Swiss Federal Government Rolls Out Open-Source Alternative to Microsoft 365

The Swiss Federal Government has launched a program to replace Microsoft 365 with an open-source alternative software on 3,000 computers. The program, called PoC BOSS, adopted 'openDesk,' an open-source work environment developed by ZenDiS, Germany's digital sovereignty center.

A total of 172 employees from multiple ministries participated in testing the functions necessary for daily work, including document editing, file saving, collaboration, email, and calendar. The test results showed high marks for document processing, file storage, collaboration, email, and calendar, leading the Federal Cabinet to conclude that it is 'usable in principle for major standard business operations.'

The new open-source environment will be built as a separate system but will run in parallel with Microsoft 365. The cost for the first phase is estimated at approximately 9 million Swiss francs (approximately 1.73 billion yen).