Yet another European government is ditching Microsoft for Linux - here's why

ZDNet ^

[ShadowAce]

"We're done with Teams!" declared Digitalisation Minister Dirk Schrödter, speaking via an open-source video platform, in his announcement that the German state of Schleswig-Holstein will phase out all Microsoft software from government workplaces. The goal is to fully transition from Microsoft programs to Linux and open-source programs within the next three months. 

Also: Why Denmark is dumping Microsoft Office and Windows for LibreOffice and Linux

The decision will affect nearly every civil servant, police officer, and judge, about 30,000 employees. Eventually, the rest of the civil service employees, primarily school teachers, will make the open-source shift. The radical change is being hailed as a major step toward "digital sovereignty" and a signal of growing European resistance to reliance on US tech giants. The move came soon after Danish officials had said they'd be leaving Microsoft behind. 

Schleswig-Holstein's move has been in the works for a while. In April 2024, the state's cabinet had declared it would make the move. The reason, Schrödter said at the time, was that the government had "no influence on the operating processes of such [proprietary] solutions and the handling of data, including a possible outflow of data to third countries. As a state, we have a great responsibility towards our citizens and companies to ensure that their data is kept safe with us, and we must ensure that we are always in control of the IT solutions we use and that we can act independently as a state."

On the recent decision, Schrödter added: "The geopolitical developments of the past few months have strengthened interest in the path that we've taken. The war in Ukraine revealed our energy dependencies, and now we see there are also digital dependencies." 

Also: 5 MacOS-like Linux distros that can rescue your old Intel Mac before support ends

Schleswig-Holstein had other reasons to dump Microsoft as well. By moving away from proprietary software, Schleswig-Holstein wants to ensure that sensitive government and citizen data remains within German jurisdiction and is not subject to potential access by US companies. This means, in addition to dropping Microsoft software, Schrödter said it will move its data from Microsoft Azure to a European-based cloud. 

Needless to say, the state expects to save tens of millions of euros by eliminating Microsoft licensing fees and unpredictable costs of mandatory updates. For the latter, it appears Schrödter was referring to the migration from Windows 10 to 11. 

The migration to Linux and open-source technology will happen in phases. The first stage, already underway, will replace Word and Excel with LibreOffice. The implementation of Open-Xchange will follow this phase, and Thunderbird will be used to replace Exchange and Outlook. 

Also: Want to save your old computer? Try one of these 8 Linux distros for free

Finally, Linux is shoving out Windows. While no specific Linux desktop distribution was mentioned, the desktop interface will be KDE Plasma. Possible desktops the government may use include Kubuntu, the official KDE flavor of Ubuntu, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED), or openSUSE Leap. Additional open-source tools, such as Nextcloud, will fill gaps left by other Microsoft products.

Some will say such moves are doomed to failure. One popular example is Munich, the capital of Bavaria, Germany, which moved away from Windows to Linux in 2004. That move lasted for a decade before Munich returned to Windows -- in no small part because the mayor wanted Microsoft to move its European headquarters to Munich. However, a closer look reveals that, although LiMux was unsuccessful, today Munich still uses open-source software and, in particular, relies heavily on LibreOffice. 

Also: Should you ever pay for Linux? 5 times I would - and why

Other European Linux programs, such as France's Gendarmerie, which switched to Ubuntu Linux over a decade ago, have proven successful. As of June 2024, 97% of its workstations, over 103,000 computers, are running GendBuntu, the Gendarmerie's custom Ubuntu-based Linux distribution. The project continues to be actively maintained and updated, with the latest upgrade to GendBuntu 24.04 LTS completed in December 2024.

In other words, as I've been telling you all along, you can move from Windows to Linux successfully. Now, with the EU's growing distrust of the US and its technology companies, we can expect to see more such moves.

[ScottHammett]

Nextcloud does a decent job of collaboration.

[j_guru]

The thought is that all software has vulnerabilities. Closed source like Microsoft, tends to take longer to patch. In some cases, months or even years. Open source on the other had, is transparent, and allows vulnerabilities to be patched in days and sometimes hours.

[UnwashedPeasant]

As a typical non-techy consumer, my impression of Linux is that it eliminates Microsoft spying but it probably looks like DOS and does not run any programs I use.

[butterdezillion]

You sound SO MUCH like my son.

He thinks all states should be required to use open-source voting systems so that the actual code can be examined by anybody for accountability purposes without having somebody use the excuse that they need to hide proprietary information. And you could make it so that all the results are reported at the same time so there is no way for anybody to know how many votes they need to manufacture. A lot of what is untrustworthy with voting systems comes from it being proprietary and thus hidden from accountability.

[ShadowAce]

As a typical non-techy consumer, my impression of Linux is that it eliminates Microsoft spying but it probably looks like DOS and does not run any programs I use.

1. Does not look like DOS (unless you want it to).

2. Maybe. It depends on the programs you use, I guess.

I run a Linux distro entirely within a Microsoft AD network at work (via a VM). No one outside of my immediate team knows this. Everything the organization runs, I can run.

[butterdezillion]

My son has been voluntarily patching vulnerabilities for a while now, for Guix, which is Linux-based and open source.

[ShadowAce]

Here are the Most Beautiful Linux Distributions in 2025, according to one opinion.

Personally, I run KDE on top of Pop!_OS.

[j_guru]

"probably looks like DOS"

It actually look a lot like what both macOS and Windows 11 are trying to emulate.

Especially Windows 11

[Justa]

"...use open-source voting systems so that the actual code can be examined by anybody for accountability purposes without having somebody use the excuse that they need to hide proprietary information. And you could make it so that all the results are reported...."

Or....

[bigbob]

I doubt Microsoft much cares. They know where the future lies.

[The Duke]

I just installed Linux Mint on a large ACER Chromebook that I bought used on EBay for $70, and have been quite happy with it. This was a "bare metal" install that required me to disassemble the Chromebook and unplug the battery during the install. It was well worth the trouble, however, as I do more on this little laptop than on my others.

I've also got Kubuntu on my main workstation, which is great for bells-and-whistles, and I've installed the lighter weight (aka. No translucent windows) on a new server I just stood up, and I find that to be the perfect fit for that use.

[kiryandil]

Every Microsoft solution to any problem ever: "We screwed up, so restart your computer."

Hey, what if I don't want to waste my time restarting my computer?

[butterdezillion]

Even if you stop people from voting multiple times, the tabulation software can be used to create votes that never happened or to switch votes that did happen. Which Soviet dictator was it who said that it’s not who votes that matters but who COUNTS the votes? And yes, Joe Biden also said the same thing. He also said that the democrats had developed the biggest system of election fraud ever. A big part of that is the ability to keep tabs on who doesn’t usually vote (and thus is a name that can be used to tie fake votes to), Motor Voter (which was part of the Cloward-Piven Plan to subvert legitimate Constitutional governance by overwhelming true American votes with fabricated illegal ones), and voting systems with software that nobody but the crooks are allowed to inspect. All of those issues could be eliminated through open-source software. Combine it with the finger stains to prevent people from voting twice, and we just might have a democratic form of government finally.

[Openurmind]

You would be pleasantly surprised. I use Mint "Cinnamon" and Cinnamon has all kinds of customizations available with just a click in the settings manager. It looks and operates almost the same as Windows 7 as a base interface and OS.

Out of the box it looks like this:

But you can make it look like these (Background any image you want):

Like Windows 10:

Or even like Windows XP:

You can customize Linux extensively. Here are a whole bunch of "themes" and toys made for Cinnamon:

https://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/

[Still Thinking]

And it’s weird. You’d think people smart enough to do tech would be disproportionately libertarian, and they used to be. The current landscape is just bizarre.

[Openurmind]

And it is done from inside the OS settings themselves. there are menus built in for one click installs for tons of stuff. Here is what the settings Themes menu looks like:

Here is how easy Mint is to use, customization as an example of how easy Linux really is:

https://itsfoss.com/customize-cinnamon-desktop/

[Openurmind]

Yeah, I think the left has pretty much infiltrated the whole tech industry. I wish there was a way to get away from it but it is now pretty much part of the DNA. So I guess all we can do is try to filter as much as possible out and accept the lesser of all the evils. at least Linux does let us do that because we are in complete control of our local box.

[maddog55]

I finally switched to Linux Ubuntu last week on my laptop. Storage was always in the red on Win 11. I deleted MS Office 2016, which saved 4+gb. Woke up the next morning and I had 0 storage left. 11 like everything after Vista was a disaster. Constant updates and crap loaded.

Now I’ve got tons of storage, much faster and libre runs all my office files with no problem.

[Openurmind]

“I deleted MS Office 2016, which saved 4+gb. Woke up the next morning and I had 0 storage left.”

It downloaded 4 gigs overnight? Incredible, absolutely incredible. How anyone could accept this I have no clue. A whole Linux OS Distro only averages 2 gigs...

I have mentioned it for years now. Every time a PC gets faster, gets more RAM, or gets more storage Windows thinks it belongs to them and immediately takes it all back away from you for themselves and their bloated OS.

[rellic]

You guys are really slow, I’ve been running Linux on four different computers for the last 15 years or so. I do not use the full power of Linux.
I keep Windows around just for the few programs I use that require Windows. Since I don’t feel like making changes to Linux applications to make them function more like some Windows only applications like Visio. I’m sorry I like Visio. I still have some Windows versions just for that.

I have a BS computer science degree and also am a electronics engineer so I have varied requirements for software. I’m old and don’t feel like re-inventing everywheel I dislike.