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Can Switching to Open-Source Software Give Your Organization True Digital Independence?
The Austrian Armed Forces has successfully transitioned its entire office software infrastructure from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice. This strategic change was driven by a foundational need for digital sovereignty and data independence, rather than cost-saving measures.
A Decision for Digital Independence
The Austrian Armed Forces, a significant governmental institution, has completed a large-scale migration involving approximately 16,000 office workstations. The move replaces the widely used Microsoft Office suite with LibreOffice, a powerful and free open-source alternative. This decision, which was finalized in 2025, sends a strong message about the priorities of security-conscious organizations in the modern digital landscape.
While many might assume such a switch is motivated by saving money on software licenses, the Austrian military has made it clear that this was not the primary factor. The core reason was a strategic push to achieve digital sovereignty. This term refers to the ability of an individual, organization, or state to have complete control over their own digital data, hardware, and software. For a military entity, whose data is among the most sensitive in a nation, the ability to control who accesses it and where it is stored is not just a preference; it is a critical security requirement.
The Problem with External Clouds
The journey toward this change began around 2020. Officials within the Austrian Armed Forces’ Directorate 6 for ICT and Cyber noted a clear trend in Microsoft’s strategy: a steady and insistent push for customers to adopt its cloud-based Office 365 subscription service. This model involves processing and storing user data on Microsoft’s external servers, which are located in data centers around the world.
For most businesses and individuals, this is a matter of convenience. For the Austrian Armed Forces, it represented an unacceptable risk. Michael Hillebrand, from the military’s ICT directorate, explained in an interview that processing sensitive data in external clouds was simply out of the question. A nation’s armed forces handle classified information, logistical plans, personnel records, and internal communications. Placing this data in the hands of a third-party corporation, even a reputable one, introduces several potential vulnerabilities.
- Loss of Control: The data is no longer physically or digitally within the army’s exclusive control. It resides on infrastructure owned and operated by another entity.
- Jurisdictional Risk: Data stored in a different country could be subject to that country’s laws, potentially allowing foreign governments to demand access to it.
- Security Concerns: While cloud providers invest heavily in security, a centralized commercial cloud can be a high-value target for sophisticated cyberattacks. A security breach at the provider level could expose the data of all its clients.
Faced with the prospect of being funneled into a cloud-based ecosystem that conflicted with their security principles, the Austrian Armed Forces decided to seek an alternative that would guarantee their data remained in-house. This led them to LibreOffice, an open-source suite that can be installed and run on their own internal servers and computers, ensuring no data ever needs to leave their secure network.
A Deliberate and Phased Migration
Making a change of this magnitude is a complex undertaking and was executed through a meticulous, multi-year plan. This was not a rushed reaction but a deliberate strategy to ensure a smooth and successful transition.
- 2020: The initial analysis began. The army’s technology leaders identified the growing dependency on external cloud services as a long-term strategic risk and started exploring more independent solutions.
- 2021: The formal decision was made. After concluding that the path toward cloud-based software was irreversible for Microsoft, the army committed to making the switch to an open-source alternative. The leadership decided it was time to “go for it” rather than just discuss the problem.
- 2022: This year focused on preparation and building internal capacity. The army began training its own developers to become experts in LibreOffice, enabling them to handle support, customization, and future improvements. To ease the transition, employees were given the option to switch to LibreOffice voluntarily, allowing early adopters to grow comfortable with the new tools.
- 2023: The rollout accelerated. The army commissioned a German company to provide specialized support and development services. Simultaneously, a comprehensive internal e-learning program was launched to train all employees on how to use LibreOffice effectively. The software was then introduced on a mandatory basis in the first departments, beginning the formal, organization-wide change.
- 2025: The migration project was officially completed. LibreOffice is now the standard office software across all 16,000 workstations. Microsoft Office may now only be used with special permission for specific, isolated tasks, effectively phasing it out of general use.
Giving Back to the Community
A significant aspect of this project is the Austrian Armed Forces’ contribution back to the open-source community. When using LibreOffice, their teams identified areas where new features or adjustments were needed to meet their specific operational requirements. Instead of merely working around these gaps, the army invested in programming the solutions.
They have paid for more than five man-years of development work to create these enhancements. Crucially, these improvements have been contributed back to the main LibreOffice project. This means that features developed for the Austrian military are now integrated into the core software, becoming available to every LibreOffice user worldwide in future updates. This collaborative approach is a hallmark of the open-source philosophy, where users are not just consumers but can also be contributors, creating a cycle of continuous improvement that benefits everyone. The project’s leaders presented these contributions and their migration experience at the LibreOffice Conference 2025 in Budapest.
By completing this transition, the Austrian Armed Forces has not only strengthened its digital sovereignty but also sidestepped future technical and administrative burdens. They no longer need to worry about the looming end-of-support deadline for older Microsoft Office versions in October 2025 or manage the complexities of a mandatory subscription model. They have regained a vital piece of control over their digital destiny, setting a powerful precedent for other government and security-focused organizations globally.