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Amar Hadzihasanovic (Jul 21 2025 at 14:59):While the possibility of this has long been evident, we now have
My institution relies heavily on Microsoft infrastructure and I'd assume that to be true of many of them, and I feel increasingly uneasy about this.
But I also wouldn't want to approach anyone in the admin without an alternative plan.
Does anyone have any “success stories” to share about their (non-US) institutions either detaching from US-owned infrastructure, or simply never adopting it?
Or if not a success story, at least a credible short-term plan?
Amar Hadzihasanovic (Jul 21 2025 at 15:03):(“Credible short-term” as opposed to “let a local startup handle it and let them learn on the job while everything is broken for a few years”)
Amar Hadzihasanovic (Jul 21 2025 at 15:07):(Also, in case it needed to be specified, “switch to Chinese infrastructure” is also not an option unless your institution is in China :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: )
Ralph Sarkis (Jul 21 2025 at 17:52):Framasoft is one of the leading assocations building free and open source solutions. I have enjoyed using several of their products on their own. I don't know if it can provide a viable office suite.
Paolo Perrone (Jul 21 2025 at 17:59):There is this website. I'm sure you know it already, but maybe someone else didn't.
Amar Hadzihasanovic (Jul 21 2025 at 18:00):Paolo Perrone said:
There is this website. I'm sure you know it already, but maybe someone else didn't.
I did not know already, thank you :)
Peva Blanchard (Jul 21 2025 at 18:31):In Switzerland, the Tribunal Federal has avoided the usual big techs for its IT. See this post (in french, the link is supposedly valid for 1 week)
John Baez (Jul 21 2025 at 19:03):Some stuff:
In a recent response to an interrogation by a Member of the Parliament, the French Minister of Education clarified that French schools should not use Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
France is not alone in pushing toward digital sovereignty: the EU digital strategy acknowledges digital sovereignty as a key goal. And to lessen reliance on US-based service providers, the European Commission started Gaia-X. This project brings together software and physical infrastructure providers to create a secure data-sharing environment under interoperable technical standards. Gaia-x aims to foster the growth of the digital economy across the Union, facilitate the sharing of data, and further the goal of digital sovereignty.
Peva Blanchard (Jul 21 2025 at 20:27):By the way, the association NOYB is active on filing GDPR-related complaints (among others). Their website lists the various cases and their statuses.
The founder of NOYB is Max Schrems. His story against Facebook (Shrems I and II cases) in the 2010's is quite a ride.
To know more about the legal framework around EU and US data transfer (EU-US DPF), check out this short video. You may want to read about the weird court for crunchy details.
Josselin Poiret (Jul 24 2025 at 07:41):John Baez said:
the French Minister of Education clarified that French schools should not use Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace
that's news to me, and also to most of higher education here in France: lots of universities have switched over the last 10 years to Microsoft 365, even though they used to have their own self-hosted mail servers. Breaches of data sovereignty aside, this also strengthens the monopoly big tech has over email, which was supposed to be decentralized. They become the sole arbiters of who can send email or not (Microsoft has been well-known to block email from domains they don't trust, with no practical way of appealing)
John Baez (Jul 24 2025 at 07:43):I think the French ministry of education, and other European agencies, are suddenly trying to adapt to Trump. They're now trying to deal with the fact that Europe can't trust US-based companies.