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In a decisive move toward technological independence, Austria's military has completed a full-scale migration from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice across its 16,000 workstations. While the switch saves approximately $6.5 million annually in licensing fees, officials emphasize that digital sovereignty—not cost—drove the decision. Michael Hillebrand of Directorate 6 ICT and Cyber Defense stated:

"It was critical to strengthen our digital sovereignty, maintain ICT infrastructure independence, and ensure data is exclusively processed in-house."

This transition culminates a multi-year strategy sparked by 2020 risk assessments identifying overreliance on foreign cloud services. Austria joins a wave of European governments—including Germany's Schleswig-Holstein, Denmark, and Lyon, France—replacing Microsoft products with open-source alternatives. The trend accelerated amid geopolitical concerns following Microsoft's recent suspension of Azure services for Israel's Palestinian surveillance program, demonstrating how U.S. tech providers can abruptly withdraw services.

Beyond Substitution: Collaborative Development

Unlike typical migrations, Austria's military actively shaped LibreOffice's evolution:
- Funded development of military-specific features like advanced pivot tables and slideshow tools
- Contributed improvements to the public LibreOffice codebase
- Trained personnel through phased voluntary adoption starting in 2022

While Microsoft Office 2016 is now fully purged, specialized units retain limited access to Office 2024 LTSC. The Austrian Armed Forces' deep collaboration with LibreOffice signals a maturation of open-source adoption—transcending mere cost-cutting to achieve strategic control.

Europe's Sovereign Tech Surge

This shift coincides with growing EU initiatives to reduce foreign tech dependencies. Companies like SUSE now offer migration services for European governments seeking open-source alternatives. As cloud and AI regulations tighten, LibreOffice's transparent architecture provides auditable data handling—a non-negotiable for national security infrastructure.

Austria's successful deployment proves large-scale open-source transitions are operationally viable when coupled with institutional commitment. With data localization and vendor independence becoming existential priorities, this military migration may blueprint Europe's broader tech sovereignty playbook.

Source: ZDNet