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Ask HN: Do US tech firms realize the backlash growing in Europe?

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Re: Ask HN: Do US tech firms realize the backlash growing in Europe?

#151

Post by loloquwowndueo »

miklosz wrote: post #55
rvnx wrote: post #2

Tesla FSD wont be authorized in Europe, this will be one direct consequence of all of that. In addition, tariffs will be put on cars coming from the US. Plus, US is now recognized as a very unreliable partner in terms of defense, that Europe regrets buying their systems.

There's already 10% tariff on cars from US imported into Europe. But somehow I have feeling that even if it would be reduced to 0%, it wouldn't make a big difference Cars of US brands are generally terrible, not sure how they fulfill EU emission standards, have poor MPG which with EU gas prices are very expensive in maintenance. Maybe Japanese, Korean or EU brands manufactured US could do better.

They probably fulfill EU emission standards the same way Volkswagen diesels did. (Joking)

Re: Ask HN: Do US tech firms realize the backlash growing in Europe?

#152

Post by [deleted] »

antirez wrote: post #97
whynotminot wrote: post #18

Switching search engines to what? AI-powered search also created by American companies? America's image is toxic to everyone right now (including its own citizens). But I don't really see that many valid alternatives. It's not like Europe has done much to cultivate any kind of relevant software industry.

LLMs are something everybody can reproduce with enough money, as shown by Musk itself recently: in one year they have Grok3 which is a SOTA model, without having particular talents or innovations, just following the recipe everybody else is using (and this is why you see new companies competing with established companies: all are training transformers with a lot of tokens, basically). So Europe can have their LLMs as…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Do US tech firms realize the backlash growing in Europe?

#153

Post by amanaplanacanal »

unosama wrote: post #37
globalnode wrote: post #9

I was just thinking today how long will it be until Windows is turned into a weapon. I know I know, but its not really paranoid to think that anymore is it? Imagine the chaos around the world caused by Windows machines simultaneously reformatting hard disks except in America.

It's really funny to me that people are so partisan. You only worry about backdoors under Trump? As if the CIA has not be orchestrating coups around the world for half a century?

Of course they have, but not usually to their supposed allies. If realignment severs the ties between Europe and the US, then that no longer holds. Nothing partisan about that.

Re: Ask HN: Do US tech firms realize the backlash growing in Europe?

#155

Post by julianpye »

ctrlp wrote: post #122

Trying to start a flamewar on HN will get you flagged, my friend.

It's unfortunate that the thread was flagged, I did not want to give the impression of trying to 'start a flamewar'.

I am a real transatlanticist - I was on the green card path (5 yrs with H1Bs), but returned to Europe for family reasons.

I don't want this split - I want to know, if people see it as an issue and I want to know the possible consequences and workarounds and how we can work together.

Re: Ask HN: Do US tech firms realize the backlash growing in Europe?

#156

Post by dybber »

ben_w wrote: post #139
dukeyukey wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which ironically means the US also loses it's leverage. They're already threatening to functionally (if not actually) withdraw from NATO and economically split off via tariffs. The next step is actual invasion, which while sorta-kinda has been talked about with Greenland, probably won't happen.

I can see Trump putting hostile troops in Greenland. Tiny population despite the size, and I think Trump (at least) does not believe Europe would respond seriously. I don't even know how Europe would respond to that, and I live in Berlin. Canada… not so much. For all the talk, he'd be absolutely screwed if he tried. If you think Fentanyl is a problem now, wait until it's supplied for free by drones sent by Canadian c…

Europe will respond with drastic economic sanctions that will act quickly. Tariffs are slow to make a difference, but EU have prepared what they call an economic “bazooka”, that will very quickly hit US economy if force is used against a member state.

Re: Ask HN: Do US tech firms realize the backlash growing in Europe?

#157

Post by croemer »

Daril wrote: post #140
croemer wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain what exactly your worry is with GitHub? If you have your repos locally, you can always go somewhere else if/when something happens with GitHub. Except if you rely on things like Github actions or other features that are harder to move.

Well, one day MS could shut everything down or charge a lot of money to continue using the services. Almost all open source projects are currently hosted on Github (and rely on their services). Yes, the code is replicated on thousands of machines around the web, but this concentration of control by a single company is extremely dangerous in my opinion. The way events are unfolding these days, I'm really worried about…

Thanks, yeah the problem is the things done beyond code-hosting: Authn/z, issues, PRs, community, links pointing at Github URLs.

I wish there was a way to automatically mirror those things to Codeberg as a backup. For issues/PRs that shouldn't be too hard to do.

Re: Ask HN: Do US tech firms realize the backlash growing in Europe?

#158

Post by ben_w »

silverquiet wrote: post #73

I'm a US Millennial and my impression is that the US has spent my adult lifetime destroying its soft power, and this week is really just a culmination of that. US tech firms do not and have never (at least in my time working for them) cared about anything other than a pathological pursuit of profit that borders on nihilistic paperclip-optimization. I believe that US firms see European tech companies as slow/lazy and…

I'd say (as a European) most of the tech firms were seen as positive, for most of my life. Not perfectly so, but net. Even Facebook. Heck, even AirBnB and Uber — much as they also upset local communities that didn't want unregistered hotels, and taxi firms that weren't ready for app-based competition, people here made use of those apps to get trip options and travel options they didn't have before.

Re: Ask HN: Do US tech firms realize the backlash growing in Europe?

#160

Post by amanaplanacanal »

gcr wrote: post #118
jimmar wrote: post #99

> the US completely destroyed its soft power this week Soft power sounds like manipulation to me. So if we destroyed our manipulation, great. The United States has put its fingers on too many scales rather than respecting the rights of individuals in other countries to manage their affairs the way they see fit. I welcome tech competition from Europe. Let the best products and services win.

Yes, and. Something like 40% of the humanitarian contribution in the world came from USAID, and Thanos just fingersnapped it out of existence last Tuesday. Until that gap is filled, there will be tons of unnecessary suffering. A "more humane" way would have been to slowly wind down over a period of months/years, giving the market time to react. Even better would have been to work with foreign powers to spin off USAID…

I think it's not talked about enough that some of the new president's policies are going to lead to actual people dieing. Not just overseas, but in the US too. Maybe the folks cheering him on don't realize this, or maybe they just don't care.
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