Libraries didn't stumble into vendor dependency. We were recruited.

In the late 90s and 2000s, tech companies needed the public to get online and learn their tools. Microsoft needed people who could use Office. Google needed people who could search. The path to mass adoption ran through public institutions.

Libraries were perfect partners. Trusted. Everywhere. Already in the business of teaching people how to access information.

So the money flowed. Gates Foundation grants for public computer labs. Google funding for digitization projects. Microsoft licensing deals for nonprofits. Tech companies subsidized library technology because libraries were building their user base for free.

Then social media happened. The business model shifted from "get people online" to "harvest attention and sell ads." Suddenly tech companies didn't need libraries to grow their market. They had Facebook, Instagram, YouTube. They had phones in every pocket and algorithms optimizing engagement.

The funding dried up. The partnerships ended. But the lock-in stayed.

Now libraries pay full price for the same tools we used to help popularize. We\'re not partners anymore. We\'re customers. Revenue to extract.

The Trap Snapped Shut

Here's what vendor dependency actually looks like in 2026:

Your ILS vendor got acquired twice. Support got worse. Prices went up. Your data export costs $4,800 in "professional services fees."

Your discovery system runs on servers you don't control. The contract auto-renewed because someone missed the 90-day cancellation window.

Your Microsoft 365 subscription increased 18% this year. You have no alternative because every workflow, every template, every integration assumes Microsoft.

You helped teach the public to use these tools. Now you can\'t afford them and can\'t leave them.

Europe Is Leaving

In May 2025, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court got locked out of his Microsoft account. Not because he forgot his password. Because the Trump administration sanctioned him over arrest warrants for Netanyahu.

Microsoft complied. Khan couldn't access his own files.

By October 2025, the ICC announced it was migrating all 1,800 workstations to openDesk, an open-source suite built by the German government.

They're not alone.

Denmark's Ministry of Digital Affairs is ditching Microsoft entirely. Half the staff migrates by August 2025. Full transition by autumn. The Danish Digital Minister: "We must never make ourselves so dependent on so few that we can no longer act freely."

Germany\'s Schleswig-Holstein moved 30,000 public sector employees off Microsoft in 2024. LibreOffice. Nextcloud. Linux. They\'re projecting tens of millions in savings.

The Austrian Army replaced Microsoft Office with LibreOffice. Microsoft Teams is only allowed for external communication, with strict rules: no sensitive information.

The German federal army signed a 7-year contract with openDesk.

France's Lyon is swapping Microsoft for OnlyOffice, Windows for Linux.

This isn\'t one country having a moment. This is a pattern. And they\'re using tools that exist right now, that work right now.

The Kill Switch Is Real

The ICC lockout wasn't a glitch. It was a feature.

US companies are subject to US law. The CLOUD Act means data hosted by American providers is accessible to the US government, even if it's stored in Europe. Even if your contract says otherwise.

Microsoft is offering "sovereign cloud" solutions to calm European nerves. But the CLOUD Act still applies. The kill switch still exists. It's marketing, not protection.

A German MEP said it directly: "We are being blackmailed by the current US administration and American and Chinese tech companies."

The Dutch government learned this the hard way. They specifically chose a Dutch cloud provider, Solvinity, to avoid US dependence. Then a US company acquired Solvinity in November 2025. Now the Dutch Ministry of Justice has a US firm managing their citizen authentication systems.

You can't escape by choosing carefully. You can only escape by choosing differently.

Here's What Changed: AI Flattens the Learning Curve

The old excuse for staying locked in was the learning curve. Staff know Microsoft. Workflows assume Microsoft. Switching to LibreOffice or Nextcloud meant retraining everyone.

That excuse is dead.

AI tools now sit between you and whatever software you're using. You don\'t need to memorize LibreOffice menus. You describe what you want, the AI helps you do it. The interface becomes irrelevant. The capability stays the same.

The proprietary tools were never the value. The value was getting work done. Microsoft just convinced everyone that their way was the only way to do it.

With AI, you don\'t need their tools. You need hardware and open-source software. That\'s it.

The same AI that can help you write a formula in Excel can help you write it in LibreOffice Calc. The same AI that navigates Google Drive can navigate Nextcloud. The learning curve that kept you locked in just collapsed.

What Libraries Should Do

Audit your dependencies. List every system that would break if the vendor disappeared tomorrow. List every system where you can't export your data without paying ransom fees.

Stop teaching vendor lock-in. When you offer computer classes, teach concepts, not products. "How to use a spreadsheet," not "How to use Excel." "How to manage files," not "How to use Google Drive."

Push your consortiums. State libraries and consortiums have leverage individual libraries don't. Demand open-source alternatives in shared ILS contracts. Demand data portability as a baseline requirement.

Start small. You don't have to migrate everything at once. Pick one system. Test the open-source alternative. Learn what breaks. Fix it. Then pick the next one.

Use AI to flatten the transition. Train staff on AI tools that work across platforms. The goal isn\'t mastering new software. It\'s making the software irrelevant.

The Path Out

Libraries spent decades helping Big Tech build its user base. The funding stopped. The gratitude never existed. Now we pay for the privilege of being locked in.

Europe is showing there\'s a way out. Denmark. Germany. Austria. The ICC. They\'re not waiting for permission. They're migrating.

The tools exist. OpenDesk works. Nextcloud works. LibreOffice works. Collabora works.

And now AI means you don\'t need to retrain everyone to use them. You just need to decide you're done being a customer for companies that used to treat you like a partner.

The kill switch is real. The lock-in is real. But so is the exit.

Authenticity note: With the exception of images, this post was not created with the aid of any LLM product for prose or description. It is original writing by a human librarian with opinions.