Austria Military Ditches Microsoft for Open-Source Libreoffice – Here’s Why
'Austria's military has completed a major IT overhaul, replacing Microsoft Office with the open-source LibreOffice suite across all its desktop systems. The change, finalized this month, affects approximately 16,000 workstations in the Austrian Armed Forces. This move will substantially reduce Austria's software bill. At $33.75 per user per month, a Microsoft 365 E3 subscription for 16,000 workstations costs approximately $6,480,000 per year, compared to LibreOffice's zero cost. But this move isn't about saving money. The real motivation is to gain digital sovereignty and control over critical data. As Michael Hillebrand of Directorate 6 information and communications technology (ICT) and Cyber Defense, explained: "It was very important for us to show that we are doing this primarily to strengthen our digital sovereignty, to maintain our independence in terms of ICT infrastructure and to ensure that data is only processed in-house."' -- source: https://www.zdnet.com/article/this-european-military-just-ditched-microsoft-... Cheers, Peter
On Tue, 14 Oct 2025 15:17:56 +1300, Peter Reutemann quoted:
'But this move isn't about saving money. The real motivation is to gain digital sovereignty and control over critical data.'
Not the only one. The German state of Schleswig-Holstein is getting rid of Microsoft Exchange and Outlook in favour of open-source alternatives, for much the same reason <https://www.zdnet.com/article/german-state-replaces-microsoft-exchange-and-outlook-with-open-source-email/>. This whole “digital sovereignty” business is big in Europe, and getting bigger. It’s no longer just talk -- there are significant amounts of money involved.
participants (2)
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro -
Peter Reutemann