The Danish Ministry of Digitization will abandon Microsoft completely in the coming months and use Linux instead of Windows. It will then adopt the LibreOffice instead of Office 365.
Minister Caroline Stage announced this in an interview with the newspaper Politiken. This comes just days after the country's two largest municipalities decided to leave Microsoft.
This summer, half of the ministry's employees will be equipped with Linux and LibreOffice. If all goes well, the ministry will be free of Microsoft by the fall, as Politiken reports.
The removal of the Ministry of Digitization from Microsoft takes place as part of a new digitization strategy that prioritizes the Kingdom's "digital sovereignty."
According to newspaper reports, the opposition is also calling for a reduction in dependence on American technology companies. Just a few days ago, the administration of the capital Copenhagen announced its intention to review the use of Microsoft software.
The second largest municipality, Aarhus, has already started replacing Microsoft services. Stage told Politiken that everyone should work together. All municipalities should work together and strengthen open source.
When asked how her ministry would react if the transition was not so easy, Stage replied that they would simply return to the old system for a transitional period and look for other options:
"We won't get any closer to the goal if we don't start."
So far, she has heard only good things from employees who welcome the move. In her ministry, which is mainly concerned with digitalization, she assured employees that the initiative is not just about Microsoft, as they are generally overly dependent on a few providers.
As a background to the movement, the article refers to the new US President Donald Trump who wants to take over Greenland. The island in the North Atlantic is a self-governing part of Denmark and there is anger over Trump's proposal. The desire to reduce dependence on American companies is therefore even greater there than in the rest of Europe.
Although the press releases will range from very select to rare, I said I'd pass...because sometimes the editors hide.
