- cross-posted to:
- dobre@szmer.info
- buyeuropean@feddit.uk
- cross-posted to:
- dobre@szmer.info
- buyeuropean@feddit.uk
You must log in or # to comment.
Every euro country or agency that has done or announced this has simply used it to extract concessions from Microsoft and either stayed with or switched back to windows.
I thought this program was still going no? https://www.raconteur.net/technology/schleswig-holstein-open-source
There was the Munich public administration before that ran everything on Linux 2003-2017 until MS paid for a big new HQ in Munich - I don’t know if the then mayor, Dieter Rieter, had any direct incentives. The French Gendarmerie have been using their version of Linux too (Gendbuntu) since 2005. Regions of the PA in Spain use it too. It’s also fairly common in European militaries.
Thanks. The big driver was the EU’s European Interoperability Framework (first version 2004), which promoted: Open standards, Vendor neutrality, Long-term accessibility of public data. It was envisioned for public administration, businesses and citizens: And notably the framework was updated 2015-2017 - the period the Munich administration steered away from it. Though I see they are now saying they should reconsider their move to MS, or maybe that’s just a negotiation tactic.
Afaik it is, but it only started in 2024…
Right, but I would imagine now there’s going to be more pressure to become less dependent on US tech with the US becoming openly hostile to Europe.
Doubtful. Us hostility to Europe is overwhelmingly in rhetoric rather than deed and on the off chance that tech independence is a European ambition (to the extent that a European identity, let alone European governing body survives prolonged American hostile deeds) the smart play is to use an open software test case to figure out what your requirements are then get a contractor like Microsoft to fulfill them even if that means making a spinoff company.
Even if the idea of some kind of libre Europe wasn’t idealistic utopian thinking, its actual existence would be just another elephant on the open source dance floor to be avoided, not a powerful ally to be celebrated.
I disagree, Europe simply doesn’t hold the same strategic relevance for the US as it did in the days of the Cold War. The tariffs under Trump and the Inflation Reduction Act under Biden were both direct economic attacks on Europe. Blowing up Nord Stream was also an attack on European economy. Europe is also one of the main victims in the current war on Iran being further cut off from energy. If Europeans still don’t understand that the US is going to cannibalize whatever industry from Europe that it can and turn it into a cheap labor market, then they deserve everything that’s coming to them.
I kind of agree with you but the whole point of the eurozone and eu was to elevate the interests held in common across the region to avoid balkanization and competition between constituent states.
Once the us is aligned against that construction the cheese stands alone and European crack up is inevitable.
Of course American anti euro aktion has overwhelmingly been in word instead of deed, despite your handful of good examples.
It’s very likely that European politicians will follow their unique european polities and place the interests of their individual nations over the interests of their region.
The handful examples are incredibly consequential. Europe is basically entirely dependent on the US for energy. And with energy prices in the US being around three times lower, the US is using that as leverage to lure industry away from Europe. The US is also actively meddling in European politics and uses their social media platforms to shape public opinion in Europe.
It’s kind of hard to see what positive actions the US has taken towards Europe over the past few years. It’s an abusive relationship where Europe continues to accept one humiliation after another.
Now that the Iran fiasco looks to have failed, it’s entirely possible that Trump will remember about Greenland again. Meanwhile, there’s very little indication that EU actually does much of anything to protect any common interests. The EU immediately folded in the trade war with the US, while China and many other countries held firm.
If France goes through with this I retract the sillier half of shit I have said about france.
I’m sure they look forward to you waving their flag in surrender 🏳️
Lmao
Can’t wait for Schleswig-Holstein and France to fight distro proxy wars.
deleted by creator
Wexit? Windexit?
Windone.
Windon’t
Defenestrit
I have this mental image of a migration like this leading to critical mass and the Year of the Linux Desktop, but has something like this ever lead to a significant upsrtreaming of improvements or new features?
I’d argue SteamOS has done a lot for Wine. Nowadays, a huge chunk of Windows games works on Linux seamlessly. If governments start mandating Linux, then every company working with the government will be forced to be Linux compatible as well. That means having file formats that work natively on Linux, drivers, and all the other things that come with mainstream use.
would also probably mean more contributions to wine to support legacy software
What is “The Year of the Linux Desktop” exactly? How do we measure this exactly and what does that even mean? (I use that phrase for memes usually.)
