Switzerland's federal government has launched a pilot program to replace Microsoft 365 with open source alternatives across 3,000 workstations, about 7% of the federal workforce. The Federal Chancellery is investing CHF 9 million in the open-source workplace rollout, targeting completion by end of 2027. This follows a successful proof-of-concept (PoC BOSS) involving 172 federal employees who tested the open Desk suite, a German open-source collaboration platform. Core office tasks received positive assessments, though large-scale video conferencing showed limitations. The new system runs in parallel with Microsoft 365 during the pilot phase.

According to Matthias Stürmer, professor at Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH), three risks drive this migration: foreign access under US cloud legislation, service continuity dependency on a single foreign vendor, and escalating proprietary licensing costs with no Swiss leverage.

Switzerland's military Cyber Command is moving faster, poised to replace Microsoft 365 entirely with open Desk by October 2026. The EMBAG Law (2024) requires federal agencies to publish government-developed software as open source by default. In December 2025, the Federal Council designated digital sovereignty as a primary focus theme, defining it as the ability to fulfil essential missions without depending on external suppliers or countries. Meanwhile, Microsoft is investing over CHF 325 million to expand AI and cloud infrastructure in Switzerland.