Microsoft's free stuff keeps customers hooked

iGuRu.gr > Microsoft's free stuff keeps customers hooked

German higher education is heading towards a strategic dead end in the office software sector. At least, that's what leading IT experts are warning about in a letter to Federal Minister for Digital Policy Karsten Wildberger. which is available online: While Microsoft offers the Office suite to students for free, the state-owned German alternative OpenDesk costs 45 euros net per user per year.

The fact that an open source solution is more expensive than a proprietary competitor is mainly due to the cost of secure operation and maintenance from certified German data centers. While Microsoft uses free access as a marketing tool and to keep its customers “tied in”, the open source solution must have revenues for its infrastructure.

See more articles from iGuRu.gr when you search for news on Google.

iGuRu.gr preferred source

For a medium-sized university with 30.000 students, it has an annual cost of more than 1,6 million euros, the authors of the letter point out. This financial obstacle makes the politically desirable transition to digital independence practically impossible.

But let's say that much more is at stake here than the budget. The authors fear that Germany is losing control of its educational and research infrastructure. While OpenDesk, provided by the Center for Digital Sovereignty (Zentrum für Digitale Souveränität der Öffentlichen Verwaltung, Zendis), guarantees full data sovereignty, the route via Microsoft leads to “Cloud Lock-in”. Even if stored in the EU, the data is subject to access by US authorities via the Cloud Act.

The call takes on special urgency with the Trump administration and the US national security strategy. According to experts, the US aims to expand monopoly positions for American technologies worldwide. At the same time, federal spending on Microsoft products is exploding: it has increased from 274 million euros in 2023 to about 481,4 million euros last year.

So the experts in their letter demand: By mid-2026, a solution should be found that makes OpenDesk available free of charge to all students. Only then can digital independence in education prevail over the market power of American corporations. It is time to invest in the sovereignty of future skilled workers, instead of simply financing growing dependencies.