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Emmanuel Macron presidency prompts French startup boom

independent.co.uk

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Re: Emmanuel Macron presidency prompts French startup boom

#31

Post by jonny_eh »

dmix wrote: post #26
orbifold wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least from my perspective so far he is not significantly worse so far than say George W. Bush, he might be if he starts new wars, but that seems unlikely. Pretty much all the previous presidents screwed over the rest of the world in some way or another. Just to give you an example in 2013 in 35% of Germans believed the US government to be trustworthy (Snowden NSA spying revelations) according to infratest dimap, n…

People were convinced Trump was going to turn the US into an authoritarian/fascist state well before he even proposed any actual practical policies. They continue to despite the fact he has failed to pass any meaningful legislation beyond congress/courts months after getting into office. With the exception of dropping out of the largely non-binding Paris accord. Sadly I doubt this will be dependent on what he actuall…

Firing the head of the FBI for investigating his campaign was an authoritarian move. It remains to be seen if he gets away with it. If he does, America has become Authoritarian (i.e. when the law no longer applies to the leader).

Re: Emmanuel Macron presidency prompts French startup boom

#32

Post by cmurf »

camus2 wrote: post #17
atonse wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assuming Trump stays for the full term (all signs point that way right now, no matter what impeachment hopes and dreams people have), four years of damage is pretty long. And you're right, in the grand scheme of things, it may not matter. But four years is a pretty long time in tech-timelines for other countries to start catching up to Silicon Valley's vibrancy.

> Assuming Trump stays for the full term (all signs point that way right now, no matter what impeachment hopes and dreams people have), four years of damage is pretty long Bush damaged US reputation way more than Trump, USA did recover. For entrepreneurs and talents, Canada, Germany or France just can't compete, especially France with a bureaucracy that will crush one's bones.

Let's say it's an open question.

If we ignore illegal wars, Bush comes out ahead.

If we ignore the majority of what Trump says or Tweets, Trump comes out ahead.

I wish there were a metric for ignoramus, I suspect Trump would be fully one or two orders magnitude a bigger moron than Bush except when it comes to how to handle fellow con artists. He was apparently adept at handling the mob.

Re: Emmanuel Macron presidency prompts French startup boom

#33

Post by cmurf »

GuiA wrote: post #15

A law passed in 2015 in France [0] that makes it mandatory, starting 1/1/2018, for any business (including "auto entrepreneur", what you have to register as to be a freelancer or such in France) to used "certified" software for accounting. Is a tool like Excel, which the vast majority of small companies are currently using, certified? Of course not! You have to pay for special software like Ciel Devis (9 euros/month)…

They can make you buy a computer? And dictate what operating system you use? Seems like a freedom of association problem, but I don't know anything about French constitutional law, or if there's any EU office that can address this.

I'd say you should be able to use pen and paper with a traditional ledger. I would sooner do this (having already done it before) than be required to buy certain software, just out of principle.

Anyway, at least in the U.S. I've never heard of this. Manhattan has ludicrous layers of taxes that a huge PITA for a small business to learn about let alone comply with if you do it yourself. But there's no software mandate. You just have to be able to show your work if asked.

Re: Emmanuel Macron presidency prompts French startup boom

#34

Post by prawn »

threeseed wrote: post #5
atonse wrote: post #2

Paradoxically, while Trump has accomplished very little but make speeches, the damage his presidency has done to our image, and perception of how welcoming America is, will be felt for years. It's bringing back memories of our dismal global perception around 2006-2008. (Although this wasn't for "America is unwelcoming" reasons)

It's going to be devastating over the long term. Those of us even in Australia are wary now of travelling to the US because of (a) fear they maybe mistakenly detained, (b) having to turn over social media information and (c) visa problems at the arrival gate. Places like Berlin, Amsterdam etc are looking far more interesting for startups because of the access to the European market and the sensible policies that seem…

I'm from Australia and agree with this. A colleague and I with travel plans to the US this year have discussed your three concerns at length over recent months. I'm a reasonably regular traveller to the US, and the colleague is exactly the sort of tech talent that any country should be trying to attract.

Re: Emmanuel Macron presidency prompts French startup boom

#35

Post by GuiA »

relyio wrote: post #18
GuiA wrote: post #15

A law passed in 2015 in France [0] that makes it mandatory, starting 1/1/2018, for any business (including "auto entrepreneur", what you have to register as to be a freelancer or such in France) to used "certified" software for accounting. Is a tool like Excel, which the vast majority of small companies are currently using, certified? Of course not! You have to pay for special software like Ciel Devis (9 euros/month)…

>A law passed in 2015 in France [0] that makes it mandatory, starting 1/1/2018, for any business (including "auto entrepreneur", what you have to register as to be a freelancer or such in France) to used "certified" software for accounting. Macron has been elected in 2017. Given this article is about how he is sparking a tech boom in the country, I hardly see how that's his fault, or even related.

Lawmaking in France is not confined to the president.

If there is to be a tech boom in France, it will be the result of years and years of judicious, thoughtful, policy that makes life easy for small businesses (tech or not); not one time acts of symbolic VC cash investment.

The purpose of my message is to show that French lawmakers are still very far from understanding this. I don't know where in my post you find me blaming Macron for this.

Re: Emmanuel Macron presidency prompts French startup boom

#36

Post by linkregister »

dmix wrote: post #26
orbifold wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least from my perspective so far he is not significantly worse so far than say George W. Bush, he might be if he starts new wars, but that seems unlikely. Pretty much all the previous presidents screwed over the rest of the world in some way or another. Just to give you an example in 2013 in 35% of Germans believed the US government to be trustworthy (Snowden NSA spying revelations) according to infratest dimap, n…

People were convinced Trump was going to turn the US into an authoritarian/fascist state well before he even proposed any actual practical policies. They continue to despite the fact he has failed to pass any meaningful legislation beyond congress/courts months after getting into office. With the exception of dropping out of the largely non-binding Paris accord. Sadly I doubt this will be dependent on what he actuall…

I agree that critics are far more shrill than they should be. However, there is some basis for their fears of an authoritarian push: significantly high proportions of his campaign speeches used authoritarian imagery and themes. His closest advisors were outspoken for advocating authoritarian viewpoints. In hindsight, he was using that rhetoric aspirationally with no intention of doing the intensely hard work and dedication involved in actually bringing about an authoritarian state.

Indeed, almost nothing authoritarian has emerged; he uses executive orders to implement policies because he doesn't have the votes to legislate it.

As for the lack of zeal for investigating the CIA, the reason should be obvious: very few Americans were the direct victims of it. That scandal would only be zealously pursued if there were no other noteworthy events happening.

It is "whataboutism" for me to point out the lack of Republican interest in the CIA case is similar to the lack of Republican interest in the Russian election interference investigation. I only make that point to underscore the lack of lawmaker interest in pursuing a mostly "suspicious foreigner" set of victims, not to claim some difference of virtue between the two political parties.

I agree with you that the CIA scandal is shocking and unacceptable. It is 1) morally wrong; 2) directly results in terrorist organization recruitment; 3) disrupts trade and political cooperation with other countries.

Re: Emmanuel Macron presidency prompts French startup boom

#37

Post by GuiA »

cmurf wrote: post #33
GuiA wrote: post #15

A law passed in 2015 in France [0] that makes it mandatory, starting 1/1/2018, for any business (including "auto entrepreneur", what you have to register as to be a freelancer or such in France) to used "certified" software for accounting. Is a tool like Excel, which the vast majority of small companies are currently using, certified? Of course not! You have to pay for special software like Ciel Devis (9 euros/month)…

They can make you buy a computer? And dictate what operating system you use? Seems like a freedom of association problem, but I don't know anything about French constitutional law, or if there's any EU office that can address this. I'd say you should be able to use pen and paper with a traditional ledger. I would sooner do this (having already done it before) than be required to buy certain software, just out of prin…

The law specifies that you don't have to use "certified" software if you do your accounting outside of a software system. So they don't "make you" buy a computer; but it is still ridiculous because of how hazy it is. For instance, as I mentioned in my message, if I use Excel for part of my accounting but do the final ledgers by hand, will I get fined if I get inspected?

Additionally, the law says that any software has to be certified again for any new major version. But in the world of web software and continuous deployment, how does that work? It's kind of a software equivalent of the ship of Theseus - if my software ends up being completely refactored and rewritten over the years but doesn't change major version, do I need to get it re-certified or not?

It's just nonsensical lawmaking done by people who don't understand tech at a fundamental level.

Re: Emmanuel Macron presidency prompts French startup boom

#38

Post by linkregister »

nxtrafalgar wrote: post #27
bogomipz wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"I intended to visit China in the near future -- but I've booked a trip to Taiwan instead, almost entirely because Taiwan doesn't​ require me to get a visa." You still get a visa to enter Taiwan. It's just a "visa on arrival" as opposed to needing to obtain a visa prior to travel. Visa policies are reciprocal between countries. China and the US both charge citizens from each other's countries to visit for tourist pu…

>You still get a visa to enter Taiwan. It's just a "visa on arrival" as opposed to needing to obtain a visa prior to travel. Sure -- 'doesn't require me to get a visa' as in I don't have to make a trip to an embassy or pay a fee. I'm sure I'll visit China eventually, but for the sort of low-budget travelling I'm doing, an entry visa represents a not-insignificant amount of the total cost. It also makes things less fl…

It appears to be worth it to pay the entry visa to (PRC) China; Taipei is certainly an amazing city, but the mainland has much more history and tourist opportunities. I hope to visit it one day.

Re: Emmanuel Macron presidency prompts French startup boom

#39

Post by throwaway-1209 »

jonny_eh wrote: post #31
dmix wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People were convinced Trump was going to turn the US into an authoritarian/fascist state well before he even proposed any actual practical policies. They continue to despite the fact he has failed to pass any meaningful legislation beyond congress/courts months after getting into office. With the exception of dropping out of the largely non-binding Paris accord. Sadly I doubt this will be dependent on what he actuall…

Firing the head of the FBI for investigating his campaign was an authoritarian move. It remains to be seen if he gets away with it. If he does, America has become Authoritarian (i.e. when the law no longer applies to the leader).

Comey himself stated under oath that Trump was not under investigation.

Re: Emmanuel Macron presidency prompts French startup boom

#40

Post by douche »

atonse wrote: post #12
aaron-lebo wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, people have short attention spans. You cite the dismal perception from 2006-2008, but what changed? In 2008 Obama was elected and everything is new again and he won the Nobel. Did the country completely change in 2 years? Has it changed that much in 8? Not really, that's why getting so riled up over singular negative events isn't worth your time. Things change fast, and countries have long histories. Germany and…

Assuming Trump stays for the full term (all signs point that way right now, no matter what impeachment hopes and dreams people have), four years of damage is pretty long. And you're right, in the grand scheme of things, it may not matter. But four years is a pretty long time in tech-timelines for other countries to start catching up to Silicon Valley's vibrancy.

In order to be impeached, you have to actually have committed a crime, no?

So far as I know, tweeting dumb shit is not yet a criminal offense.

I've suspected from the outset that four years of Trump would effectively amount to four years of stasis, with perhaps a chance of getting a conservative majority in the supreme court for the foreseeable future.

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