4 ms·

> it makes German government dependent The home country of Microsoft still has big and active military bases in Germany and spies even on Germany's highest pol

> it makes German government dependent The home country of Microsoft still has big and active military bases in Germany and spies even on Germany's highest politicians. If they wanted they could pulverize Germany withhin minutes. You can't honestly say that the German government is really independent under these circumstances.

adrianN 9y ago
That's the classic "we can't solve all problems at once, so we shouldn't do anything at all" argument.
- static_noise 9y ago
  You are right. It sounds like that. I actually wanted to say more: "Look, fellow Germans. We are called inudstry leader and powerhouse of Europe. We export lots of goods for money they owe us. So much that we can bankrupt other nations. Our politicians say that yes, we are a souvereign nation. At the same time we cannot protect our own borders. We give control to the EU and other nations. We let other countries fly attacks on countries we are not at war with from our own soil. We host weapons that could instantly pulverize our whole country. We are spied to up to the highest levels of government. Even down to the lowest levels we fail. We use software that we don't have the source to. Here is this little project of providing some sanity and some freedom. They use software that is actually open to look at and we are free to develop it to our needs. We can take these matters into our own hands and share our work with the world to create a part of a free and open society. Yet, we have kill this project. Not because it doesn't work. It works, just not as well as the foreign made closed software. It doesn't look as good. It is killed by some politicians who want to, yet again, give away some of our freedom to foreign corporations. They want to run the government like a company and they succeed as such. Being a company, not a government. Let's not be that stupid. Many countries have the same needs for office software. Let's work together on solutions that mutually benefit us. Let's try again. Maybe not in Munich but in the next city. Maybe not replacing everything at once but step by step creating open formats being able to run more and more open software. One day we will look back at this time as the dark ages where the latin bible (proprietary formats) could only be read by the clergy (closed software)."
  - muninn_ 9y ago
    Can't protect your own borders? What do you mean? You should be letting in more refugees. What do you mean you give control to the EU and other nations? Stop being so isolationist and xenophobic! I jest - but it's fun to see this written from a German perspective, especially when the EU is so critical of the United States and the United Kingdom over these exact things.

adrianN 9y ago

That's the classic "we can't solve all problems at once, so we shouldn't do anything at all" argument.

static_noise 9y ago
You are right. It sounds like that. I actually wanted to say more: "Look, fellow Germans. We are called inudstry leader and powerhouse of Europe. We export lots of goods for money they owe us. So much that we can bankrupt other nations. Our politicians say that yes, we are a souvereign nation. At the same time we cannot protect our own borders. We give control to the EU and other nations. We let other countries fly attacks on countries we are not at war with from our own soil. We host weapons that could instantly pulverize our whole country. We are spied to up to the highest levels of government. Even down to the lowest levels we fail. We use software that we don't have the source to. Here is this little project of providing some sanity and some freedom. They use software that is actually open to look at and we are free to develop it to our needs. We can take these matters into our own hands and share our work with the world to create a part of a free and open society. Yet, we have kill this project. Not because it doesn't work. It works, just not as well as the foreign made closed software. It doesn't look as good. It is killed by some politicians who want to, yet again, give away some of our freedom to foreign corporations. They want to run the government like a company and they succeed as such. Being a company, not a government. Let's not be that stupid. Many countries have the same needs for office software. Let's work together on solutions that mutually benefit us. Let's try again. Maybe not in Munich but in the next city. Maybe not replacing everything at once but step by step creating open formats being able to run more and more open software. One day we will look back at this time as the dark ages where the latin bible (proprietary formats) could only be read by the clergy (closed software)."
- muninn_ 9y ago
  Can't protect your own borders? What do you mean? You should be letting in more refugees. What do you mean you give control to the EU and other nations? Stop being so isolationist and xenophobic! I jest - but it's fun to see this written from a German perspective, especially when the EU is so critical of the United States and the United Kingdom over these exact things.