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While governments may be interested in moving stuff off Azure/AWS/GCP, in my experience, most businesses don't care enough. It is difficult enough to get them t
by Delphiza 1y ago
While governments may be interested in moving stuff off Azure/AWS/GCP, in my experience, most businesses don't care enough. It is difficult enough to get them to spend money on the bare minimum needed for security. Yes, they will want 'sovereign data' because it looks good on the annual report, but most would not do it for double the cost.
Europe and other parts of the world should reduce their dependency on American tech, or any other tech that locks them in - regardless of it is geopolitical or something else (SAP?). They're not going to be able to do it soon, so will wait out the next four years. Governments do have a serious problem though, but are going to struggle to get the investment together.
- pjc50 1y agoSAP is German. "Largest non-US software company by revenue", says wikipedia. Doesn't make it suck less, though. Re: investment, there's long been a solid set of EU open source contributors, from Torvalds himself through SUSE etc. I think if we identified the right 100 people and gave them money and a sense of civic mission, the EU could achieve a lot in this area. However, the EU's own anti-subsidy rules trip it up here. The history of Munich is very interesting here: https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-not-windows-why-munich-is-shifting-back-from-microsoft-to-open-source-again/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-not-windows-why-munich-i... Of course it's also political. If you want an alternative to US megacorps you have to put up with reds and greens.
- Delphiza 1y agoThe inclusion of SAP, as a German company, was intentional. Lock-in is not just American, and these days it is extremely difficult to have independence from large tech companies. It is not impossible, but requires significant government investment, and a desire for businesses to move. I don't see European businesses moving away from Microsoft and Google email services in big enough numbers to create a sustainable market for alternatives.
- ta1243 1y agoEuropean tarrifs on AWS/Azure/GCP would be an option. European tech companies expanding into SAAS is less of a mountain than physical production.
- belter 1y ago"EU could tax big tech if Trump trade talks fail, Von der Leyen tells FT" - https://www.reuters.com/technology/eu-could-tax-big-tech-if-trump-trade-talks-fail-von-der-leyen-says-ft-2025-04-10/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/eu-could-tax-big-tech-if-...