Another European government agency prepares to ditch Microsoft if necessary

• Estonia has no plans to abandon American tech giants, but it will do so if necessary.
• 20% of the costs of each government workstation are donated to Microsoft
• Migrating to a European alternative is a bigger job than it seems

The Estonian State IT Center (RIT) appears to be the latest European organization to move away from US tech giants to support local alternatives.

Although RIT says it has no immediate plans to completely abandon Microsoft, Google or Amazon, preparations to find a suitable alternative suggest it may be preparing to migrate amid growing geopolitical tensions.

Director Ergo Tars also noted that a pan-European move to block US technology products from federal agencies could force them to rely on European technology, hence Estonia’s proactive preparation.

Estonia prepares to move away from Microsoft, Google and Amazon

Although it says the country’s government has no plans to abandon Microsoft imminently, RIT highlights the costs of using Microsoft’s services.

Assuming that a government agency desktop costs €2,000 per user per year, around a fifth (€400) of this goes directly to Microsoft – which, for a fleet of 15,000 desktops, represents around €6 million per year.

But moving away isn’t just about finding another suitable platform and cutting costs: established user familiarity would be challenged, and a large-scale migration to the cloud could end up costing more than paying Microsoft’s higher prices just to make the transition efficient.

Tars also criticized fully cloud services which can be affected by outages and downtime, stating that hybrid and on-premises solutions are still needed to work in tandem to ensure full-time operation.

But even if Estonia is only preparing for future changes and is not considering a complete move away from Microsoft, it will not be the only government exploring European alternatives. The German state of Schleswig-Holstein confirmed that it would end Microsoft’s software contracts, the French state of Lyon confirmed a shift from Microsoft software to open source alternatives, and Switzerland even warned about the responsibilities of American SaaS companies to the American government, providing for adequate data security.

Via The register

Follow TechRadar on Google News And add us as your favorite source to get our news, reviews and expert opinions in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!

And of course you can too follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp Also.

With several years of freelance experience in technology and automotive circles, Craig’s specific interests lie in technologies designed to improve our lives, including AI and ML, productivity aids, and smart fitness. He is also passionate about automobiles and the decarbonization of personal transportation. As an avid bargain hunter, you can be sure that any deal Craig finds is great value for money!