This small German state’s bid to cut loose from Microsoft has not been plain sailing. One German IT blogger compared Schleswig-Holstein to the French comic-book hero Asterix and his “small village of indomitable Gauls” holding out against Roman invaders. Schleswig-Holstein, a coastal region of three million people, first discussed ending its reliance on Microsoft about 15 years ago. Schleswig-Holstein saved €15 million on Microsoft licences last year alone Photograph: David Paul Morris/BloombergThat does not necessarily mean they are free. In a high-profile 2021 incident, hackers including Chinese state-backed groups launched more than 1mn attacks on companies worldwide through a previously unnoticed vulnerability in open-source software called Log4j.

Source: The Irish Times April 04, 2026 13:31 UTC