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linked letter to share holders by Palantine (https://www.palantir.com/newsroom/letters/letter-to-shareholders/november-7-2022/en/ https://www.palantir.com/newsr

linked letter to share holders by Palantine (https://www.palantir.com/newsroom/letters/letter-to-shareholders/november-7-2022/en/ https://www.palantir.com/newsroom/letters/letter-to-sharehol...) : "It has been our experience, however, that some countries, particularly in continental Europe, including Germany, have fallen behind the United States in their willingness and ability to implement enterprise software systems that challenge existing habits and modes of operation. There have been repeated attempts to build replicas of Silicon Valley in continental Europe, in Germany and elsewhere, but the results have been decidedly mixed. We have found that large institutions in the United States have been far more willing to investigate the most significant sources of systemic dysfunction within their organizations, which in the current moment often relate to the ability or rather inability of an institution to metabolize its own data." Honestly I feel the opposite in this high level description of cultural difference but it is the only rationalisation of the CEO who is very likely pissed off by data protection. Oh boy, at least they are honest in their arrogance.

hef19898 4y ago
Well, Palantir is a glorified spreadsheet provider whose only selling point is access to a ton of data its clients could not have otherwise. Their sales people are pretty good so, kind of the equivalent of the stereotypical IBM or SAP sales rep.
kornhole 4y ago
It sounds like people using private Nextcloud servers is throwing a wrench in their machine.
webdoodle 4y ago
> linked letter to share holders by Palantine I think of Thiel and Karp that as Palpatine and Vadar too. ;)
eyphka 4y ago
I'm Swiss and American. Comparing culture is difficult, but limiting it to willingness to adopt software for large enterprise and adapt the business, I agree with the assessment. Ironically, the increased calcification of those large enterprise has lead in Europe, especially Germany, in markets where competition is possible, the very fast displacement of large enterprises by startups. E.g. n26
- mistrial9 4y ago
  ok but you are agreeing with a company that is enacting mass surveillance using new technology It seems that "slow" adoption is a feature no adoption sounds right to me
- t8sr 4y ago
  Weird, I am also mainly contrasting US and Swiss business culture, and I've come to the exact opposite conclusions. In Switzerland, every interaction with any large enterprise can be done entirely on your phone, fast, securely and conveniently. The SBB, the post office, the banks, the city of Zurich, the tax office - all of them let you do everything online. And unlike the US versions of these things, it actually works! The only thing you can't do online is vote, and that's probably a good thing.
  - WelcomeShorty 4y ago
    > The only thing you can't do online is vote YET. We're working on it :)
    - t8sr 4y ago
      Oh I'm aware. I both work in infosec and live in Switzerland, so naturally I've been following the saga quite closely. The current version is the scytl-developed monstrosity, which will hopefully never be deployed: 1) The developer went out of business 2) People keep finding vulnerabilities in it, like the operator being able to change the votes. 3) Listen: I've been in Security for 20 years and the idea of E-voting is absolutely terrifying to me. It should never, ever, ever happen as long as those systems are developed and operated by humans.
- anotherboffin 4y ago
  > adopt software for large enterprise and adapt the business It’s not my area of expertise, but isn’t that kinda what SAP is known to bring? Edit: formatting
theGnuMe 4y ago
Silicon Valley arose from defense spending. The integrate large enterprise software systems piece doesn’t jive since there are many enterprise providers in Europe. In Germany there is SAP for example. The trope that all the innovation comes from Silicon Valley is starting to wear thin.
t8sr 4y ago
Having experienced American bureaucracy, I find the claim that US institutions have been "willing to investigate systemic dysfunction" completely hilarious. I think what Palantir means is that American organizations have been faster to adopt big data and centralize decision-making. Having worked for multiple large US businesses, I am not convinced that this leads to "less dysfunction". Having a few technocrats with some data make all the decisions centrally is just a reinvention of Planned Economy. It didn't work in the USSR and it doesn't work now.
- toxik 4y ago
  A plan economy works for smaller organizations, it is very much the norm.
- htag 4y ago
  From my experience the most common use of Big Data is to 1. Provide confirmation bias for decision makers to feel more confident and comfortable. This happens in the translation layer from Data to Information, and the data can support several possible points of view depending on what questions are asked of it. 2. Provide small adjustments to someone's existing plan. Maybe someone was planning on building fifty connivance stores in a region, but they found data that local market can actually support eighty so they use the data to justify increasing their budget. Maybe they were planning on selling five types of pepsi in their store, but the data shows they should sell six. This type of adjustment is usually used as an excuse to increase capital expenditure, or provide guidance on how to allocate existing resources. 3. (Most rare) Data is used to provide novel insights that give a large compeitive advantage. This is the "Money Ball" and "Big Short" sort of situation. One thing America is very good at is to provide a compeitive marketplace where a smaller participant has a shot if they are good enough. It's exceedingly rare to see an incumbent use big data in a novel way.
  - 411111111111111 4y ago
    Its kinda within the definition of Big Data, which is that you have too much data to really inspect all of it. this means that the previous approach had to be inverted: now its necessary to propose a theory, define queries to validate it and then evaluate the results, whereas before you'd take everything in and define a theory from the data set. the new approach is pretty much a textbook definition of a confirmation bias. But there is no other way to really approach these vast amounts of data, so its become the default.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
pavlov 4y ago
This shareholder letter operates on the same principle as spam from attorneys of a recently deceased Nigerian prince’s widow. You make the claim so outrageous that it immediately filters out those who are not completely gullible or desperate to believe. That’s the kind of shareholders Palantir wants.
dtgriscom 4y ago
> some countries, particularly in continental Europe, including Germany, have fallen behind the United States in their willingness and ability to implement enterprise software systems that challenge existing habits and modes of operation. This is brilliant marketing, positing the USA as a champion leading the vanguard, and the EU as a laggard in the inevitable progress towards Utopia. The reverse is in some ways true; the EU has developed much better data privacy laws, and the USA has significant catching up to do.

hef19898 4y ago

Well, Palantir is a glorified spreadsheet provider whose only selling point is access to a ton of data its clients could not have otherwise. Their sales people are pretty good so, kind of the equivalent of the stereotypical IBM or SAP sales rep.

kornhole 4y ago

It sounds like people using private Nextcloud servers is throwing a wrench in their machine.

webdoodle 4y ago

> linked letter to share holders by Palantine I think of Thiel and Karp that as Palpatine and Vadar too. ;)

eyphka 4y ago

I'm Swiss and American. Comparing culture is difficult, but limiting it to willingness to adopt software for large enterprise and adapt the business, I agree with the assessment. Ironically, the increased calcification of those large enterprise has lead in Europe, especially Germany, in markets where competition is possible, the very fast displacement of large enterprises by startups. E.g. n26

mistrial9 4y ago
ok but you are agreeing with a company that is enacting mass surveillance using new technology It seems that "slow" adoption is a feature no adoption sounds right to me
t8sr 4y ago
Weird, I am also mainly contrasting US and Swiss business culture, and I've come to the exact opposite conclusions. In Switzerland, every interaction with any large enterprise can be done entirely on your phone, fast, securely and conveniently. The SBB, the post office, the banks, the city of Zurich, the tax office - all of them let you do everything online. And unlike the US versions of these things, it actually works! The only thing you can't do online is vote, and that's probably a good thing.
- WelcomeShorty 4y ago
  > The only thing you can't do online is vote YET. We're working on it :)
  - t8sr 4y ago
    Oh I'm aware. I both work in infosec and live in Switzerland, so naturally I've been following the saga quite closely. The current version is the scytl-developed monstrosity, which will hopefully never be deployed: 1) The developer went out of business 2) People keep finding vulnerabilities in it, like the operator being able to change the votes. 3) Listen: I've been in Security for 20 years and the idea of E-voting is absolutely terrifying to me. It should never, ever, ever happen as long as those systems are developed and operated by humans.
anotherboffin 4y ago
> adopt software for large enterprise and adapt the business It’s not my area of expertise, but isn’t that kinda what SAP is known to bring? Edit: formatting

theGnuMe 4y ago

Silicon Valley arose from defense spending. The integrate large enterprise software systems piece doesn’t jive since there are many enterprise providers in Europe. In Germany there is SAP for example. The trope that all the innovation comes from Silicon Valley is starting to wear thin.

t8sr 4y ago

Having experienced American bureaucracy, I find the claim that US institutions have been "willing to investigate systemic dysfunction" completely hilarious. I think what Palantir means is that American organizations have been faster to adopt big data and centralize decision-making. Having worked for multiple large US businesses, I am not convinced that this leads to "less dysfunction". Having a few technocrats with some data make all the decisions centrally is just a reinvention of Planned Economy. It didn't work in the USSR and it doesn't work now.

toxik 4y ago
A plan economy works for smaller organizations, it is very much the norm.
htag 4y ago
From my experience the most common use of Big Data is to 1. Provide confirmation bias for decision makers to feel more confident and comfortable. This happens in the translation layer from Data to Information, and the data can support several possible points of view depending on what questions are asked of it. 2. Provide small adjustments to someone's existing plan. Maybe someone was planning on building fifty connivance stores in a region, but they found data that local market can actually support eighty so they use the data to justify increasing their budget. Maybe they were planning on selling five types of pepsi in their store, but the data shows they should sell six. This type of adjustment is usually used as an excuse to increase capital expenditure, or provide guidance on how to allocate existing resources. 3. (Most rare) Data is used to provide novel insights that give a large compeitive advantage. This is the "Money Ball" and "Big Short" sort of situation. One thing America is very good at is to provide a compeitive marketplace where a smaller participant has a shot if they are good enough. It's exceedingly rare to see an incumbent use big data in a novel way.
- 411111111111111 4y ago
  Its kinda within the definition of Big Data, which is that you have too much data to really inspect all of it. this means that the previous approach had to be inverted: now its necessary to propose a theory, define queries to validate it and then evaluate the results, whereas before you'd take everything in and define a theory from the data set. the new approach is pretty much a textbook definition of a confirmation bias. But there is no other way to really approach these vast amounts of data, so its become the default.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

pavlov 4y ago

This shareholder letter operates on the same principle as spam from attorneys of a recently deceased Nigerian prince’s widow. You make the claim so outrageous that it immediately filters out those who are not completely gullible or desperate to believe. That’s the kind of shareholders Palantir wants.

dtgriscom 4y ago

> some countries, particularly in continental Europe, including Germany, have fallen behind the United States in their willingness and ability to implement enterprise software systems that challenge existing habits and modes of operation. This is brilliant marketing, positing the USA as a champion leading the vanguard, and the EU as a laggard in the inevitable progress towards Utopia. The reverse is in some ways true; the EU has developed much better data privacy laws, and the USA has significant catching up to do.