France Aiming to Replace Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, etc. • Hacker News Board

Re: France Aiming to Replace Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, etc.

#401

Post by FpUser » Mon, Jan 26, 2026, 11:08 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #216

hintymad wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a way, isn't it what the Americans and even the current administration want? We want a strong Europe who is keen on preserving and developing the glorious modern civilization that it created. We want a strong Europe who can build and innovate instead of regulating and fining. In contrast, we certainly don't want see the disastrous joke like Northvolt. We certainly don't want to see the joke that BASF shut down its…

Europe will then redirect the 300B euros it was investing in US treasuries annually to Eurobonds, while redirecting the $300M in purchasing from US companies to EU companies. This is biting the hand that feeds the US. Europe will buy LNG from Canada instead of the US, and continue to purchase imports from China. I agree though that a strong EU is needed, in part to defend against the US, as well as Russia (until the…

>"I agree though that a strong EU is needed, in part to defend against the US, as well as Russia (until the Russian economy reaches failure)."

So after Russia fails "a strong EU" is no longer needed? Also waiting for Russian economy to fail may prove to be forever and not even desirable. Changing the system of government to one that treats people like it should is much better goal

Re: France Aiming to Replace Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, etc.

#402

Post by aucisson_masque » Mon, Jan 26, 2026, 11:09 PM UTC

Honestly the greatest thing trump did is help us, French, and maybe Europeans, to get back our sovereignty.

I’m fed up of having to use Americans tech for everything and people getting along with it.

Chinese managed to separate almost completely from the American tech market, eu can do it too.

Maybe get stronger relations with China too, this 70 year old consensus where we must follow the USA whatever the case is finally ending.

For instance, i bet there would a be lot to win if we diplomatically supported China annexion of Taiwan. Cheaper microprocessors, unrestricted access to newly annexed Taiwanese factories.

Re: France Aiming to Replace Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, etc.

#403

Post by jansper39 » Mon, Jan 26, 2026, 11:09 PM UTC

shin_lao wrote: post #337

softwaredoug wrote: post #113

Americans fail to appreciate a few things about our economy 1. We have a large homgoneous market where you can build a product and it’s expected it can succeed for hundreds of millions of Americans 2. EU is the easiest second market, and another step change of hundreds of millions of customers in a somewhat unified market 3. there’s not an easy 3rd economy that replaces EUs wealth, population, and comfort with Englis…

EU market is by no mean easy, it's heavily fragmented requiring very often intense localization effort.

Seems easier to comply to the single market rules though than 50 odd different states.

Re: France Aiming to Replace Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, etc.

#404

Post by Esophagus4 » Mon, Jan 26, 2026, 11:09 PM UTC

cmiles8 wrote: post #230

swiftcoder wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> “the sky is falling” rhetoric It's hardly rhetoric, from the European perspective. The EU is already embroiled in a proxy war against a major power in Ukraine, and are now faced with the prospect of their strongest erstwhile ally moving to annex EU territory. Simultaneous war on two fronts, where one opponent is deeply embedded in your supply chains, is an existential threat.

I’ll give you that the current US administration isn’t exactly scoring points for subtle diplomatic negotiation, but remember too that most of the United States was purchased from other countries. It’s not a completely bonkers idea that the US could purchase all or some of Greenland. In the end, we’ll probably just see a strengthening or enforcement of the existing treaty for US military use of Greenland which is all…

> aggressive, negotiation style born out of his NYC real estate developer days

This is what someone would say if they only know Donald Trump from TV.

Everyone who knows Trump from his NYC real estate days knows that he's (and this is possibly the worst insult any New Yorker can hurl at someone) "a bum." There's a reason NYC would never vote for him.

He doesn't pay his contractors, reneges on legal agreements he himself created, and uses legal threats and fights to screw over anyone he pleases, especially if they can't afford the legal fight. It's a lie-cheat-steal mentality, and might makes right.

It's not like, some hard-nosed NYC negotiating strategy. He's a crook. There's really not much more than that.

Re: France Aiming to Replace Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, etc.

#405

Post by youngtaff » Mon, Jan 26, 2026, 11:10 PM UTC

jorvi wrote: post #117

cmiles8 wrote: post #70

I wish them luck, but while saying folks will drop the dominant apps seems all the rage at the moment people have been saying this for decades with almost no real progress at scale. The only way to accomplish this at scale is to build something that is legit better and let the market decide. Anything else is just principled wishful thinking.

The way out of this hole is by the EU mandating a 5, 10 and 20 year plan for getting off US tech and pivoting to open source. Start with a target small municipality in each country. Switch to SUSE (with a desktop that supports Active Directory), Collabora and what not. Then switch the mail stack. Then the files stack. Etc. Next step is scaling it up to a small city, then a big city, then a province, and finally the w…

Given how software is largely delivered via SaaS models these days, I'd start with a Chrome OS competitor as a client

And then build out Google App suite, Office 365 exquivants

Re: France Aiming to Replace Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, etc.

#406

Post by tsimionescu » Mon, Jan 26, 2026, 11:10 PM UTC

xp84 wrote: post #388

beloch wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't take the Canadian market for granted. There's a strong desire to forge closer links with the EU now and reduce dependence on products that could be weaponized against us at any time. Geographic proximity doesn't count for much when it comes to software.

> weaponized against us I take a more optimistic stance here. Trump can only live so long, and everybody except basically Trump and John Bolton knows that the majority of his idiotic tariffs (and nonsensical belligerence like pretending NATO control of Greenland doesn't meet all our defense needs) are wealth-destroying on net, as well as wealth-destroying for at least 10x the number of people than they help (many of…

I think that your outlook on US politics and future leadership is naively optimistic (though I very much hope to be wrong).

First and most importantly, I don't think it should be considered a given at this point that there will be a democraticly elected successor to Trump. It's clear from past attempts and current declarations and actions that the Trump regime will try to maintain power instead of ceding it at future elections - whether they will succeed or not will depend a lot on American institutions and the power of the people.

Secondly, your assertion that only Trump and Jon Bolton agree with the current policies seems deeply wrong. First of all, the VP (with a real chance to be President, given Trump's age and apparent health), seems very much on board. Secondly, much of Trump's policies are based on the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 document, including at least some of the foreign policy decisions. Thirdly, a desire to re-orient US foreign policy away from Europe (and thus NATO) and towards China exists in a large part of the traditional foreign policy establishment. Fourth, the leaders of the Democratic Party seem to have learned entirely the wrong lessons from the last election, looking more at which of Trump's policies they should adopt rather than what alternative solutions they can promise to the American people.

Re: France Aiming to Replace Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, etc.

#407

Post by aucisson_masque » Mon, Jan 26, 2026, 11:16 PM UTC

xp84 wrote: post #388

beloch wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't take the Canadian market for granted. There's a strong desire to forge closer links with the EU now and reduce dependence on products that could be weaponized against us at any time. Geographic proximity doesn't count for much when it comes to software.

> weaponized against us I take a more optimistic stance here. Trump can only live so long, and everybody except basically Trump and John Bolton knows that the majority of his idiotic tariffs (and nonsensical belligerence like pretending NATO control of Greenland doesn't meet all our defense needs) are wealth-destroying on net, as well as wealth-destroying for at least 10x the number of people than they help (many of…

Americans elected trump not just one time. They did it twice.

They all knew who he was by the end of the first mandate yet they still elected him again.

Why wouldn’t they find another « trump like » when trump goes away ? Vance or someone else, the list is long.

I see no reason for things to change and that’s if the USA doesn’t become an autocracy in the meantime. Trump already did so much in a year, that’s fascinating. He just need to boil the frog a bit longer but everything is in place.

Re: France Aiming to Replace Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, etc.

#408

Post by yodsanklai » Mon, Jan 26, 2026, 11:17 PM UTC

aucisson_masque wrote: post #402

Honestly the greatest thing trump did is help us, French, and maybe Europeans, to get back our sovereignty. I’m fed up of having to use Americans tech for everything and people getting along with it. Chinese managed to separate almost completely from the American tech market, eu can do it too. Maybe get stronger relations with China too, this 70 year old consensus where we must follow the USA whatever the case is fin…

> i bet there would a be lot to win if we diplomatically supported China annexion of Taiwan

Sure, and let's give Ukraine to Russia while we're here so we can get their gas. The problem with the bullies is that they'll keep taking.

Re: France Aiming to Replace Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, etc.

#409

Post by charles_f » Mon, Jan 26, 2026, 11:18 PM UTC

tick_tock_tick wrote: post #359

beloch wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't take the Canadian market for granted. There's a strong desire to forge closer links with the EU now and reduce dependence on products that could be weaponized against us at any time. Geographic proximity doesn't count for much when it comes to software.

But they EU doesn't make any software... So unless Canada is willing to go with Chinese software which would kinda invalidate any "moral" ground they have and well frankly the USA wouldn't allow it seems like the USA can take it for granted.

Canada's software market was $73B in 2024.

https://www.grandviewresearch.com/horizon/outlook/software-m...

Re: France Aiming to Replace Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, etc.

#410

Post by tsimionescu » Mon, Jan 26, 2026, 11:19 PM UTC

tick_tock_tick wrote: post #363

alopha wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something tells me when the 'something' is a major trade deal with China suddenly it'll be 'oh my god how could you'. The US wants a EU vassal, what they're going to get is an EU that realigned itself to be politically and economically equidistant from the US and China.

The whole point is the USA has been complaining that the EU was/is reducing itself to a vassal. No matter what the USA said or did before they didn't seem to care that they had no power anymore because the USA was there to take care of them. The EU can't realign itself with China because that would destroy the last fragile bits of the EU economy that are left. They are already having issues with the excess supply lan…

No, the USA does not, in any way, and has never wanted or even accepted EU countries being independent. They wanted the EU to spend more on US weaponry, and maybe on their own - but would have vehemently opposed any attempt by any EU country to buy Russian, Chinese, Iranian or any such weaponry. They want the EU to stop regulating American companies, but they certainly don't want EU companies being too successful in the USA. They certainly wouldn't allow EU tech companies access to the US defense market, while of course insisting that the EU and other NATO members buy US built weaponry.