Digital sovereignty is driving European governments away from American cloud systems and toward local open source options. The most recent example comes from the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), which drove Microsoft and other software vendors away from the US.
The transition to Nextcloud from Microsoft SharePoint was completed gradually, without any disruption or data loss for employees.
The new collaboration platform is based on Nextcloud and is expected to eventually serve 50.000 state and municipal employees. So far, about 5.000 employees are using the technology to share files.
The platform will be expanded to include chat, video conferencing, and groupware applications. [
Digital sovereignty in Europe
The need for EU countries to control their own IT infrastructure and software is a top priority.
Similar moves have been made in other places:
Schleswig-Holstein: The German state started the transition to Linux, LibreOffice, Nextcloud and Thunderbird for 25.000–30,000 jobs.
France: The Ministry of Education has already made available Nextcloud to 400.000 employees, with a goal of reaching 1,2 million. At the same time, the country is implementing a directive (DINUM) for the transition of workstations from Windows to Linux. [1, 2]
Austria: The Ministry of Economic Affairs transferred 1.200 employees from Microsoft 365 to a local platform based on LibreOffice and Nextcloud.
Why choose open source?
Economic reasons: Avoid monthly or annual payments for proprietary software usage rights.
Security and control: The code can be examined, tested, and adapted at any time for specific security requirements.
Geopolitical independence: Reducing dependence on American technology companies, especially amid political tensions.
Although the press releases will range from very select to rare, I said I'd pass...because sometimes the editors hide.
And the Europeans are their own joke... they are looking to cut the Software and not the Bribes!!! Unfortunately, we do not have Competent Diplomats today and we are all paying for this!!