// ZDNET — LINUX & OPEN SOURCE
Switzerland takes a Swiss Army knife to Microsoft 365
Two divisions of Switzerland's government are shifting from Microsoft 365 to open-source openDesk. Here's why.
Switzerland’s federal government is moving to create an open-source, digitally sovereign workplace for thousands of employees, while the Swiss Armed Forces’ Cyber Command is moving much faster to replace Microsoft 365, especially for sensitive work.
They’re joining numerous other European government agencies, such as those in Austria, France, Germany, and Ireland, that are also cutting out Microsoft 365 and Windows in favor of open-source office suites and Linux.
After a feasibility study, the Swiss Federal Chancellery concluded that an open-source browser-based office suite could handle core administrative functions. So, it has started deploying an independently operated office-and-collaboration platform that will run in parallel with Microsoft 365. By the end of 2027, the government expects the platform to serve about 3,000 of its 47,000 employees involved in critical business processes across federal departments.
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The proposed platform, openDesk, a German-developed open-source workplace platform, covers email, calendars, documents, presentations, telephony, and audio and video conferencing. Besides Switzerland, Germany, and the International Criminal Court have adopted openDesk.
The Swiss government is positioning the project as an exercise in digital sovereignty and crisis resilience rather than an immediate, universal replacement for Microsoft 365. The Federal Chancellery said the independent platform should provide a meaningful fallback for central processes, including if Microsoft 365 becomes unavailable
Switzerland estimates the initial program will cost about 9 million Swiss francs. The funding comes from parliamentary appropriations for a sovereign Swiss open-source platform for office automation. The first phase is intended to build the platform and establish a basis for estimating the cost of a potential broader rollout and ongoing operations.
The government cautioned that technical feasibility is only the beginning. The transition will require substantial customization, security, and platform assessments, and additional in-house expertise. A particularly difficult issue is the number of applications and specialized systems closely tied to Microsoft’s architecture.
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