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Germany, France launch Gaia-X platform in bid for ‘tech sovereignty’

politico.eu

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Re: Germany, France launch Gaia-X platform in bid for ‘tech sovereignty’

#111

Post by iagovar »

orwin wrote: post #73
linksnapzz wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or Outscale; the "French AWS" owned by Dassault Systemes...they did do a great job of cloning the AWS console feature set; but the backend was supposedly all VMware & Cisco UCS. Surprisingly not Bull hw, given that the people responsible for it came from there. Coulden't be cheap to run, and I've always wondered who used it outside of 3DS.

If you want a real "French AWS", you should look at Scaleway (well, their VPS will be entering beta Q3 2020 so it's not AWS yet, but it's coming closer and closer)

The only real competitor to AWS is OVH, and it's not even close. Shameless plug: http://iagovar.com/european-web-hosting-alternatives

Re: Germany, France launch Gaia-X platform in bid for ‘tech sovereignty’

#112

Post by speedgoose »

piokoch wrote: post #97
thamer wrote: post #14

It's no surprise the French government is involved in this. They love these moonshot projects that aim to create the French X for any X that is a successful service by an American company. Qwant[1], launched as "The French Google" with a focus on privacy, serves 10 million searches a day (a ridiculously small number). No one has heard of it, no one uses it, and it's another project with a dream of restoring France to…

That's very true. Another thing is that it is not like EU is somehow very far behind the US in terms of services hosting or "the cloud". There is French OVH provider and there is German Hetzner. While the former has an opinion of being cheap but no so great (especially in terms of support), the Hetzner really shines. Hetzner does not have all the AWS like "cloud" bells and whistles, however their VPS-es and especiall…

OVH's support is not great but at least it's cheap and they have some transparency. Azure and AWS have shitty support too for small customers but they are expensive.

Hetzner is nice. We also have Scaleway in the same category.

Re: Germany, France launch Gaia-X platform in bid for ‘tech sovereignty’

#113

Post by jcelerier »

Nextgrid wrote: post #106
flr03 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly there are very capable and smart engineers in France, and I don't blame the country ambition to develop its own solutions, but the SSII mafia (or how are they called now?) is killing innovation. It's a very top to bottom decision process (starting from the Government/MP), with big bucks involved, and very little understanding of how to drive these tech projects, all the way to the bottom. What I don't unders…

> there are very capable and smart engineers in France I would not be so sure. I looked at the IT salaries there (both as a permanent and as a contractor) and it just doesn’t make sense to stay there when you could earn way more money elsewhere in Europe.

that's assuming money is the one important thing in your life though :p I'd personally need at least 3 times my current french salary to start thinking about compromising my other life choices

Re: Germany, France launch Gaia-X platform in bid for ‘tech sovereignty’

#114

Post by adev_ »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #84
adev_ wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> France is a tax and red tape hell. - Red tape I agree. Administrations are slow and processes cumbersome. - Taxes I do not agree, France is in the European's average.

France is #1 in the EU for public spending [1]. Deficit is within average and constrained by Eurozone rules (excluding the current mess). Money does not magically appear. As I said, taxes are many, complicated, and often useless. This of course overlaps with the issue of red tape but is an issue in itself. There is a reason why so many rich French people live in Belgium or London. There is a reason why when Peugeot m…

> France is #1 in the EU for public spending [1].

That's a well known overstatement that comes mainly from the fact Pension system, education system AND health care system are almost entirely state-owned in France. You can find the same pattern in some Scandinavian country btw, France is not an exception.

> There is a reason why so many rich French people live in Belgium or London.

You can say the same with British and American near the Leman-lake /Zug in Switzerland. Fiscal optimization is everywhere.

> There is a reason why when Peugeot merges with Fiat-Chrysler the new company is headquartered in Amsterdam.

That's not surprising, Holding companies always love specific countries for legislation/taxes reasons. That include Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Ireland. Almost every European major multi-national has an holding in one of these.

> If you're a company and your turnover is greater than EUR760k annually then there is a special, additional tax on your advertising spending.

That I totally agree with you. This is a good example of terrible case by case politic bullshit.

Re: Germany, France launch Gaia-X platform in bid for ‘tech sovereignty’

#115

Post by thiht »

Nextgrid wrote: post #106
flr03 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly there are very capable and smart engineers in France, and I don't blame the country ambition to develop its own solutions, but the SSII mafia (or how are they called now?) is killing innovation. It's a very top to bottom decision process (starting from the Government/MP), with big bucks involved, and very little understanding of how to drive these tech projects, all the way to the bottom. What I don't unders…

> there are very capable and smart engineers in France I would not be so sure. I looked at the IT salaries there (both as a permanent and as a contractor) and it just doesn’t make sense to stay there when you could earn way more money elsewhere in Europe.

That's not how it works, not everyone wants to move country just for a (way) better salary.

Re: Germany, France launch Gaia-X platform in bid for ‘tech sovereignty’

#116

Post by [deleted] »

Nextgrid wrote: post #106
flr03 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly there are very capable and smart engineers in France, and I don't blame the country ambition to develop its own solutions, but the SSII mafia (or how are they called now?) is killing innovation. It's a very top to bottom decision process (starting from the Government/MP), with big bucks involved, and very little understanding of how to drive these tech projects, all the way to the bottom. What I don't unders…

> there are very capable and smart engineers in France I would not be so sure. I looked at the IT salaries there (both as a permanent and as a contractor) and it just doesn’t make sense to stay there when you could earn way more money elsewhere in Europe.

[deleted]

Re: Germany, France launch Gaia-X platform in bid for ‘tech sovereignty’

#117

Post by Nextgrid »

pinkfoot wrote: post #61
Udik wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree completely: as a European, I find these projects pathetic. We need the humility to learn something from the US and create an environment and a framework in which private companies can thrive, instead of being constantly dragged down by bureaucracy, regulations, and a legal-judiciary system eager not to help but to assert its power.

Learn to pay your programmers properly.

Pay is a problem but it’s one of many. The working culture is another big problem. Here’s a thread that summarises it quite well: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17169504

Re: Germany, France launch Gaia-X platform in bid for ‘tech sovereignty’

#118

Post by speedgoose »

flr03 wrote: post #89
thamer wrote: post #14

It's no surprise the French government is involved in this. They love these moonshot projects that aim to create the French X for any X that is a successful service by an American company. Qwant[1], launched as "The French Google" with a focus on privacy, serves 10 million searches a day (a ridiculously small number). No one has heard of it, no one uses it, and it's another project with a dream of restoring France to…

Honestly there are very capable and smart engineers in France, and I don't blame the country ambition to develop its own solutions, but the SSII mafia (or how are they called now?) is killing innovation. It's a very top to bottom decision process (starting from the Government/MP), with big bucks involved, and very little understanding of how to drive these tech projects, all the way to the bottom. What I don't unders…

They are called ESN now. Same shit.

Re: Germany, France launch Gaia-X platform in bid for ‘tech sovereignty’

#119

Post by Nextgrid »

enriquto wrote: post #75
icelancer wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No kidding. When I was in France I was appalled at the rates they were paying software developers. For a collection of countries that boasts better living standards for people, the comparative gap in pay for technical positions is absurd.

A junior developer cannot at all afford renting an appartment in Paris with his basis salary. For other jobs outside of software, it is even worse.

> For other jobs outside of software, it is even worse.

My understanding is that it’s the opposite. Software is significantly underpaid but you can do quite well with a typical paper-pushing bullshit job.

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