Windows and Microsoft Office are being replaced with Linux and LibreOffice in this German state

TechSpot ^ | 5 April 2024 | Rob Thubron

[ShadowAce]

What just happened? It's not just China that is replacing Windows on government PCs. Germany's most northern state, Schleswig-Holstein, has begun moving from the popular OS to Linux while also switching from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice. The state's Minister-President Daniel Gunther said the move from proprietary to open-source software was being made to ensure independence, sustainability, and security.

"In addition to improved IT security, cost-effectiveness, and data protection, the use of open-source software also enables seamless collaboration between different systems," officials said. "Alongside open-source software development, the goal is to release future development results of the country under free licenses."

The 30,000 employees of Schleswig-Holstein's local government will be moving to Linux and LibreOffice as the state pushes for what it calls "digital sovereignty," a reference to non-EU companies not gathering troves of user data so European firms can compete with these foreign rivals.

LibreOffice developer The Document Foundation celebrated the move with a post that highlighted the use of the term digital sovereignty, noting that proprietary, closed software can't be studied or modified, meaning it is very difficult to know what happens to users' data.

The Document Foundation added that with open-source software, local governments maintain full control, study its source code, make changes they require, and deploy it entirely on their own infrastructure. The organization also questioned why local governments should use taxpayers' money to buy proprietary software from a single vendor.

Question! Why should local governments use taxpayers' money to buy proprietary software from a single vendor? And what happens to citizens' data? A solution is to move to free software like Linux and LibreOffice – which is what Schleswig-Holstein is doing: https://t.co/P7cQJwEP7u pic.twitter.com/OuIHPlSteV – LibreOffice (@LibreOffice) April 4, 2024

Schleswig-Holstein's email servers, directory, and telephony software is also going open-source, with plans to use Nextcloud, Open Xchange/Thunderbird, and the Univention Active Directory (AD).

Speaking about the restrictions associated with proprietary software, the state's government said that "We have no influence over the operational processes of such solutions or the handling of data, including the possibility of data outflows to third-party countries."

The plans to go open-source were drawn up by Schleswig-Holstein back in 2021. At the time, one of the several reasons for the switch was Windows 11's hardware requirements. The jump to LibreOffice had a deadline of 2026 – there was no date set for ditching Windows.

The move could see other government agencies in Germany and the rest of Europe also drop propriety software for open-source alternatives, particularly as the European Commission recently found that its use of Microsoft 365 infringed several key data protection rules.

Munich, the capital of German state Bavaria, switched from Windows to Linux-based LiMux in 2004, though it switched back in 2017 as part of an IT overhaul. Wanting Microsoft to move its headquarters to Munich likely played a part in returning to Windows, too.

The move comes soon after China introduced new guidelines that will phase out US processors and software, including Windows, from its government computers and servers.

Last month saw Andres Freund, a PostgreSQL developer at Microsoft, discover malicious code that could break sshd authentication, potentially posing a huge threat to Linux. Thankfully, it was caught early.

[sauropod]

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[Terry L Smith]

hi . it is suggested to put all my stuff on a porrtable hard drive then do the Linuux thing to my computerr.

will linux be able to see all my vids on that drive, or will i have to do some techie thing tp it too?

[John Milner]

I finally had to buy a new laptop. My old one was literally falling apart (hinges loose, chunks of the plastic case falling off). It was 7-8 years old and had served me well.

Ended up with Windows 11. It’s the worst piece of excrement ever.

Can’t do anything unless you get it from the MS app store. Can’t scan anymore with my old scanner printer (won’t allow drivers to install). Won’t allow me to use old laser printer (won’t allow drivers to install).

Nephew, who’s a whiz (works literally 80 hours per week in cyberland) fixed a few things but he purposely never uses Windows anymore and definitely not W11.

I knew I should have bought a Mac, but even they have some quirky limitations.

[kiryandil]

My emails, writings, and photographs are my products.

Yes, I totally agree.

[wally_bert]

I’m using different distros of Linux more often.

Partly to learn some administration and command line.

Most are on Virtualbox a few are on old laptops that I got cheap here and there since they were old to some people.

Parrot, Rocky and Qubes I have recently acquired but not done much with yet.

[MayflowerMadam]

“I dislike MS Office, particularly since they went to ‘ribbon’ menus and decided to bury everything useful”

Agree. That’s why I still use MS Office 2003. AFAIK, it’s the last version before “the ribbon”. I won’t wear the ribbon, and I won’t use it in word processing.

The old keystrokes didn’t translate well, so 2003 is much faster and more efficient. I have two sets of program discs. One is in our safety deposit box, and the other is at my desk. And that abomination my husband RENTS — 365 it something — what a hot mess that is!

[ShadowAce]

will linux be able to see all my vids on that drive, or will i have to do some techie thing tp it too?

Your videos will be fine. Linux can see/play/edit all video formats.

[Pollard]

https://www.wikihow.com/Import-a-PST-File-to-Thunderbird

Seems a common method is creating a gmail account, connecting it to your outlook account via IMAP, getting all your outlook into gmail, then setting up gmail as an email account in Thunderbird to get the copy of outlook that you made in gmail, into thunderbird.

That would likely only save the headers on your PC which is standard for Thunderbird. You have to make it to download everything. I don’t know if you have to make gmail pull more than just headers in. As data hungry as they are, I would suspect they pull it all in by default.

Linux is a little lacking for dedicated programs for PDF file creation.

Neither LibreOffice Writer or Calligra Words will Save As pdf.

Inkscape, a vector drawing program will Save As pdf.
GIMP, a photoshop like program will Export As pdf.

Both have Layers.

LibreOffice Draw will Export As pdf but is not as robust as the above two graphics programs.

There are also a few pdf utilities like PDF Slicer available. Plenty to merge as well.

[Pollard]

There was a country in South America that did the same and even had Linux based PCs in the schools.

[ShadowAce]

Neither LibreOffice Writer or Calligra Words will Save As pdf.

I'll have to correct you on this. While I have zero experience with Calligra Words, I do know that LibreOffice Writer can save to PDF. It's under the File->Export As menu.

[Carry_Okie]

There are also a few pdf utilities like PDF Slicer available. Plenty to merge as well.

Thanks, I will look into this, but...

The picture book I maintain online is a mere 2,000 pages of multilayer pdf, as are two books, one comprising another 750 or so. These are of both historic, religious, and political significance. I can't depricate the quality of the product.

[Wuli]

Love love love the image. Thanks.

[Paal Gulli]

Being a card-carrying propellerhead, I recognized the OP's story was lacking the single most critical detail. What flavor of Linux? (Germans=openSUSE?) So I checked around.

And I found this same identical story already had been published online in 2022. And in 2018.

[Openurmind]

Smart...

[Openurmind]

“then I get force-updated, similar to rape.”

That is the best description for it I have heard in awhile.

[linMcHlp]

LibreOffice

[Openurmind]

When you agree to use the MS license and product they can rape you if they like. You agreed to let them and are legally bo0und to contract.

there is no legal recourse...

[Openurmind]

“because it only allows software from MS to be downloaded.”

Should be able to disable that in the BIOS settings.

[Carry_Okie]

You agreed to let them and are legally bo0und to contract.

Yep, looks like an illegal contract (and therefore void). Might make an interesting class action.

[Pollard]

Looks like images with colored blocks and text over them or above/below/over. Inkscape can do that. GIMP might keep the image quality a little higher and would also do it.

Just did this in a few minutes with Inkscape. https://route66custom.com/wp-content/uploads/drawing.pdf

Text could have a little more clarity but I'm sure there's a way to do that. Inkscape has a Fill and a Stroke for anything drawn. Setting the stroke to 0.00 would likely fix it. Could also be a setting during Save As which I didn't touch. Embed text was selected so I left it.

I could have also used the color picker to get the exact maroon. The html # will plug right into Inkscape.

Inkscape would create each page. Name them in succession and put them all in the same folder and a pdf merge would put them all into a single pdf file.

Where there's a will, there's a way.