EU Plots To Abandon US Tech (politico.eu) 119
Ancient Slashdot reader whitroth shares a report from Politico, with the caption: "shutting down Microsoft Office for the International Criminal Court (ICC) was clearly a wake-up call." From the report: The EU is moving to counter American dominance in technology by reaching for one of the oldest tools in its arsenal: industrial strategy. As the European Commission unveiled a plan Wednesday to reduce Europe's reliance on the foreign technology providers that underpin the modern economy, it was careful to stress that it was not picking a fight with U.S. digital giants. Instead, the tech sovereignty package -- motivated in no small part by U.S. President Donald Trump's weaponization of Europe's dependence on American firms -- takes a longer-term view: boost the continent's players so they can eventually challenge their U.S. rivals.
[...] If adopted, the package will direct public money toward products that contribute to Europe's economy and independence from foreign firms; cut red tape for data centers; beef up research and innovation through "leadership initiatives"; incentivize countries to share digital capacities in a new "Eurocloud" forum; and require EU governments to come up with national strategies to boost the adoption of cutting-edge tech, including AI. The package will also seek to ramp up the bloc's demand for advanced chips -- a response to criticism by the industry -- with a series of industrial initiatives to revise a 2023 chips law.
[...] As part of its proposal to keep a list of trustworthy countries, the Commission would require EU governments to run a so-called "sovereignty risk assessment" for every digital service they rely on, measuring foreign control, potential access to sensitive data and the risk of operational disruption. Within a year, they would have to determine the appropriate level of protection for each public sector and procure digital services accordingly -- unless they can prove doing so would come at a "disproportionate cost," the proposal reads. However, the Commission reserves the right to overrule their assessment in future legislation if it believes they downplayed the risks. The Commission estimated that just one percent of Europe's public services are so sensitive that they would be required under the proposed certification scheme to rely on the strict level that totally excludes foreign technology. "We cannot afford to depend on others for the technologies that keep our hospitals running, our energy grids stable and our services secure," Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement. "This is about protecting our citizens, defending our interests and making our own choices."
[...] If adopted, the package will direct public money toward products that contribute to Europe's economy and independence from foreign firms; cut red tape for data centers; beef up research and innovation through "leadership initiatives"; incentivize countries to share digital capacities in a new "Eurocloud" forum; and require EU governments to come up with national strategies to boost the adoption of cutting-edge tech, including AI. The package will also seek to ramp up the bloc's demand for advanced chips -- a response to criticism by the industry -- with a series of industrial initiatives to revise a 2023 chips law.
[...] As part of its proposal to keep a list of trustworthy countries, the Commission would require EU governments to run a so-called "sovereignty risk assessment" for every digital service they rely on, measuring foreign control, potential access to sensitive data and the risk of operational disruption. Within a year, they would have to determine the appropriate level of protection for each public sector and procure digital services accordingly -- unless they can prove doing so would come at a "disproportionate cost," the proposal reads. However, the Commission reserves the right to overrule their assessment in future legislation if it believes they downplayed the risks. The Commission estimated that just one percent of Europe's public services are so sensitive that they would be required under the proposed certification scheme to rely on the strict level that totally excludes foreign technology. "We cannot afford to depend on others for the technologies that keep our hospitals running, our energy grids stable and our services secure," Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement. "This is about protecting our citizens, defending our interests and making our own choices."
Stupid is as stupid does (Score:5, Insightful)
There are some guns you can only fire once, so you save that shot for only the most existential of risks.
If you're the US you do it on a whim, and it not only never works again but you damage political and business relationships that reduce your nation's influence and hurt your economy.
Re:Stupid is as stupid does (Score:4, Insightful)
Thanks, Trump
Trump is a symptom, not a cause (Score:2)
AI makes software a much cheaper commodity and Law of Demeter is superceding the aging framework of fiat currency.
https://www.scry.llc/2025/05/0... [scry.llc]
"Monetary reality shapes resource use and efficiency. The Age Of Fiat created enormous dysfunctionality and dislocation of resources which will likely reverse soon"
https://www.scry.llc/2025/12/0... [scry.llc]
"Globalism is an artifact of a transitional condition: widespread acceptance of fiat currency. As its masking power weakens, organizations like the BRICS countries are
Re: (Score:3)
Law of Demeter [wikipedia.org] is about software development, not about economics.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3)
If the EU switches to open source, it will be the best thing Trump has done. Literally.
Its like software patents. Its not the patents that are good, but the incentive to work around them.
Re: (Score:1)
but the incentive to work around them.
The reason why most countries do not honour/support/have software patents is: you can work around a simple principle.
Or you have to hope no one patented bubble sort, and every time a new patented sort algorithm pops up: you have to work around it and use good old bubble sort.
Or as Donald Knuth is supposed to once have said: if I give my students a task, then I expect 3 or 4 solutions, and each solution will be very similar for the students who came up with it.
What is ne
Re:Stupid is as stupid does (Score:4)
I am not sure. With his attack on Iran he may have done massive good for decarbonization and climate protection. Not what he intended, of course.
But his biggest achievement will doubtlessly be ending the American Century. It was about time.
Re: (Score:2)
Keep in mind that the "American Century" included nuclear nonproliferation. Which, to be sure, was already on life support. But it's dead now. We're all going to miss that.
It also included the US Navy guaranteeing freedom of navigation. We're going to miss that, too.
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
Thanks, Trump
He can't hear you over all the WINNING!
Re: (Score:2)
I agree with every word you just said, except one.
This will help the US economy, not hurt it. American businesses paying for a commodity as mundane as Microsoft Office, year after year, is an unnecessarily taxing parasitic drag. If this can be eliminated, all the better for every American.
(Well, except for the ones who own a piece of that one company, but fuck them.)
Re: (Score:2)
I agree with every word you just said, except one.
This will help the US economy, not hurt it. American businesses paying for a commodity as mundane as Microsoft Office, year after year, is an unnecessarily taxing parasitic drag. If this can be eliminated, all the better for every American.
(Well, except for the ones who own a piece of that one company, but fuck them.)
While it could be a win, if we (the U.S.) adopt whatever the EU is working on, or our own version of it, I would expect that our backward-ass leaders will instead get all nationalistic and prideful of the "homegrown" Microsoft monopoly and start throwing propaganda around about how evil the alternative(s) may be. And our population appears to be stupid enough to suck that up without question. After all, we elected Trump twice, and even now, when it's destroying people economically and making us look like co
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Funny how disconnected and completely without insight people can get. And notice nothing. You are a really striking example.
So, no, the GDPR is not actually hard to navigate, except if you plan to abuse and circumvent it. Then it it becomes a nightmare.
Tech sovereignty is a survival need. Good on 'em! (Score:5, Insightful)
US tech is a threat to everyone not of the Epstein class who control it. The US is a business, not a country, and stands for nothing but profit.
That has many practical rewards but no reasons exist to subordinate one's own nation and people to the American kleptarchy which is best kept at a distance.
Re:Tech sovereignty is a survival need. Good on 'e (Score:5, Interesting)
You will note that Europe isn't busy doing the same thing with Chinese electronics and software. That's because as brutal a regime as China is they are at least predictable. As long as the money flows they're not going to do anything too crazy.
In the era of a second term of trump that is no longer true for america. All bets are off and God only knows what's going to happen.
I don't think people really can process just how crazy it is that the president of the United States threatened to seize Greenland by force and that the only reason he stopped is that Congress told him no. And to be clear not all of Congress just enough of it that he had to listen on that one issue...
At a certain point crazy is so fucking crazy that while intellectually you know it's there emotionally you can't really process it. It's what I call the Dick Cheney effect.
Re: (Score:1, Insightful)
Re: Tech sovereignty is a survival need. Good on ' (Score:2)
Did you seriously write that comment or are you just a AI chatbot? Honestly can't tell the difference anymore.
You never could, and you were never intended to. It wasn't within the project scope.
Re: (Score:2)
You might want to look up how EU is actively removing Chinese tech from telecommunication hardware (networking equipment, not end-user phones)
Re: (Score:2)
as brutal a regime as China is they are at least predictable. As long as the money flows they're not going to do anything too crazy.
That is a hope.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
That's because as brutal a regime as China is they are at least predictable.
In China nothing is brutal since over 30 years.
Unlike USA it is a fine working striving democracy - stop repeating your stupid US propaganda.
Re: (Score:2)
Europe is moving against China too. There is going to be a per-package fee of 3 Euro, to make it harder for sites like AliExpress and Temu to sell into the EU. I don't like that, it's just propping up middle-men who do nothing by add an extra zero to the price of things. Even with it, buying direct from China will still be cheaper.
They haven't gone as dumb as banning DJI drones and non-EU routers yet.
Re: Tech sovereignty is a survival need. Good on ' (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
I like to buy European products, but often they either don't make what I want, or the price is 10-100x what I can get it from China for. There are limits to how far I will go to support local businesses.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
US tech is a threat to everyone not of the Epstein class who control it. The US is a business, not a country, and stands for nothing but profit.
so is the eu, just a shabbier business. i have always said that any public service should be run on entirely on opensource, by principle and for transparency, redundancy and accountability, but this will be just replacing us-epstein control with eu-epstein control, neither gives a damn about the public. given the growing intolerance, bigotry and authoritarianism in the eu this is going to suck and will be an opportinuty to fuck over the public even more. and ofc another massive grift incoming to repackage o
EU will not Deregulate To Accomplish This (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:EU will not Deregulate To Accomplish This (Score:5, Informative)
The EU has already massively regulated software environment through GDPR, DSA, CRA, the AI Act, and more.
Literally all companies currently operating in the EU, including US tech giants are required to comply with these too. There is this fantasy that regulation alone prevents alternative players in the EU when in reality the "persecution" of US tech companies (as the US government would tell the story) is nothing more than actually demonstrating there's a level playing field.
EU companies face so many hurdles around compliance that's its basically impossible to create a startup without backing by billionaires
The EU has literally countless software companies including startups. One of the major players in AI is French. Heck the *original* AI company (now owned by Google) was UK based - back when they were under the full EU regulations. The problem isn't startups, the problem is getting US companies to fuck off and stop destroying competition through acquisition (e.g. Kyndryl is the world's largest data services provider with double digit billions in the bank. Why don't they build their own datacentre in the Netherlands instead of attempting to purchase Solvinity?)
many of whom have publicly stated they would never start a software company in the EU for these reasons
Yes billionaires prefer to invest is regulatory markets that allow the fucking over of the population and the development of wholesale monopolies. My friend, you can keep your billionaires. Don't want them.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Billionaires investing in the US doesn't mean fucking over anyone ...
Billionaires in the US only invest there because they pay next to no income tax. The consequence of that is that the middle class gradually disappears. The remaining non-one-percenters work two or more jobs to stay afloat and are only one paycheque, health crisis, or vehicle failure away from financial ruin.
So tell me again how "investing in the US doesn't mean fucking over anyone".
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, billionaires pay little to no income tax (or more accurately: capital gains tax or tax on dividend). Yes, the middle class is gradually disappearing. But no, one is not a consequence of the other. Taxing billionaires on realized gains is not going to bring in enough revenue to save the middle class. The middle class is not being squeezed out by taxe
Re:EU will not Deregulate To Accomplish This (Score:5, Insightful)
That is really insightless nonsense. I have done GDPR audits for companies as small as 5 people working there. It takes one person with a working brain a few days to figure this out. That is, unless you plan to steal your customer's data and use every loophole available. Then it gets really tricky. And that is why the billionaires complain and useful idiots believe this nonsense.
Re: (Score:2)
That is really insightless nonsense. I have done GDPR audits for companies as small as 5 people working there. It takes one person with a working brain a few days to figure this out. That is, unless you plan to steal your customer's data and use every loophole available. Then it gets really tricky. And that is why the billionaires complain and useful idiots believe this nonsense.
If I had a mod point, you'd get it.
Re: EU will not Deregulate To Accomplish This (Score:2)
They can fine them all they want, but they'll have no means of collecting on it. Like...ever. They could possibly do what France did when they kidnapped the telegram CEO because the app doesn't comply with French censorship requirements. But afaik, they never really got anything from that. All the board really has to do, in either case, is appoint a new CEO instead of paying the ransom.
Re: (Score:2)
Oh, they will collect. The US earns a lot of money processing data for EU companies. After the Schrems II ruling this is dependent on the EU being able to enforce its laws in the US whenever data of EU citizens gets processed.
Re:EU will not Deregulate To Accomplish This (Score:4, Informative)
You are an idiot. The GDPR applies to Clearview because it stole data from EU citizens that were in the EU at that time.
Re:EU will not Deregulate To Accomplish This (Score:4, Funny)
Shhhh... They're still basking in the warm glow of having come up with something as clever as "EUSSR".
Re: EU will not Deregulate To Accomplish This (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
EU regulators were perfectly capable of blocking any US purchase of EU companies at any time.
Without due process? Basically a law suit?
Nope.
Re:EU will not Deregulate To Accomplish This (Score:5, Insightful)
I used to work for a small German software company for 11 years. That company used to be a world leader in its specific niche. Only left after the company has been acquired by an American company which turned everything to shit.
EU regulations can be a pain in the arse sometimes, but they aren't the problem. American businesses having easy access to stupid money that they use to get rid of European competitor is the problem.
Re: (Score:1)
You take Unix (Linux nowadays) and C, then develop platform toolboxes like C++ standardize those, you have the European regulatory environment. Beyond that is the Open Source and Regional development efforts that are now mature. The entire world was content to consider Unix and C the standards and rightly so. Going back 40 years or so, we have Java, Office productivity, then corps like SAP very much not just US efforts.
Dude deregulation isn't a panacea (Score:4, Informative)
Deregulating isn't going to create some magical world of competition and wonder and beauty. All it's going to do is what a handful of psychopaths abuse people's privacy and civil rights. Basically the exact same problem the United States has right now where finance Bros have used technology to do all sorts of fucked up shit and get us to where we are right now.
All Europe has to do if it wants to compete with Microsoft is take government money and dump it into software. That's it. Most of the software they need is already 60 to 80% of the way there. After that all you have to do is mandate the use of that software to interoperate with the government and with government contracts and everyone has to follow along because government contracts are worth way too much money to blow them off. It really is that simple and it's only corruption that prevents it from happening.
Every few years Europe threatens to dump Microsoft and Microsoft comes in and gives them tens of millions of dollars worth of free software and free support. This is been going on for at least as long as I've been paying attention and that's going on 30 years.
The reason we are here talking about this shit is because this doesn't look like another cycle of Europe pressuring Microsoft for free support, free software and discounts but instead they are legitimately trying to decouple themselves from America because America has gone bad shit crazy with right-wing extremism and the kind of laissez-faire bullshit that you're talking about when it comes to quote unquote deregulation.
What you're suggesting is basically Europe traveling the exact same road that the United States did which is the exact reason Europe doesn't want to buy software from the United States anymore. Counterproductive doesn't even begin to cover it. That would be batshit insanity.
Re:Dude deregulation isn't a panacea (Score:5, Informative)
Indeed. But the crap MS does stops now. I have no idea how they could be so incredibly stupid to block the ICC accounts or, recently, leak the names of Swedish Government Regulators to the US Congress. Yes, they are required to do this by law (just a "maybe" for the first case), but it seems MS has not fought back one bit and they did not really oppose the Cloud Act when they could have when either.
It is now exceptionally clear to any government and most companies on the planet that US companies like Microsoft can disable your MS-based IT when the US administration wants them to do so for arbitrary reasons or personal vengeance but the regime leader and can also steal all your data in there and hand it to the US administration. That completely removes any longer-term future for this tech outside of the US.
It'll depend on how the midterms go I think (Score:2)
The basic question is will America return to some semblance of sanity with the economy crashing and gas prices skyrocketing or will they just keep doubling down on more Trump. There have been several primary elections where Trump backed candidates won though. So it's not looking good. The basic problem is American voters ei
Re:EU will not Deregulate To Accomplish This (Score:5, Informative)
That is some fine FUD you have there. For example, the only time the GDPR gets tricky is when you plan to abuse and circumvent it. You should not believe the propaganda the billionaires put out. It rots your brain.
Re: (Score:1)
On the other hand, EU has hundreds of companies that offer data center services for start ups, that handle all the legal requirements.
You are not supposed to "start up" and your first steps are implementing a legislation conform infrastructure.
Okay then, that was always allowed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Look at Microsoft history and then tell me about alternatives. If Microsoft sold MSOffice from the start there would be no MSOffice today. If the US is so great why are so many US companies based in Ireland?
Nationalism is basic social welfare for billionaires. Look at MAGA how it's destroying the constitution for the sake of Merica and its billionaires. Hurrah!
Europe is approaching this as some flex on the US because the US with it's orange clown decided that that's what needs to happen. It's not just Europ
Re: (Score:3)
The EU is not "flexing" at all. That is just the deranged framing the US media puts on things. This has been quietly going on for quite some time, it just became more public and urgent as the US regime leader turns more and more insane.
Re: (Score:1)
And we did. See LibreOffice/OpenOffice, formerly known as StarOffice ... ... (an Apple product most people don't know)
Or Ragtime
Re: Okay then, that was always allowed (Score:2)
It was allowed, it just didn't seem necessary. More like a senseless duplication of effort.
That's changed now.
Re:Okay then, that was always allowed (Score:4, Insightful)
The whole thing reminds me of Jerry walking out of the daycare in Rick and Morty. Yes, that was always allowed.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Europe should have been allowing, recommending, and actively promoting the creation of their own software their entire time... Yes, that was always allowed.
Europe had a business partner - the US - who had been (relatively) stable, predictable, reasonable, and trustworthy for many decades. Why would they duplicate the dev effort and take on the expense of creating software which would then make it more difficult to interoperate with their American business / trade partner?
I agree with you that they should have taken the hit in the name of redundancy, resilience, and independence. That's easy to see in hindsight; but when a situation evolves slowly, the need to
Re: (Score:2)
Why would they duplicate the dev effort and take on the expense of creating software which would then make it more difficult to interoperate with their American business / trade partner?
Because the American product they were getting, Windows, was shit?
Re: (Score:2)
Tell me again, what permits EU companies to have their customer data on systems that can be accessed by the American goverment? Isn't it currently 'standard contractual terms'? If so, why wasn't this the first to be torn up?
Re: (Score:2)
At this time, the new rules put in place after the Schrems II ruling still allow that. But they might not do so for much longer. Putting any EU citizen's personal data into O365 may already be technically illegal now.
Income and Salaries will be the Judge (Score:4, Interesting)
I have worked for many us companies where large parts of their engineering and development and other highly technical departments were actually based out of Europe with plenty of European employees because the American companies were willing to pay that much salary and income for those European Nationals to work for foreign companies, which in this case are fully us-based company in the high-tech sector .
Unless the salaries and income for those European employees who want to work for a European company start matching or surpassing those salaries that they could make as a foreign worker for US tech firm, then Europe will not be able to persuade any of the European tech workers that are currently employed by hundreds of US firms changing their employer allegiance to a European employer.
The only time in my multi-decade career in technology and consulting have I actually worked for a european-based company within America for a US non-technical large Fortune 100 company. The principal owner of my contract was a large European IT firm well known for many things who then contracted me out to an American company here that was not a technology company. It was a good contract but it only lasted a few years and then it went away once the project ended.
Punish and Tax EU Nations Working for US Firms
But fundamentally that choice came down to who is willing to pay more money for employees unless Europe starts to impose some additional taxes on those European Nationals who are foreign workers to US tech firms to punish them for working outside of EU, which sounds exactly which is what they would probably try to do based on the EU heavy regulation that they just love to impose on everyone and rightfully so based on their own ideologies.
Re: (Score:3)
Knowing what people get paid here (Europe) and what other benefits people get, I do not see your argument. Maybe you have no clue what you are talking about?
Digital Equipment Corporation (Score:2)
What does a defunct US tech firm have to do with this story? Every time I see a story about AI I get angry. Then I see stories like this and think well... some editors deserve to lose their job to computers.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Mouse-over your name to the upper right, select "Options", then under "Layout" uncheck "Icons" and save. No more Borg Gates, No more DEC logo. One less thing to get worked up about.
Re: (Score:2)
Fear not! It's entirely possible the category was chosen by an AI. Editorial automation would probably reduce the error rate here.
Project Status Report? (Score:4, Interesting)
The story announcing the International Criminal Court (ICC) leaving Microsoft Office is 8 months old now. Is there any status report on the project? Or, have they abandoned the plan already?
Re: (Score:2)
If it's still ongoing or cancelled should be a warning to everybody of the risk of being tied to Microsoft.
Re: (Score:2)
And the year of the desktop (Score:1)
These announcements pop-up periodically through the years. When the non us tech inevitably lixus based we will get article able this being the year of the Linux desktop. It's cyclical and stupid.
About time! (Score:2)
Replacing the Digital Equipment Corporation tech is at least 40 years overdue. And for Slashdot to change the logo, too.
Good Luck (Score:2)
And I mean that sincerely. Without meaningful competition, progress tends to slow, and everyone can agree current US tech companies could use some competition at the moment.
That being said, no country on this Earth can completely and absolutely decouple from US made goods and services while maintaining a modern computing and networking stack. China is struggling to do that at the moment, and they have the best potential opportunity to succeed.
The EU cannot produce a modern homegrown CPU that does not have U
Re:Good Luck (Score:4, Informative)
> The EU cannot produce a modern homegrown CPU that does not have US technology embedded in it.
ARM was produced in the UK at the time the UK was part of the EC/EU. And a quick looksee at CPU development over the decades shows there's no US monopoly in producing CPUs.
As for GNU/Linux, sure, GNU is American, but it's free, why not use it if it's not there free for the taking. But at the time GNU/Linux was released, Minix was virtually as functional - had Tanenbaum released it under the GPL or a more permissive license, there's a good chance - given Linux's history - we'd be using Minix with the Linux kernel today.
Meanwhile if you're watching TV or listening to music today, you're using technology primarily designed in Europe - just ask the Fraunhoffer institute how much they've raked in in royalties over the years. If you're using a web browser, congrats, that started as a European project. Using a 4G phone? You're using LTE, the latest version of GSM, and guess where that started.
Nothing you're saying seems to be based upon anything logical or sane beyond "Rah rah Americans superior, Euros suck". It doesn't make any sense. Technology development is world wide, your PC is made up of technologies developed in the US, in Europe, in China, in Japan, in Taiwan, all over the word.
And China, the EU, and the US, are large enough that they can build the entire stack at home if they want.
Re: Good Luck (Score:2)
> Nothing you're saying seems to be based upon anything logical or sane
This stated goal of the EU is neither logical nor sane. And the smart people they need to actually build their homegrown versions of their view of a sovereign tech stack have probably told them that numerous times to no avail.
There simply is no infrastructure on this Earth in 2026 that can be leveraged to create an entirely free-from-US-components computing stack that is also modern. And it would be insane to even think that one could
Re: (Score:2)
Minix was virtually as functional - had Tanenbaum released it under the GPL or a more permissive license, there's a good chance - given Linux's history - we'd be using Minix with the Linux kernel today.
No. GNU was taking over Unix before Linux even existed. Unix sysadmins were installing GNU tools as fast as they could from early days.
Re: (Score:1)
ARM processors ... or we revive Transputers :P ... ...
Well we have at least two German companies crafting optical CPUs/TPUs.
Linux is Finnish
MySQL/MariaDB
And so on.
Sure, as most modern things are open source, there are plenty of US citizens as contributors.
I would not really call that "US made", like for example an Intel CPU or Apple Silicon.
I can't disagree (Score:2)
American big tech is untrustworthy at its core. In the boardroom, in the back room, and in the data center. They have no guard rails, no good law (at the present) that makes them play nice. I think that not just Europe needs to be looking at digital sovereignty. Japan, Australia, Canada, are you listening? Most of the big tech companies CAN'T be trusted, so now it's time to start rolling your own, so to speak. Good luck.
EU Depenency (Score:1)
Re: EU Depenency (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Punch cards and the 35 hour work week... (Score:1)
Europe does not demand the productivity (35 hour work week?) from its workers that US companies have traditionally demanded. The less regulated US system lets entrepreneurs work 120 hour weeks with the intension of making big bucks and being able to keep that wealth. This seems to be changing. But If the US did not exist, I wonder if we would all still be programming using punch cards.
Re: (Score:3)
American exceptionalism is such fun to watch. One cannot help but be amused by the irony of a country full of people who believe a 120 hour work week leads to innovation, but who have somehow managed to forget that European and Japanese auto manufacturers have been eating the lunch of their US counterparts for decades. Ralph Nader wrote "Unsafe At Any Speed" back in the 60s, fer crapsake, but most of the improvements in US automobiles came about only because of pressure from technologically superior impor
Re: (Score:1)
but most of the improvements in US automobiles came about only because of pressure from technologically superior imports. :D
Interesting wording
Actually one would need to admit: they could not export their shit anymore if they did not follow the (safety and other) regulations of the countries they import(ed) from.
On top of that, in the EU it is a rule (not law, but laws get updated accordingly), that when a technology is ten years old: it becomes mandatory for new cars (an airplanes and such).
Of course it i
Inconsistency (Score:3)
After WWII, the thought was that increasing trade and cooperation would reduce conflict.
It did for a while, then governments started using trade as a weapon.
Re: (Score:2)
It's intellectual laziness. Our rulers are just people, after all.
The goal should have been self-sufficiency on critical infrastructure and food supply, then let non-critical trade build relationships and trust over time.
That and a global NATO-like club with a rule like "everyone is obligated to take action against a member who attacks another member" for military security.
It's still not perfect, because people lie, but there's nothing you can do about that.
US Tech = EU Income from fines (Score:1)
If the EU wants to establish tech sovereignty that's a good thing for them, but it does not look too likely to me. Their Linux and Free Software adoption will probably be a success, but successful proprietary software from the EU is quite rare. The EU has been propping up its revenue for several years by imposing enormous cash penalties on US tech companies instead of nurturing their own tech companies and collecting taxes from them. The EU regulatory state will make it very difficult for anyone to start
Nonsense. The EU isn't "plotting" anything. (Score:4, Insightful)
It's only that now, roughly 25 years late, even the dimest of dimwitts in the political sphere have noticed that proprietary software is shitty by design and expensive and thus plan to move to FOSS rather than continue spending trillions of Euros on software that experts have downloaded for free and in better quality from the intarwebs for decades now. One should never say never I guess.
It's only by coincidence that that software (mostly) happens to come out of the US. Which is totally beside the point of why FOSS is gaining traction anyway. FOSS from the US will certainly be part of that transition too.
Meanwhile... (Score:2)
And then there is all the banking apps that also promote the Play Store - App Store duopoly, despite banks being heavily regulated by both the EU and the member-states.
So, the EU can start its "tech independence" journey fro
Re: (Score:2)
Good, MS is cutting off 2019-21 paid owners (Score:2)
Re:euPhone? (Score:4, Interesting)
The Jollaphone with with SailfishOS. https://sailfishos.org/ [sailfishos.org] is the big one.
I think American's don't understand that the US has slowly gone overboard with things like AI that don't fit the values of other countries. This website even often has articles about how Europe's economy is falling behind while ignoring the priorities of people in these countries.
The more I have to interact with AI in private spaces outside of work, the more convinced that the assassination of some of the AI CEOs are coming. Particularly with AI, the US Big Tech is raping everyone around them while wondering why they don't like it. This is from the living conditions around AI Datacenters, to no way to opt out in apps for handling family photos or family chats. It is no longer a "I can just ignore it" type of thing with the current perverse pervasiveness.
Re: (Score:1)
I blame *Layer 7* we never needed it.
Re: (Score:2)
"I think American's don't understand that the US has slowly gone overboard with things like AI that don't fit the values of other countries."
LOL This shit doesn't fit the value of any country, unless its' a country club for Billionaires. I'm from the US and we are OFF the RAILS here, but things
are going to starting happening NOW....
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Same with my Fairphone 4. Does what it should and is currently on Android 15. Had to replace the battery once, a 5 minute task, including the time for ordering a new one.
Re: (Score:2)
When will the people be able to purchase the euPhone?
And will the phone be euPhonious? I guess it must, by definition! ;-)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
... all European countries have to do is keep importing millions of 3rd world Muslims and they'll soon be another poor, tyrannical Islamic hell hole.
I'll humour you for a moment and pretend that your fantasy is based in fact. Given that - and speaking as a Canadian - I'm not entirely sure that living in a "poor, tyrannical Islamic hell hole" is worse than living in the "poor, tyrannical Christian hell hole" that my country would become if American conquerors imported millions of themselves into Canada. And that's what der Trumpenfuhrer keeps threatening to do.
Re: (Score:3)
Yes. Evangelicals and other Christian fanatics are really no better than Muslim fanatics, they are just better organized and more sneaky. All fanatics are bad. Period. All fanatics are loud and try to rule the world. And all fanatics try to force others to think their way. They are the one group in the human race (besides the Billionaires these days) that must be carefully controlled and limited and, if needed, suppressed. Because if that does not happen, then everything goes to shit.
Also refer to "The Para
Re: (Score:2)
Yep, I see that happening every day and I am scared! Well, if there were any truth to this deranged claim. There is not.