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Go European: Discover European products and services

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Re: Go European: Discover European products and services

#241

Post by tuco86 »

noneeeed wrote: post #213
albertgoeswoof wrote: post #33

Thank you for including the UK, we are still part of Europe! Added my company ( https://mailpace.com ) - I’m looking forward to a resurgence of innovation in European tech companies, the talent and education here is amazing, we just need to improve our investment and start treating tech with as much respect as we give to law, finance and other “prestigious” career paths here

Who do you host with btw? I'd love to avoid the big US SaaS providers if I can but would like something a level above a VPS, especially for database.

hetzner has been working great the last 10 years for me. they opened datacenters in the us too.

Re: Go European: Discover European products and services

#242

Post by wiether »

kbcool wrote: post #117
batrat wrote: post #95

(Rant sorry) While i'm from EU and I support the movement, after I looked over some numbers it is hard to ditch something like Amazon. 1st thing for me are the prices and monthly I can save at least 100 Euros just from shopping on deals. Second Amazon employs 150k people across EU and this is not a low number (how about them?). Yes we need alternatives but the rich EU guys also have to invest some. Sometimes I feel t…

We must be buying different things if you think Amazon is cheap in the EU. I find almost everything can be had cheaper elsewhere these days, except the Chinese junk like you find on Temu, the enshitification has well and truly sunk in. I always paste products I find right back into Google and more often than not find them cheaper elsewhere

I guess people just buy different stuff and have different experiences then.

The last physical thing I bought on Amazon was a Brita glass carafe.

44.99€

The cheapest I can find elsewhere is 49.9O€ with 4.99€ of shipping. Otherwise it's mostly 54.99€ and it's even 59.90€ on Brita's own store.

The other physical stuff in my order history of the last three months are orders made for relatives because they found that it was cheaper on Amazon and wanted to take advantage of my Premium subscription.

So, as always, YMMV.

Re: Go European: Discover European products and services

#243

Post by shadowgovt »

rafaelmn wrote: post #131
batrat wrote: post #95

(Rant sorry) While i'm from EU and I support the movement, after I looked over some numbers it is hard to ditch something like Amazon. 1st thing for me are the prices and monthly I can save at least 100 Euros just from shopping on deals. Second Amazon employs 150k people across EU and this is not a low number (how about them?). Yes we need alternatives but the rich EU guys also have to invest some. Sometimes I feel t…

Thats what every "support local" campaign boils down to - accept suboptimal deals because they are somehow more connected to you. I am glad to sell my services to the US and will buy their services, likewise for EU stuff if it is competitive. Besides this outrage at the US from EU perspective is mind-boggling, for the first time since I can remember US is moving away from imperialist global polices, and Europe is in…

And for some things (and most tech things), "support local" isn't an option.

How do I "support local" when purchasing a micro-format PC for running a Cloud node? There's no chip-fab in town. The parts are sourced to two or three different countries.

Re: Go European: Discover European products and services

#244

Post by coffeebeqn »

alaeddine-13 wrote: post #70

I think the most critical missing piece is GPUs right now. As AI becomes more and more crucial, GPU/AI hardware design and manufacturing will become a matter of sovereignty and unfortunately, can't find any EU alternative

If we want to get really protectionist, ASML could stop selling outside of the EU. That would be kind of bad for everyone though

Re: Go European: Discover European products and services

#245

Post by diego_moita »

DaveMcMartin wrote: post #225

It’s genuinely sad to see the world splintering into waves of nationalistic protectionism. Not long ago, we had something promising, a slow but steady crawl toward a united global community. Progress was gradual, sure, but it was real. Countries could specialize and trade freely: I’d buy your chips, you’d buy my steel, and we’d both come out ahead. It worked. Now, though, it’s all about "national sovereignty" and "in…

Depends on the perspective.

A "Rules-based world order" has been the rationale of the West for decades: WTO, U.N., free trade, democracy, countries' sovereignty, etc. But this "global community" was lipstick on a pig. From a 3rd World perspective that was just hypocrisy.

The "rules" were always chosen by the rich countries: free trade but keep farm protectionism against 3rd world's cheap produce, sovereignty but not for Palestinians, democracy but not if Chile, Iran or most of Africa or Latin America choose to have socialist leaders (Allende, Mossadegh, etc), ...

And now that even the rules are not advantageous to the rich anymore (e.g.:China's and Mexico's manufacturing, India's and South America's farming) the rich countries are scrapping the rules.

Re: Go European: Discover European products and services

#246

Post by fads_go »

batrat wrote: post #95

(Rant sorry) While i'm from EU and I support the movement, after I looked over some numbers it is hard to ditch something like Amazon. 1st thing for me are the prices and monthly I can save at least 100 Euros just from shopping on deals. Second Amazon employs 150k people across EU and this is not a low number (how about them?). Yes we need alternatives but the rich EU guys also have to invest some. Sometimes I feel t…

> "support local farmers!". ME: "but the price difference is almost double form Kaufland/Lidl/Carrefour/etc for the same thing!"

But it isn't the same thing. Locally grown food tends to taste much better and have higher nutritional value.

Plus, something I didn't expect when I started buying most of my food from my local farmer's market-- these farmers are like friends. Every meal I sit down to eat, I have a direct connection to it's source. Of course I go to "grocery stores" for staples, and it always feels so weird, empty, fake.

Re: Go European: Discover European products and services

#247

Post by shadowgovt »

jxjnskkzxxhx wrote: post #145
TrackerFF wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference between US and Europe: - In Europe, getting funding is literally like pulling teeth. Just to get a measly hundred thousands of € in funding you're expected to provide a comprehensive business plan, financials, etc. that would rival M&A due diligence other places. In Silicon Valley you can get more funding by simply meeting the right angel investor, and providing a good pitch - done deal. - In Europe, t…

> Good VC cultures I say this as proud European: the problem isn't just VC culture, it's European culture. In Europe there's an extreme risk aversion to trying things that have nonzero risk of failing.

I know a tiny bit about this regarding the UK but no other country in Europe:

My mental shortcut has always been "The US never inherited debtor's prison." Historically in the UK at least, getting into a situation where your debts can't be honored was utterly ruinous (this has improved IIUC). In the US, there are strict upper bounds on how much sway creditors can have over you. One could imagine this would result in a chillier credit market when creditors have fewer protections, but ironically, this makes it easier to get credit in the US because creditors don't have another option. Interest on a successful venture is still the quickest path to making one's money grow, so even knowing the debtor could walk away and the worst that would happen is "bankruptcy followed by a judge telling you you get pennies on the dollar of your investment", people still put up the money.

The most obvious example of how failure to pay debt in the US isn't personally ruinous is probably that our current President has filed bankruptcy six times.

(Note: I am speaking broadly and about non-medical debt. Medical debt in the US is ruinous for several significant reasons. But that's generally a non-overlapping concern to most tech-company funding).

Re: Go European: Discover European products and services

#248

Post by eCa »

DaveMcMartin wrote: post #225

It’s genuinely sad to see the world splintering into waves of nationalistic protectionism. Not long ago, we had something promising, a slow but steady crawl toward a united global community. Progress was gradual, sure, but it was real. Countries could specialize and trade freely: I’d buy your chips, you’d buy my steel, and we’d both come out ahead. It worked. Now, though, it’s all about "national sovereignty" and "in…

European here.

To be frank, it’s more about the rest of the ”west” updating our list of friendly countries. It is the US that has chosen to take an ever more adversarial position lately, pretty much worsening daily.

The trust among the rest of the west feels like it instead is strengthening. I interpret both ”buy European” and ”buy Canadian” as more of ”don’t buy from USA” with a thin layer of politeness.

Re: Go European: Discover European products and services

#249

Post by mrweasel »

vladvasiliu wrote: post #211
mrweasel wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's area dependent, there are multiple shipping companies that have options for leaving package by the door step and rarely are things stolen. It's completely down to where you live.

I'm quite curious to know where this is a thing, and whether people actually pick that option. FWIW, I live in Paris and that's also an option sometimes. My sister lives in a fairly remote town in France, and they wouldn't dream of leaving a package unattended. It's not otherwise considered an "unsafe" or "rough" or whatever area.

I'm in Denmark, in a midsize town, but I also lived in a larger city, neither places are having a package dropped on your door step an issue. I do that all the time, if I don't feel like stopping by the package pick up place on my way home. There are absolutely neighbourhoods where I would never pick that options, like certain apartment blocks. Pretty much anywhere with single family houses is fine (in my area). The majority of apartment complexes is also perfect safe, though my sister-in-law did get 25kg of dog food delivered to the apartment below her by mistake and never got the bag back.

Re: Go European: Discover European products and services

#250

Post by fads_go »

rafaelmn wrote: post #131
batrat wrote: post #95

(Rant sorry) While i'm from EU and I support the movement, after I looked over some numbers it is hard to ditch something like Amazon. 1st thing for me are the prices and monthly I can save at least 100 Euros just from shopping on deals. Second Amazon employs 150k people across EU and this is not a low number (how about them?). Yes we need alternatives but the rich EU guys also have to invest some. Sometimes I feel t…

Thats what every "support local" campaign boils down to - accept suboptimal deals because they are somehow more connected to you. I am glad to sell my services to the US and will buy their services, likewise for EU stuff if it is competitive. Besides this outrage at the US from EU perspective is mind-boggling, for the first time since I can remember US is moving away from imperialist global polices, and Europe is in…

Hard disagree. For me, "support local" means paying a little more for goods that are 10x better instead of commoditized crap fully optimized for enshitification.
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