The Austrian Armed Forces completed the migration of roughly 16,000 workstations from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice. The project concluded in 2025, and The Document Foundation presents it as evidence of a wider shift in public-sector thinking: the primary argument is no longer cost reduction, but the institution’s ability to control its own tools and documents.

A migration is more than installing another application

The transition took years of preparation. The military worked on document compatibility, user support, and additional LibreOffice development, returning part of that work upstream. Microsoft Office 2016 was removed, while a newer LTSC release remained an exception for legacy workflows involving macros and Access databases.

That exception makes the case more credible. A serious migration does not pretend old dependencies have disappeared. It inventories, isolates, and gradually reduces them. Open software is not a magic switch, but it gives an organisation the right to solve problems at its own pace and with partners of its choosing.

The Dimitrium view: an exit strategy is part of security

Vendor lock-in is often framed as a financial risk. For defence, government, and critical infrastructure it is also operational: licensing changes, discontinued products, cloud terms, or geopolitical decisions can directly affect access to essential tools.

The key lesson is not that LibreOffice costs nothing. Open formats, source access, and local expertise create an exit strategy. An institution that can change suppliers without losing documents and workflows has genuine negotiating power.

Source: The Document Foundation — Austria’s military switches from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice