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Switzerland moves 3,000 government PCs off Microsoft 365

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Switzerland moves 3,000 government PCs off Microsoft 365

Switzerland's Federal Chancellery has launched a pilot program moving 3,000 federal government workstations, about 7% of the federal workforce, from Microsoft 365 to openDesk, a German open-source collaboration suite. The Chancellery is investing CHF 9 million in the rollout, and the government's target is to complete this pilot migration by the end of 2027. During the pilot, openDesk runs in parallel with Microsoft 365 rather than replacing it outright. The pilot follows an earlier feasibility test. On September 3, 2026, the Federal Council published the results of "PoC BOSS," a proof-of-concept in which 172 federal employees tried openDesk. Core office tasks such as document processing and email received positive assessments, while large-scale video conferencing still showed technical limitations. According to Matthias Stürmer, professor at the Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH), Microsoft's dominance in Swiss public institutions creates three problems driving the move: US cloud legislation could expose Swiss government data to foreign authorities; dependence on a single foreign vendor creates operational risk to service continuity; and proprietary licensing fees keep rising with no leverage for Switzerland. Switzerland's military is moving faster. Cyber Command, the armed forces' cybersecurity unit, is already poised to replace Microsoft 365 entirely with openDesk by October 2026, citing the same concern about foreign governments accessing sensitive Swiss data. The pilot sits inside a broader sovereignty push. The EMBAG law, in effect since 2024, requires Swiss federal agencies to publish government-developed software as open source by default. In December 2025, the Federal Council named digital sovereignty a primary policy focus, defining it as the federal government's ability to fulfil its essential mission without depending on an external supplier or country. Separately, Microsoft is investing CHF 325 million to expand its AI and cloud infrastructure in Switzerland. Neighboring France and Germany have pursued similar moves away from Microsoft. Whether the pilot extends to the federal administration's full 54,000 workstations is not decided; that figure is the article's own projection of what a successful pilot could lead to, not a stated government commitment.

Key facts

  • Switzerland's Federal Chancellery is piloting a move from Microsoft 365 to the open-source openDesk suite on 3,000 workstations (about 7% of the federal workforce), with a CHF 9 million budget and a target completion by end of 2027.
  • The pilot follows a proof-of-concept, 'PoC BOSS,' with 172 employees, whose results the Federal Council published on September 3, 2026: document processing and email scored well, but large-scale video conferencing still had technical limitations.
  • Professor Matthias Stürmer (Bern University of Applied Sciences) cites three drivers: the risk of foreign access to Swiss data under US cloud law, operational risk from single-vendor dependency, and rising licensing costs.
  • Switzerland's Cyber Command is moving faster, aiming to fully replace Microsoft 365 with openDesk by October 2026.
  • The push sits within Switzerland's 2024 EMBAG open-source law and a December 2025 Federal Council decision naming digital sovereignty a policy priority; Microsoft is separately investing CHF 325 million in Swiss AI and cloud infrastructure.

Why it matters

This is one of the largest public-sector attempts yet in Europe to walk back from Microsoft, testing whether a national government can run day-to-day office work on open-source tools at scale. It follows Switzerland's 2024 EMBAG law, which requires federal agencies to publish government-developed software as open source by default, and a December 2025 Federal Council decision that made digital sovereignty, defined as the ability to fulfil the government's mission without depending on an external supplier or country, an official policy priority. France and Germany have pursued similar moves; openDesk, the suite Switzerland is piloting, is itself a German open-source platform.

Who it affects

Directly, the 3,000 federal employees in the pilot, about 7% of the federal workforce, and separately Switzerland's Cyber Command, which is moving faster toward a full Microsoft 365 replacement for military users by October 2026. If the pilot succeeds, the article speculates it could extend to all 54,000 federal workstations, though that is not a stated government commitment. Microsoft is also affected commercially and is responding with a CHF 325 million investment to expand AI and cloud infrastructure inside Switzerland.

How to use it

There is no product here for the public to buy; openDesk is the open-source suite involved, built in Germany. For the duration of the pilot it runs alongside Microsoft 365 rather than replacing it, so federal staff are not cut off from familiar tools while it is tested. The government has budgeted CHF 9 million for the rollout and is targeting completion of this pilot phase by the end of 2027.

How solid is it

The account rests on the Federal Council's own September 3, 2026 publication of the PoC BOSS proof-of-concept results, an official government record rather than a leak or rumor. The write-up itself is an opinion-inflected blog post: it credits RTS as the ultimate source without quoting RTS's own reporting, and it includes the author's personal commentary and guesses about a full rollout. The core figures, the 3,000 pilot workstations, the CHF 9 million budget and the 172-employee proof-of-concept, are stated plainly and read as consistent with an official announcement.

Risks and caveats

Nothing here commits Switzerland to replacing Microsoft everywhere: expansion to the federal administration's full 54,000 workstations is explicitly the article's own guess, not a government plan, and no total cost for such a rollout is given. The proof-of-concept already flagged a real gap: large-scale video conferencing in openDesk still showed technical limitations, something the pilot will need to resolve before any wider rollout. Running two office suites in parallel during the pilot also adds cost and complexity that a clean cutover would avoid. Microsoft's own CHF 325 million infrastructure investment in Switzerland is, the article suggests, partly an attempt to blunt the sovereignty argument driving the whole effort.

“the federal government being able to fulfil its essential mission without depending on an external supplier or country.”

— Swiss Federal Council, definition of digital sovereignty