Weekly Backlog Week 11/2026

🧠 Editorial

Schleswig-Holstein. The real North. is kicking Microsoft out of administration. Nextcloud suddenly becomes a serious workplace tool in the c’t practical test. The Schwarz Group is building a European cloud with hyperscaler ambitions. Meanwhile, Europe is discussing developing its own social platforms.

The exciting part: The discussion is shifting.

For a long time, the sovereignty debate focused mainly on one question: Are there even alternatives to the big platforms?

We now know the answer.

Nextcloud, OpenDesk, European clouds, specialized platforms – technically, many options have long existed. They are not perfect, but they work.

The real question now is:

Are organizations ready to actually use them – or are they just a Plan B for crises?

Because an ecosystem does not emerge simply because alternatives exist. It emerges because they are used in everyday life.

And that is exactly what this issue of the Weekly Backlog is about. We look at where alternatives are already working, where Europe is trying to catch up – and where reality is still much more complicated than any sovereignty strategy.

🚨 The Tech News of the Week

Nextcloud instead of Microsoft 365 – c’t shows that the workplace can function without Big Tech

Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, and Google Docs are still considered indispensable foundations of the digital workplace in many companies. Alternatives are often dismissed as interesting but supposedly difficult to use in everyday life.

A two-week practical test by the c’t editorial team paints a different picture.

The team consistently used Nextcloud – including chat, video conferencing, document editing, and file sharing. The result is surprisingly unspectacular: Collaboration just works.

Video conferences run smoothly, documents can be edited in parallel, and files are shared without issues. Above all, there is no impression in everyday life that a “compromise system” is being used.

The real difference lies elsewhere:

Nextcloud is Open Source, the code is verifiable, and the infrastructure can be fully operated under one’s own control. In times of the Cloud Act and geopolitical tensions, this point is becoming increasingly relevant for many organizations.

The test confirms one thing above all: The technical alternatives have long existed – they are just still underestimated.

🔗 https://www.heise.de/news/Nextcloud-im-Praxistest-BESSER-als-Teams-c-t-3003-11201042.html

Schleswig-Holstein throws Microsoft out of administration

Digital sovereignty is no longer just a topic for architects and CIOs – it is increasingly becoming a political issue.

Schleswig-Holstein’s Prime Minister Daniel Günther stated in a talk show with Markus Lanz that his state has consistently removed all services of major tech companies from administration.

Instead, Schleswig-Holstein relies entirely on Open Source solutions.

This makes the state likely one of the few administrative systems worldwide that has taken this step consistently.

The background is clear: Digital infrastructure is now understood as part of public service provision.

Bundling email, collaboration, cloud, and platforms entirely with individual providers creates dependencies – technically, economically, and politically.

Therefore, parallel initiatives are emerging such as:

• openDesk as an Open Source office platform for authorities
• the Center for Digital Sovereignty (ZenDiS)
• the planned Germany Stack

The central insight behind this: Digital infrastructure has long been critical infrastructure.

🔗 https://www.politik-kommunikation.de/so-werden-sie-digital-unabhaengig/

Proton Mail shows: Anonymity often ends with the payment method

A current case involving Proton Mail clearly shows where the limits of “anonymous” services lie.

The FBI was able to identify a seemingly anonymous Proton Mail account used by activists of the “Defend the Atlanta Forest” movement.

Access was gained through a mutual legal assistance treaty between the USA and Switzerland (MLAT).

Ultimately, it was not the email communication itself that was decisive – but the payment data for the paid account. The user could be identified via the credit card.

Proton emphasizes that the data was not directly transmitted to US authorities but through Swiss authorities as part of a legal process.

The case highlights a fundamental problem of modern privacy services:

Encryption protects content – metadata, infrastructure, and payment paths often significantly less.

In other words: The biggest weakness in the privacy model is often not the cryptography, but the billing process.

🔗 https://steigerlegal.ch/2026/03/06/proton-mail-nutzerdaten-fbi-usa/

Europe’s new social platforms – Vestager launches “Rebuild”

Former EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager is working on a new initiative for European online platforms.

The project Rebuild aims to bring forth new social platforms within a year – as an alternative to US and Chinese offerings.

At the launch in Copenhagen, around 200 founders and investors from Europe came together. Further meetings are planned in Helsinki and Paris.

The goal is to better network European platform projects and create new collaborations.

Interestingly, instead of directly building a “European TikTok,” many participants are focusing on specialized platforms and community niches.

Among them are:

• gutefrage.net
• Jodel
• nebenan.de

Whether this will actually create a European platform ecosystem remains open. But at least Europe seems to slowly understand that digital public space is also infrastructure.

🔗 https://www.zeit.de/digital/internet/2026-03/soziale-netzwerke-europa-rebuild-initiative-margrethe-vestager

Schwarz Digits aims to become Europe’s hyperscaler

The Schwarz Group (Lidl, Kaufland) has an ambitious goal: With Schwarz Digits, the company wants to become the largest cloud provider in Europe.

The plan includes massive investments – including 11 billion euros for a new data center in Lübbenau. The first construction phase is set to start in 2027.

The strategy is twofold:

1. Own infrastructure for the vast data volumes of the retail group
2. Cloud offerings for external customers – particularly authorities and organizations with high security requirements

Initial collaborations already exist with:

• Police of Baden-Württemberg
• Federal Employment Agency

The strategic approach is interesting: Schwarz Digits continues to rely partly on hyperscalers – but simultaneously builds European alternatives as backup and platform.

An example is openDesk, which is also used at the International Criminal Court.

The message is clear: Those who operate critical infrastructure should not be dependent on a single cloud provider.

🔗 https://www.heise.de/news/Schwarz-Digits-will-groesster-Cloud-Anbieter-Europas-werden-11201284.html

Nextcloud CEO: Digital sovereignty needs a Plan A

The founder of Nextcloud, Frank Karlitschek, criticizes the current definition of digital sovereignty by the German government.

According to the Federal Ministry for Digital and State Modernization, sovereignty mainly means: Organizations must be able to switch providers in an emergency.

Karlitschek considers this too short-sighted.

A system that exists only as a fallback does not create a functioning ecosystem. It only incurs additional costs and is rarely sufficiently maintained.

Technology only evolves where it is actually used.

As long as European alternatives exist only as backup systems, no market, no scaling, and no innovation dynamics emerge.

His conclusion:

Digital sovereignty is not a disaster recovery plan. It is a strategic decision in everyday life.

🔗 https://background.tagesspiegel.de/digitalisierung-und-ki/briefing/europas-digitale-zukunft-braucht-einen-souveraenen-plan-a

⚡ Short-News

GitHub Store brings cross-platform app store for Open Source

With GitHub Store 1.6.0, a kind of app store for Open Source software is emerging – cross-platform and directly usable from GitHub projects.

The idea: To significantly simplify the installation and distribution of Open Source tools.

🔗 https://www.heise.de/news/GitHub-Store-1-6-0-Plattformuebergreifender-App-Store-fuer-Open-Source-11196528.html

Microsoft admits recovery problem in Windows 10

After months, Microsoft confirms a glitch in the Windows recovery function. The system could no longer be restored correctly in certain cases.

The fix is coming – but much later than many admins had hoped.

🔗 https://www.golem.de/news/nach-monaten-gefixt-microsoft-gesteht-recovery-panne-unter-windows-10-2603-206117.html

US tech companies to produce their own power for AI

In the USA, there is a discussion about involving large tech companies more in the energy production for AI data centers.

The background is the massively increasing power demand of AI infrastructure.

Cloud, AI, and energy policy are thus increasingly intertwined.

🔗 https://www.golem.de/news/usa-tech-konzerne-sollen-selbst-strom-fuer-ki-produzieren-2603-206111.html

🎙 Worth Listening

When Russian hacks become a political weapon

The podcast “Netz aus Lügen – Der Hack” by the Federal Agency for Civic Education deals with the operation Ghostwriter – a disinformation campaign that uses stolen data from cyberattacks.

The pattern:

1. Compromise email accounts
2. Selectively publish data
3. Place narratives in social networks

The real damage often occurs only after the hack – when stolen information is politically instrumentalized.

An exciting look at the intersection of cyberattacks, information warfare, and politics.

🎧 https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/netz-aus-l%C3%BCgen-der-hack-1-8/id1586798728?i=1000656282846

💬 LinkedIn Debate of the Week

Digital Sovereignty or Digital Dependency?

Security expert Manuel ‘HonkHase’ Atug addresses a fundamental problem in a much-discussed LinkedIn post:

Digital power is increasingly concentrated in a few platforms.

If regulation simultaneously focuses more on surveillance than on real market control, trust in state institutions can further erode.

His demand:

• clear rules for platform markets
• understandable legislation
• genuinely enforceable regulation

The central question behind this: How can digitization strengthen prosperity and democracy – instead of creating new dependencies?

🔗 <https://www.linkedin.com/posts/manuel-honkhase-atug-820b27241_solange-die-eu-und-die-deutsche-regierung-share-7435266053082963968-8LBZ/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=