The Danish government has officially terminated its pilot project aimed at replacing Microsoft Office with the open-source suite Collabora. The initiative, which was part of a broader strategy to achieve digital sovereignty and reduce reliance on US technology providers, was quietly shut down following recent elections.
The pilot program, launched last year, involved 38 government employees who were tasked with using Collabora to handle standard office documentation. However, the experiment concluded without a formal evaluation or an official report comparing the performance of the open-source software against Microsoft Office.
During the testing phase, participants encountered significant compatibility issues stemming from the use of different document standards. Collabora relies on the Open Document Format (ODF), while Microsoft Office utilizes the OOXML specification, leading to frequent errors in document layout, chart rendering, and formatting when files were exchanged between the two platforms.
Despite the failure of this specific project, the broader trend of European institutions seeking alternatives to Microsoft products continues. France is currently migrating government systems to Linux, EU agencies are exploring replacements for Teams, and some UK local governments are reviewing their software usage due to rising licensing costs.
