The Munich FUD Tactics (Microsoft Modus Operandi): Microsoft-Connected Sites Claim Denmark Failed With Free Software, But That's Not What Actually Happened
Microsoft must be rather terrified or at least upset (to the point of telling 60,000 workers to leave!) to see that parts of Europe, like a set of domino bricks, abandon Microsoft completely. In Denmark, some quick Web stats show modest usage of GNU/Linux:
Some days ago we saw 3 sites, 2 of which connected to Microsoft, saying Denmark had dumped Free software or a plan to migrate away from Microsoft.
Upon a closer inspection though, as Hall points out, what actually happened was political, not technical. Shades of Munich, right?
Quoting Hall: "According to a statement published by Collabora on Wednesday, the first stage was successfully completed. The office suite was integrated with F2, and users in the test could freely switch between Collabora Office and Microsoft Office from the same government platform and while using Microsoft-compatible document formats. After that, on June 19, a second phase followed in which something like 38 ministry employees began testing Collabora. As might be expected, those tests resulted in some reported compatibility issues, including issues with document styles, paragraph formatting, blank pages, and tracked changes, which were documented without going through a complete evaluation. The evaluation didn’t take place because a workshop planned for October, 2025 never materialized (although it’s been reported that government employees continued to use Collabora well into the following year)."
What happened? Politics. To quote: "That big shakeup was the reorganization of Denmark’s government, necessitated by an election in March that resulted in a fragmented parliament. After the election, Social Democrat Mette Frederiksen remained prime minister for a third term as her party was the largest vote-getter, but its 21.9% share of the vote made it the party’s weakest outing since 1903. It also forced Frederiksen to negotiate to form a new governing coalition, which was no easy task with 12 parties in the fray."
With Microsoft, it almost always boils down to politics. █