this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2024
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A German state is ditching Windows and Microsoft Office for Linux and LibreOffice on the 30,000 PCs it uses for local government functions (www.theregister.com)
submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Schleswig-Holstein, Germany's most northern state, is starting its switch from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice, and is planning to move from Windows to Linux on the 30,000 PCs it uses for local government functions.

Concerns over data security are also front and center in the Minister-President's statement, especially data that may make its way to other countries. Back in 2021, when the transition plans were first being drawn up, the hardware requirements for Windows 11 were also mentioned as a reason to move away from Microsoft.

Saunders noted that "the reasons for switching to Linux and LibreOffice are different today. Back when LiMux started, it was mostly seen as a way to save money. Now the focus is far more on data protection, privacy and security. Consider that the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) recently found that the European Commission's use of Microsoft 365 breaches data protection law for EU institutions and bodies."

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 7 months ago (4 children)

Switching to an open-source project is easy, but the concern is more about the context in which they are used and how long they will persist in using these. It might be more convenient for the government to initially try Linux for some pilot projects that require less human intervention. This is because I’m not sure how familiar civil servants are with Linux and LibreOffice. On the other hand, open-source projects don’t provide after-sales services and may have technical or compatibility issues. It requires time for them to get accustomed to them.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Yeah for the simple stuff LibreOffice will be just fine but for anything complex like mail merges and such it's probably going to require a lot of work re-doing things.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

When someone uses a text editor like LibreOffice, whenever someone mentions complex tasks, I'd imagine writing a thesis, a series of books, a big ass report or the like. Mail merges sound like something another app should do...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Yeah LibreOffice will do things like mail merges, but I mean it will probably require relearning the process. It will be different than the process they used with MS Office.

If you just porting over simple things like letters and simple documents you should be able to move back and forth between MS Office and LibreOffice with few changes.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I wish my country would also stop subsidising M$ and transition to Linux as well.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

It is all about private "dinners".

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

They've thought about that too, and see training as vital where others before them have failed. Also OS and programs will look somewhat similar to what users are used to, from what I can recall.

Producing documents or e-mails can't be that functionally different, right? Many don't need much more than that. However, I could see integration of third-party software as a challenge, but one that in most cases could be easily overcome.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Producing documents or e-mails can't be that functionally different, right?

If you do complicated stuff in docx and then try open it in something like Libre the formatting will be interpreted differently.
Source: I partly create forms for templats in Libre/OpenOffice at work.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

According to the article,

  1. They are also migrating backend infrastructure such as emails servers etc.
  2. They already have Linux migration experience in some German states as well as the current proposer.
  3. Companies such as RedHat, Canonical and OpenSuse do offer enterprise level support. So open source software doesn't have "after sales" support is a myth.
  4. They say that the goal of the migration is privacy and security, no necessarily cost driven. They may very well be prepared to pay a premium for enterprise level support.
  5. They have already identified compatibilities issues in their previous project. They got them because they mixed Windows and Linux, the article says. That's why they migrate everything to Linux this time.
[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Your clarification helps me understand their swtiching. Thanks 👍