European here: other than people obsessed with certain political events, nobody really cares, people aren't going to throw away their iPhones and switch away from Microsoft.
I also find this very strange, that people did not talk about doing the mass exodus after we found out the US is conducting mass surveillance on us, but just because they don't like the politics of the current president, they start talking about how bad the US is.
> The expectation is that especially US tech will be weaponized
That should always have been the expectation, that's why the basic idea of GDPR was a good one, too bad they have botched it in the end.
> I know people in the US are focused on DOGE, but over here in Europe, the impression is that the US completely destroyed its soft power this week.
It's just some politicians who are unhappy because things didn't go their way, a lot of ordinary people are just happy to see hope that the economic suicide might be coming to an end, maybe next year my energy bills won't be 3x of what they used to be 3 years ago, one can dream.
Keep in mind that most people don't even understand what current events are about, the vocal minority can be very vocal.
> so people are switching search engines
> Are people talking about this - do they take it seriously or believe there is no alternative to US tech?
Switching search engines is easy, try switching your whole office from Windows to Linux.
> What does it mean for US startups, California and global tech?
It will mean nothing, if I need to build a product that requires US tech and there is no alternative, I'm going to use the US tech, end of story.