Satya Nadella's Microsoft Office banned in…, 30,000 workers, police officers, judges will switch to…
In Germany, the state of Schleswig-Holstein has decided to stop using Microsoft Teams and other Microsoft software for government work, according to an AFP report. Around 30,000 workers including police officers and judges will switch to open-source software like LibreOffice (instead of Word) and Open-Xchange (instead of Outlook) in the next few months.
The German government wants to keep its data safe and stored inside the country. 'We're done with Teams,' Dirk Schroedter, the state's digital minister, told AFP. He added that after the war in Ukraine countries realized they need to be more independent not just with energy, but also with technology.
Denmark is also taking similar steps. The government has started replacing Microsoft Office with LibreOffice. Some big cities like Copenhagen have also initiated the switch. They have concerns like political issues with the United States can stop them from accessing important tools and data and stop their daily working within a fraction of seconds.
There were media reports that Microsoft once blocked a top international prosecutor from using his email after political pressure from the U.S. But Microsoft had denied doing it on purpose, but this led to a move against Microsoft in some European countries.
Another factor behind this move in money. In Copenhagen, the cost of Microsoft software went up by 72% in just five years. So switching to free, open-source can help these governments to save more money.
But switching away from Microsoft is not very easy and experts say that it's not possible to fully replace Microsoft software.
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