Microsoft Office is as permanent in government offices as flags and filing cabinets.
So, we thought.
But across Europe, something is happening: countries are steadily replacing Microsoft Windows, Office 365, Teams, and Azure with open-source alternatives built and hosted in Europe.
In other words, Europe is trying to tak back digital control.
And it didn’t start in 2025 with Denmark.
It started long ago in small steps, in Germany, Spain, France, and Italy.
LiMux
The City of Munich was one of the first governments in the world to attempt a full-scale migration to open source 20 years ago.
In 2004, it launched the LiMux project, replacing Windows with Linux and Microsoft Office with LibreOffice across 15,000 government PCs.
They did it because:
- They didn’t want public administration to be dependent on a single foreign vendor.
- They wanted control over their data and infrastructure.
- Microsoft was lobbying aggressively and Munich said, “We’d rather not be cornered.”
Germans… 😉
Over the next few years, Munich built its own Linux-based OS (“LiMux”) and contributed code back to open-source communities, helping develop tools that are still used across Europe today.
Did it work?
Yes. Technically, it succeeded. Reports from within the city confirmed the systems were stable and saved millions of euros.
But the headlines said later: “Munich abandons Linux, returns to Windows”.
Because politics changed. A new city government came in, Microsoft opened a shiny office in town, and the story became “Linux failed.”
Linux didn’t fail. Munich’s political leadership changed. And now, in 2025, Munich is moving back toward open source under a broader EU sovereignty policy, with lessons learned. And it’s not the only state in Germany taking action.
LiMux was version 1.0 of a large European transition in full force since the 2010s.
The Early Movers
Spain (Valencia, 2012)
- Replaced Microsoft Office with LibreOffice on 120,000 government PCs
- Saved millions in licensing
- Used open formats (ODF) to ensure long-term data control
- Motivated by vendor lock-in and sovereignty, not just cost
French National Police (Gendarmerie)
- Began switching to Linux in 2004
- Completed migration in 2017 to 90,000 Ubuntu desktops
- Saved over €50 million
- Strengthened national security by avoiding software subject to U.S. law
The New Wave
Denmark
- The Ministry of Digital Affairs is replacing Microsoft Office 365 with LibreOffice and phasing out Windows by 2025
- Copenhagen and Aarhus already switching to Linux
- National goal: complete digital sovereignty
- Working on exit strategies from Azure and moving data to EU-controlled clouds
Germany (Schleswig-Holstein)
- Migrating 30,000 public sector users (including police and judges) away from Microsoft
- Replacing:
- Windows → Linux
- Office → LibreOffice
- Exchange → Open-Xchange
- OneDrive → Nextcloud
- Teams → Jitsi
Austria (Military)
- Completed migration from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice
- Funding LibreOffice development directly to meet military standards
- Not doing it to save money — but to eliminate reliance on U.S. vendors
France
- City of Lyon replacing Microsoft stack with Linux, OnlyOffice, PostgreSQL-based systems
- Government building “Docs” — an open-source, EU-hosted alternative to Google Docs
- National education ministry recommending schools avoid U.S. cloud-based suites entirely
European Commission (Brussels-level policy)
- Interoperable Europe Act mandates open standards and promotes EU-built software
- EU funding goes directly to open-source infrastructure (Nextcloud, LibreOffice, OpenProject)
- Goal: digital autonomy at the continental scale
If It’s Open Source, Who Pays for It?
Let’s clear this up: Open source does not mean free. It means free from forced dependency.
Governments pay for open-source software, but instead of paying Microsoft to rent products, they pay European companies to maintain, adapt, and secure these tools.
- Companies like Red Hat, SUSE, Collabora, and Canonical already profit from providing enterprise-grade support and custom setups.
- Governments are funding development directly, often contributing improvements back to the ecosystem.
- This creates European ownership, European jobs, and long-term control, hopefully.
Europe isn’t trying to stop paying for software. It’s trying to stop paying a single foreign monopoly to control it.
But What About the Cloud?
If Governments and companies still use Microsoft Azure or Amazon AWS, isn’t this pointless?
Exactly.
That’s why this shift is entering Phase 2. Replacing Microsoft Office and other proprietary (US) software is step one. Replacing Microsoft Azure and cloud architecture is phase 2.
And it’s in full force as well. Has been for quite a while. Europe is building its own cloud infrastructure:
- Nextcloud for storage and collaboration
- Open-Xchange for email and calendar
- Gaia-X for a federated European cloud network hosted entirely under EU law
- EU data centers owned by EU companies (not just “hosted in Europe” but actually governed by European jurisdiction)
Digital sovereignty is about where your data physically is and whose law governs it.
Why Europe Is Doing This Now
Why This Won’t Be Easy
Mass migration from Microsoft to open source is messy.
There will be resistance. A lot of resistence. From IT departments, from end users, from lobbyists, and sometimes from internal politics.
This pushback falls into a few predictable categories:
1. User Resistance and Habit
Civil servants have been clicking the same blue “Word” icon for 20 years. Many don’t care about “vendor lock-in” or “digital sovereignty.” They just want their documents to open.
The first 6 to 12 months of any migration will be rough. People will complain. Politicians may panic. Headlines might scream “Government Chaos After Linux Switch.”
This happened in Munich.
Critics didn’t argue Linux was broken, they argued people didn’t like change.
But we all know, Microsoft changes its own interface constantly, just as other software companies do. Change is inevitable. The difference now is who controls it.
2. Microsoft’s Lobbying Power
Microsoft will not go quietly.
They have entire teams dedicated to making sure governments stick with their products. They offer discounts, bundle products into licensing traps, and position themselves as “indispensable partners for national innovation.”
In Munich, Microsoft literally opened a major office in the city during the LiMux rollout, widely seen as a symbolic and strategic counteroffensive.
But this time it’s not just city councils experimenting. It’s national ministries, the European Commission, and defense departments. And they’re coordinated.
3. Compatibility & Legacy Software
Governments often use old proprietary systems built specifically for Windows, like custom tax software, police databases, legal systems.
This is a tough technical challenge. You can’t just “apt install freedom” and call it a day.
Solutions must include:
- Running legacy Windows apps in virtual machines
- Rebuilding systems in web-based frameworks
- Transition periods where Windows coexists with Linux
This is not instant. It’s a multi-year modernization effort. But it’s also something governments have to do anyway, because legacy systems are aging out.
4. IT Department Pushback
Many government IT departments are deeply tied to the Microsoft ecosystem. Their training, certifications, and job security rely on proprietary infrastructure.
Switching to open source means reskilling and relearning. And that creates resistance.
But it’s more dangerous to have all expertise tied to one private company than to train internal teams on open standards.
5. Cloud Migration
Many governments will successfully switch from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice, but will still be running their backend on big tech cloud architecture.
If that doesn’t change, almost nothing changes.
Europe knows this. That’s why the bigger battle is not Word vs LibreOffice. It’s US cloud vs EU Cloud.
Slow, Inevitable, Irreversible
Even with all these challenges, the direction is clear.
- The European Commission is mandating open standards.
- National governments are aligning policy across ministries.
- Funding is now flowing into open source the way it once flowed into energy and telecom.
- The public mood around digital sovereignty is changing, especially as AI, cloud, and data become the next geopolitical battlefield.
This will be messy. But it will happen.
Just like Europe built its own space agency, its own currency, and its own privacy laws, it is now building its own digital backbone.
This Isn’t Anti-Microsoft
It sounds like it. But the approach is Pro-Europe instead of Anti-anything.
Europe isn’t banning Microsoft. It’s refusing to be structurally dependent on any single company or sector, especially one governed by another nation’s laws.
Control over software is control over sovereignty.
And Europe has decided: That control should not be outsourced. Which makes a whole lot of sense.
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