Two German states drop Microsoft for open source, commentary says
FRANKFURT – November 13, 2026 -- Two German states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein, are moving their IT overhaul to open-source software and ending their use of Microsoft, according to a Frankfurter Rundschau commentary published after worldwide disruptions to Microsoft services.
The newspaper's politics desk presents the two states as proof that alternatives to Microsoft already exist. It says open-source, decentralised approaches underpin many foundations of the internet and are not new territory. The text is an opinion piece, not a government statement. It gives no outage date or cause, and no contract values, migration timelines or product names for either state.
The author warns against treating an "EU version" of a large technology group as the solution to digital European sovereignty. A "European Palantir" would be hardly less problematic than the US original, the commentary says.