Switzerland tests open source alternatives to Microsoft 365

Switzerland has a population of 9.154.242 inhabitants and its federal government a pilot program has just started to test open source alternatives to Microsoft 365 on 3.000 workstations. That's about 7% of the government workforce.

The goal is to complete the transition by the end of 2027… On September 3, 2026, the Federal Council published the results of the “PoC BOSS”, a feasibility test involving 172 civil servants who tested the openDesk suite, a German open source collaboration platform. During the test, basic office tasks such as document processing and email received positive reviews, while large-scale video conferencing still presented technical limitations. Following the results of the PoC (proof-of-concept) phase with 172 employees, the pilot program has now been launched for 3.000 employees…

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According to Matthias Stürmer , a professor at the Bern University of Applied Sciences, Microsoft's dominance in public institutions poses three problems leading to this transition.

First, the risk of access from foreign sources. US cloud legislation could expose Swiss government data to foreign authorities.
Second, the risk to the continuity of services, as dependence on a single foreign supplier creates operational risk.
The third danger is the escalating cost, as licensing fees are constantly increasing.

Switzerland's military cybersecurity unit, Cyber ​​Command, isn't waiting for the pilot for civilian use. It's already set to completely replace Microsoft 365 with openDesk by October 2026 for much the same reasons. The military doesn't want foreign governments to have access to sensitive data.

During the pilot phase, the new system will run alongside Microsoft 365 rather than replacing it. If all goes well, the rollout will continue across all 54.000 government workstations.

The history

The EMBAG law came into force in 2024. It requires all Swiss federal agencies to use software that has been designated by the government as open source by default. The law also aims to promote digital sovereignty, encourage innovation and collaboration within the public sector.

Then, in December 2025 , the Federal Council designated digital sovereignty as a key focus area. It defines digital sovereignty as “the ability of the federal government to fulfill its essential mission without being dependent on an external supplier or country.”

This essentially means moving away from big US tech companies.

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