Northern Germany, the state's ambition is met with some dissatisfaction, particularly from the judiciary.

Michael Burmeister, a spokesperson for the New Judges’ Association, said that while the direction is correct, the technology “still does not work perfectly, is not as comfortable as the old Microsoft products, and consumes a lot of time.” This time could be used for work instead.

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Judicial leaders complained about being unable to open emails and make important decisions. The Police Union also voiced criticism regarding the ongoing challenges.

The German state is not alone in transitioning from Microsoft tools. Denmark is also experimenting with open-source alternatives and has voiced plans to phase out Microsoft.

In June 2025, the City of Lyon, France, started using the Territoire Numérique Ouvert collaborative platform and replacing Microsoft software solutions with open-source alternatives: OnlyOffice, Linux, and PostgreSQL databases.

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