>> Not really.
Yes. Scanning on the network port or scanning on in the inboxes is exactly the same. The purpose of the scan could be the same. Automated or human does not make a difference. Compromised is compromised.

>> Much of electronic collection is metadata
No. This is theory. In practice, they record everything for later (mis)use :
http://gawker.com/5991731/cias...
http://www.theguardian.com/com...

>> Not to mention that even if they aren't looking inside mailboxes for these images, they probably do scan messages traversing their network

Which is exactly the same than opening your mailbox.

>> Someone gets an Office file, modifies it with LO, sends it back. Then they receive the e-mail "hey buddy, everything looks wrong". What happens now?

Not a problem. Everybody uses Libre, and that's the whole point of migrations well done.

>> How much of those €1M savings will be used to sponsor LibreOffice?
Don't know for toulouse, but Munich contributed a lot back, in the form of a kind of frameword, at least.

>> Can we please hear a "status update" of these cities or governments switching to OSS?
https://media.ccc.de/browse/co...
https://www.google.com/search?...

>> Try using LibreOffice in a typical business environment for a couple of weeks

I use it for 3 years now, with shitty xlsx and docx from colleagues, no problem.
Compatibility issues in Libre have faded away since years.

>> I have never found anything better than the Outlook / Exchange combo for outright business usage
You probably have never tried lightning + thunderbird

>> Hello, how about savings or losses in productivity from having to convert all the documents or not being able to read stuff sent from other places who are insistant on MS Word?

Two answers :
- compatibility problems have mostly faded in the last few years
- new laws are coming out slowly in the EU to force administrations to use odf -> Libreoffice is a big advantage.

>> How do you automate detection and deployment of important security updates
apt-get.

>> You would use a 9-year-long migration as a success story?
Yep. Better think an plan before acting wildly. It was a migration done in 3 steps, there's a lot of doc online on it.

>> Also, Excel has many useful features not in Calc
VB is bad :)

>> Instead of hiring 10 cheap indians...

We do not hire "cheap indians" here in France. We use french speaking staffonly.

>> thinking "libreoffice" was french-made.
Nooooo. Never. Absolument impossible. "office" is an english word, it's fobidden by law to use too much english words. It would have been "Bureau Libéré"

>> That plus the fact that Linux lacks 3rd party app support

No.
3rd party apps lack linux support.

Just use Linux.

PDF is editable...

>> Can they also put a switch in this to make Office usable?

Just install Libreoffice.... Or Linux with LO.