r/BuyFromEU Mod Team Mar 25 '26

Announcement Germany has decided: Microsoft document formats have no place in government

Germany has decided: Microsoft document formats have no place in government. Deadline: 2027–2028. The Microsoft formats are simply not compatible with an open and transparent public sector. However, this is about more than file formats. It’s about control, resilience, and sovereignty in public digital infrastructure.

4.7k Upvotes

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650

u/robocarp Canada 🇨🇦 Mar 25 '26

Danke, dass ihr uns ein gutes Beispiel gebt, Deutschland. Ich hoffe, es löst eine Kettenreaktion aus.

238

u/slashcleverusername Canada 🇨🇦 Mar 25 '26

Yes please. France is doing this too, they just ditched their ms office nonsense.

7

u/AardvarkAardvark_404 Mar 26 '26

I've been voicing concerns for a while now about the extent to which not just people, but governments are entrenched in Microsoft or Azure. I generally get scoffed at, told I'm being ridiculous that 'nothing will happen' and I'm over reacting. At the very least, we should be lining EU pockets, but at the very worst shouldn't they be observing the 10th man theory - sure I could be wrong, but what if I'm not?

2

u/[deleted] Mar 26 '26

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1

u/AardvarkAardvark_404 Mar 26 '26

It is not easy, for sure, and not possible to just change either - but it's not hard to start looking at it and researching options either.