3 ms·

The situation is a lot different. The U.S. and China are not similar politically and socially, at least not yet. As a case in point, note that U.S. companies li

The situation is a lot different. The U.S. and China are not similar politically and socially, at least not yet. As a case in point, note that U.S. companies like Facebook, Twitter, Google Search, and Youtube are blocked in China, whereas people in the U.S. (and elsewhere) are free to access services like WeChat and Baidu. What's more, Europeans are free to develop their own social media platforms, and in fact I wonder why they haven't been more successful to date; there's plenty of software talent and cultural depth in Europe. It would be great to see more competition.

dijit 4y ago
Your comment frustrates me a lot, especially the second part. Not because you're wrong, but because any competition that comes up in Europe gets bought by the giants to the west, usually before they're globally known though sometimes not; I'm sure it's not entirely unknown that Skype was purchased by Microsoft at least, that was a pretty big player at the time. In terms of general tech companies there's loads, including Shazam, iZettle, Momondo, Gamesparks, spider.io, Mojang, Apiary, Sparrow etc;etc; 52 by Apple/MS/Google in the years 2011-2016. I'm honestly surprised Spotify remains. A European social network has a really high barrier to entry compared to the US ones, sure, but all that meets them if they're successful is an acquisition- or at least that does seem to be the case with most European tech startups. To your first point: I think the closeness with the CCP and closedness of the country would be fine points, my general feeling is that the US is a lot more clandestine with their methods (Snowden wiretapping of google revelations notwithstanding: most orders in the US come with stipulations that you're not allowed to speak of them). Regarding the "openness", I feel like the US is battling it with Sinophobia, I mean, based on the former Presidents words at least; rather than an outright ban as the Chinese are doing. What do you think?

dijit 4y ago

Your comment frustrates me a lot, especially the second part. Not because you're wrong, but because any competition that comes up in Europe gets bought by the giants to the west, usually before they're globally known though sometimes not; I'm sure it's not entirely unknown that Skype was purchased by Microsoft at least, that was a pretty big player at the time. In terms of general tech companies there's loads, including Shazam, iZettle, Momondo, Gamesparks, spider.io, Mojang, Apiary, Sparrow etc;etc; 52 by Apple/MS/Google in the years 2011-2016. I'm honestly surprised Spotify remains. A European social network has a really high barrier to entry compared to the US ones, sure, but all that meets them if they're successful is an acquisition- or at least that does seem to be the case with most European tech startups. To your first point: I think the closeness with the CCP and closedness of the country would be fine points, my general feeling is that the US is a lot more clandestine with their methods (Snowden wiretapping of google revelations notwithstanding: most orders in the US come with stipulations that you're not allowed to speak of them). Regarding the "openness", I feel like the US is battling it with Sinophobia, I mean, based on the former Presidents words at least; rather than an outright ban as the Chinese are doing. What do you think?