Comment: Jutes revolt against Redmond: Minister for Digital Affairs aims the longboats away from Vinland
www.theregister.com
"In an interview with Danish broadsheet newspaper
Politiken [Danish], Caroline Olsen, the country's
Minister for Digital Affairs, said she is planning to lead by example and start removing Microsoft software and tools from the ministry. The minister told
Jutland's Nordyske [
Danish, but not paywalled] the plan is that half the staff's computers – including her own – would have LibreOffice in place of Microsoft Office 365 in the first month, with the goal of total replacement by the end of the year."
The recent disconnection of the ICC's chief prosecutor, at the behest of the American administration, could not have come at a worse time for Microsoft. Just a month prior, the folks from Redmond tried to assure Europe that all was well. That any speculation Europeans could get cut off from...
world.hey.com
CTO of Basecamp
"The recent
disconnection of the ICC's chief prosecutor, at
the behest of the American administration, could not have come at a worse time for Microsoft. Just a month prior, the folks from Redmond
tried to assure Europe that all was well. That any speculation Europeans could get cut off from critical digital infrastructure was just fear, doubt, and uncertainty. Then everything Europeans worried could happen happened in Hague. Oops!
Microsoft's assurances met reality and reality won.
That reality is that all American administrations have the power to disconnect any individual, company, or foreign government from digital infrastructure provided by American Big Tech.
...
Denmark even more so. It's no secret that tensions between Denmark and the US are at a historic high. Trump keeps repeating
a desire to take over Greenland by fuzzy means possible. The American intelligence services have been
directed to increase their spying on Denmark and Greenland. Naturally, the Danes are spooked. They should be!
...
And that's exactly what the two biggest counties in Denmark have announced plans to do. Copenhagen and Aarhus just declared that they're going to get rid of Microsoft products for all their workers. The Copenhagen county is the largest employer in Denmark with over 40,000 employees. So this is a big deal!
The chairman of the Copenhagen committee who pushed this forward made this comment to Danish media:
If, theoretically, the relationship to the US gets worse, we could fear that Microsoft would be forced to shut everything down. That possibility exists. And if we suddenly can't access our emails or communicate via our systems, we'll be challenged."
European governments are going to have to decouple itself from the American giants. Corporates are at lower risk, but at risk nontheless.
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