3 ms·

With rare exceptions, Germany is like 5-10 years behind US in tech. Imagine how bad is it in other countries... It's not even funny, Europe is completely losing

by bitL 12y ago

With rare exceptions, Germany is like 5-10 years behind US in tech. Imagine how bad is it in other countries... It's not even funny, Europe is completely losing it.

davidw 12y ago
You really can't make such sweeping statements, though, they don't make sense, thanks to the internet. I've met people doing plenty of advanced stuff here in Italy. And plenty of others who are not really doing interesting things. Same in the US, though.
- bitL 12y ago
  They are unfortunately exceptions and will never reach proportions of US corps due to not having access to "free money" like in the US via VCs (and also crazy tax rules in EU). When you talk to actual German entrepreneurs, many of them say that "first I raised all the money myself and then the bank was willing to lend me a similar amount with the money I raised as a collateral". So either you get money by political connections (which means you will be operating a China-style buddy company and not a competitive one), or you'd have to bootstrap it yourself with slow growth and high probability somebody in a more agile country with a better access to capital will copy your idea and squeeze you out etc.
raverbashing 12y ago
ORLY? In what field? People can pay stuff online directly with their bank details in Germany, no middle man (read, paypal) needed, and cheques are pretty much history. How fast are the quickest trains in Germany compared to the USA? Yes, some traditional companies are way behind in technology, but newsflash, there are a lot of companies like that in the USA as well
- llcoolv 12y ago
  On the other hand when you see those ridiculous spreadsheets that Deutsche Bank uses for 2-step authentication to the e-banking you feel like in a shite 60s spy movie. When you actually log in it feels like the 90s though. And 80% of German people seem to go with tradition/history even when it is not really rational. Really makes me wonder how the two core components of the German value system - Tradition and Pragmatism - conflict each other in such situations and how they are becoming less and less compatible with every passing day.
  - llcoolv 12y ago
    On the other hand they sometimes play very very well together - you cannot have a great technological advancement such as ICE - unique in world scale - without both pragmatism and the stability to plan centrally for 30-50 years ahead.
  - raverbashing 12y ago
    "Deutsche Bank uses for 2-step authentication to the e-banking you feel like in a shite 60s spy movie" I agree 200%. Germans love that and it's DB after all, I assume other banks have something more modern (other banks in Europe use electronic tokens)
- bitL 12y ago
  I was writing about software. Of course everyone knows German cars are much better than US ones (even the dumbed down ones sold in the US that don't need to handle speeds over 100mph). Obviously, US doesn't care about trains, Silicon Valley has like one line comparable to average S-Bahn line and nobody cares anyway. As for your lack of a middle man in paying online via 'Bankeinzug', instead of merchant bearing the cost of payment, you're depending on how many free transfers your bank gives you until it starts charging you fees for any additional transfer (and Amazon often splits your charges per item so you are likely to run over your limit easily).
gurkendoktor 12y ago
I think you are talking about technology adoption, especially in business. That's a different issue, and something that I don't see as a problem. But in terms of companies, there is no version of 2005-2010 Google, Amazon or Microsoft in Germany. Not even a 1995-era Microsoft.
- antocv 12y ago
  I think SAP would beg to disagree.
  - gurkendoktor 12y ago
    In terms of revenue or workforce, maybe, but I don't think SAP will ever have the worldwide impact of a Windows 1995 launch, or anything that happened after that.

by bitL 12y ago

With rare exceptions, Germany is like 5-10 years behind US in tech. Imagine how bad is it in other countries... It's not even funny, Europe is completely losing it.

davidw 12y ago

You really can't make such sweeping statements, though, they don't make sense, thanks to the internet. I've met people doing plenty of advanced stuff here in Italy. And plenty of others who are not really doing interesting things. Same in the US, though.

bitL 12y ago
They are unfortunately exceptions and will never reach proportions of US corps due to not having access to "free money" like in the US via VCs (and also crazy tax rules in EU). When you talk to actual German entrepreneurs, many of them say that "first I raised all the money myself and then the bank was willing to lend me a similar amount with the money I raised as a collateral". So either you get money by political connections (which means you will be operating a China-style buddy company and not a competitive one), or you'd have to bootstrap it yourself with slow growth and high probability somebody in a more agile country with a better access to capital will copy your idea and squeeze you out etc.

raverbashing 12y ago

ORLY? In what field? People can pay stuff online directly with their bank details in Germany, no middle man (read, paypal) needed, and cheques are pretty much history. How fast are the quickest trains in Germany compared to the USA? Yes, some traditional companies are way behind in technology, but newsflash, there are a lot of companies like that in the USA as well

llcoolv 12y ago
On the other hand when you see those ridiculous spreadsheets that Deutsche Bank uses for 2-step authentication to the e-banking you feel like in a shite 60s spy movie. When you actually log in it feels like the 90s though. And 80% of German people seem to go with tradition/history even when it is not really rational. Really makes me wonder how the two core components of the German value system - Tradition and Pragmatism - conflict each other in such situations and how they are becoming less and less compatible with every passing day.
- llcoolv 12y ago
  On the other hand they sometimes play very very well together - you cannot have a great technological advancement such as ICE - unique in world scale - without both pragmatism and the stability to plan centrally for 30-50 years ahead.
- raverbashing 12y ago
  "Deutsche Bank uses for 2-step authentication to the e-banking you feel like in a shite 60s spy movie" I agree 200%. Germans love that and it's DB after all, I assume other banks have something more modern (other banks in Europe use electronic tokens)
bitL 12y ago
I was writing about software. Of course everyone knows German cars are much better than US ones (even the dumbed down ones sold in the US that don't need to handle speeds over 100mph). Obviously, US doesn't care about trains, Silicon Valley has like one line comparable to average S-Bahn line and nobody cares anyway. As for your lack of a middle man in paying online via 'Bankeinzug', instead of merchant bearing the cost of payment, you're depending on how many free transfers your bank gives you until it starts charging you fees for any additional transfer (and Amazon often splits your charges per item so you are likely to run over your limit easily).

gurkendoktor 12y ago

I think you are talking about technology adoption, especially in business. That's a different issue, and something that I don't see as a problem. But in terms of companies, there is no version of 2005-2010 Google, Amazon or Microsoft in Germany. Not even a 1995-era Microsoft.

antocv 12y ago
I think SAP would beg to disagree.
- gurkendoktor 12y ago
  In terms of revenue or workforce, maybe, but I don't think SAP will ever have the worldwide impact of a Windows 1995 launch, or anything that happened after that.