The state of Schleswig-Holstein is consistently relying on open source

📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)

The discussion revolves around governmental adoption of Open Source Software (OSS), particularly Linux, as an alternative to proprietary solutions like Microsoft products.

Here are the three most prevalent themes:

1. Digital Sovereignty and Geopolitical Risk Aversion

A primary driver for switching to OSS is the concern that reliance on foreign, proprietary software creates unacceptable strategic vulnerabilities, ranging from espionage to potential service denial (kill switches).

"I'm a Windows/macOS developer, but I strongly feel that all national governments need to convert to Linux, for strategic sovereignty." - GnarfGnarf

"Less likely? This is exactly what happened earlier this year." [Referring to Microsoft blocking email access for the ICC] - whstl

"Less likely? This is exactly what happened earlier this year. Here's an article from the same newspaper that showed up to me as "related" when browsing TFA: [Link to article about Microsoft email block]” - whstl

2. Bureaucratic Friction and Resistance to Change

Despite the perceived technical benefits of OSS (like the ability to fix bugs in-house), commenters widely expressed skepticism about the ability of large bureaucracies to actually leverage this freedom due to internal inertia, process overhead, and user resistance.

"Yes, but bureaucracies make this impossible. If you have worked at a bank before, you'll know how difficult it is to make a change to some in-house piece of software." - lo_zamoyski

"These institutions don’t bother making fixes where they can, so it seems unlikely that giving them more options will change much." - nickff

"The employees don't care about software sovereignty. They just want to do their jobs and get their paychecks. Fail to win them over and the transition will fail as well." - ThrowawayR2

3. The Challenge of Replacing Integrated Ecosystems (Especially Microsoft Office)

While governments focus on sovereignty, many users and commentators point out that Microsoft's dominance is not just due to features but the deep integration across its suite (Word, Excel, Outlook, SharePoint, etc.), complex legacy files (VBA/macros), and complete administrative tooling (like centralized account management). Replacing this cohesively proves extremely difficult.

"I've yet to see FLOSS that matches that aspect of Outlook and o365/Exchange. In fact, IMO, it should have been one of the monetization efforts with Mozilla..." - tracker1

"The biggest limitation I can think of is the limited support for VBA, but Microsoft have already announced VBA's deprecation..." - d3Xt3r

"You get backups, file synchronization, real time collaboration. Setting and running all of that is as simple as making O365 account and clicking couple of buttons by one person." - ozim

🚀 Project Ideas

Decentralized Government Software Audit & Certification Platform

Summary

A platform designed to allow national/international consortia or independent security researchers to commission, fund, and manage audits of critical open-source software used by governments (like Nextcloud, Linux kernel components, Postfix, etc.).
The core value proposition is establishing auditable, trustworthy open-source dependencies for achieving digital sovereignty, mitigating the "planted backdoor" risk discussed extensively without relying on proprietary vendors.

Details

Key	Value
Target Audience	National/Regional Governments seeking digital sovereignty, Independent FOSS Auditing Firms, Security Researchers, and Consortia of Nations.
Core Feature	A public, verifiable ledger system where security bounties/commissions for specific feature/code reviews can be posted, funded securely, executed, and results attributed to the commissioning entity. It would track key dependency chains (like the xz/supply chain concerns).
Tech Stack	Blockchain/Distributed Ledger Technology (for audit hash immutability), standard web stack (React/Node.js) for UI, specialized code analysis tools integration (static analysis framework wrappers).
Difficulty	High
Monetization	Hobby

Notes

Why HN commenters would love it: It directly addresses the fears raised by users like al_borland and lolc regarding government-sponsored backdoors in OSS ("Would there be enough independent developers to review millions of lines of code, patch out any back doors...?") and provides a structured response to the "we must trust the OS" debate by decentralizing trust verification.
Potential for discussion or practical utility: This idea directly facilitates the "consortium of nations put their money and resources into commissioning bug fixes and enhancements" mentioned by the first commenter, turning the abstract desire for collective security investment into a concrete mechanism.

"Last Resort" OSS Migration & Interoperability Toolkit (GovEd)

Summary

A comprehensive, self-contained software suite/toolkit focused specifically on solving the immediate functional gaps identified when migrating from major proprietary stacks (like Microsoft Office ecosystem) to OSS alternatives (LibreOffice, Thunderbird, etc.) in bureaucratic environments.
The core value proposition is minimizing user friction and business disruption ("While I don’t deny the costs, this isn't unique to an Open Source migration") by providing tailored conversion tools, workflow adaptation layers, and documented, auditable replacement services for proprietary ecosystems (e.g., Access, Visio, complex Excel VBA).

Details

Key	Value
Target Audience	Public sector IT departments and agencies undergoing mandatory OSS transitions that rely heavily on proprietary file formats or niche application features (addressing pain points raised by `analog31` on Excel performance and `tracker1` on legacy integration).
Core Feature	1. VBA/Macro Translator: Tooling to convert common Excel VBA/Calc macro scripts into audited, secure Python/LibreOffice Basic scripts. 2. Visio/Access Conversion Engine: Tools to migrate diagrams/databases into standard ODF or native OSS equivalents (replacing proprietary formats mentioned by `tracker1`). 3. UI/Muscle Memory Mapping: Integrated help overlays for common applications (like demonstrating where a Word function moved in LibreOffice, addressing `CerryuDu`'s UI friction point).
Tech Stack	Python (for data/script processing), Rust (for high-performance conversion tasks), Electron (for packaging cross-platform desktop UI helpers).
Difficulty	Medium
Monetization	Hobby

Notes

Why HN commenters would love it: It acknowledges that technical literacy/UI resistance is a major blocker ("The employees don't care about software sovereignty... they just want to do their jobs"; "the UIs are not flashy so people are going to feel repulsed"). This project directly offers non-ideological, practical solutions tied to existing government migration stories (like Schleswig-Holstein).
Potential for discussion or practical utility: It tackles the "Excel is too hard to replace" argument head-on by focusing on the specific non-standard features power users rely on, turning the migration cost from an abstract "loss" into a concrete "development investment" ("Investing in development effort to port it over").

Centralized Government FOSS Support & Contribution Ecosystem (GovDevOps)

Summary

A service platform modeled on the Qunansight Labs concept but structured for government consortia, offering direct funding pools for employing developers to specifically fix bugs, add features, and maintain core OSS components used across participating governments. This acts as the operational arm for the "sovereignty funding" discussed.
The core value proposition is creating accountable, in-house digital infrastructure expertise rather than relying solely on external consultants ("Hiring local people to tailor the free software already exists and contributing those changes back to the world"), and establishing necessary centralized tooling for fleet management (mapontosevenths's desire for AD/Group Policy compatibility).

Details

Key	Value
Target Audience	Governments (Federal/State) committed to OSS, FOSS projects critical to public infrastructure (e.g., systemd, kernel developers, major desktop environment maintainers).
Core Feature	Managed Allocation & Contribution Tracking: A system for governments to pool funds, allocate them via specific Issue tickets in upstream projects, track developer contributions (with mandatory upstream push for non-forked improvements), and manage internal system deployment repositories (`__d`'s internal package repository concept) based on these verified upstream changes.
Tech Stack	GitLab/Gitea integration, standard DevOps tooling suite, custom financial/milestone tracking system (potentially leveraging existing procurement platforms).
Difficulty	Medium
Monetization	Hobby

Notes

Why HN commenters would love it: It addresses the criticism that simply using OSS isn't enough; it requires active maintenance and funding, which governments are currently failing to provide adequately ("How about instead you donate the same amount of money you would've paid to Microsoft"). It supports the idea of creating public goods development jobs (concinds, ninth_ant).
Potential for discussion or practical utility: It provides a template for how non-US entities can structure the collaborative development pipeline necessary to maintain sovereignty, as suggested by pjmlp's call for "local vendors" and international standards.