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The EU Open Source Strategy

digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu

91–100 of 167 posts

Re: The EU Open Source Strategy

#91
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mastodon works fairly well for that I think.

Is there a specific instance that you believe would be most suited to discover like-minded individuals on this particular subject? https://fosstodon.org seems like a good fit but is invite-only

Any instance will work I think, just start following someone like https://eupolicy.social/@bert_hubert and you should discover relevant people and hashtags soon enough.

Re: The EU Open Source Strategy

#92

To people confused or wondering why it's too little, too late, too incompetent, etc.: The EU makes a lot more sense when you understand it's a neoliberal institution. Just giving people money to work on open source directly would violate state aid/market disruption rules, they aren't allowed to do that because that could negatively impact the profit of some shareholder somewhere. Member states that want to do that ev…

> The EU makes a lot more sense when you understand it's a neoliberal institution

I think that's a perfect summary.

As an aside, regarding what I would like EU to do in opensource - when American government writes some code, it must be put in the public domain (no copyright). EU doesn't have a similar rule.

Re: The EU Open Source Strategy

#93

I wish there was somewhere I could earnestly and intelligently have discussions about EU related tech and tech policy, but HN isn't it. As you can see already in this thread, there's 14 comments besides mine and they are 100% negative, and about 95% low effort/reactionary. Of course there's a lot to criticize and also to appreciate about the EU. But this is supposed to be a forum for intelligent, thoughtful discussio…

[flagged]

Every day, I pass by numerous signs and plaques reading "funded by EU funds." Most of the time, they are attached to public transport or road infrastructure. For anyone genuinely trying to understand the EU's impact — rather than just defaulting to blind hatred — there are plenty of public resources available. You can find maps and project lists detailing descriptions, funding amounts, and progress statuses.

Granted, this data is usually "boring" by today’s dopamine-driven attention standards, so it's no wonder people rarely talk about it. But if you actually stop and take an interest in what has been accomplished, you start noticing the impact everywhere—it just takes a little effort. After all, how hyped can you really get over a repaved road in some remote village you've never even heard of? You can't. But the people living there certainly feel the impact, even if they don't always notice where the money came from.

Go search for maps provided by EU or your government sites, for instance https://mapadotacji.gov.pl/?lang=en

You might disagree with certain aspects of the EU, but leaving a rage-baited, hateful comment is the easy way out. Looking at actual accomplishments—despite your frustrations—takes real effort.

For stuff which actually can matter and had impact on daily lives (beside aforementioned public transport impact):

  - USB-C as a standard power connector
  - hassle-free travel between countries
  - GDPR you mentioned
  - recent "stop killing games" public initiative which shows that common people can stand a chance against multimillion dollar companies
  - abolition of roaming charges and access to a free internet up to certain limits — huge PITA solved for people going on vacations  
  - universal healthcare between countries on vacations  
  - strong 14 day guarantee for online purchases, free return policies and minimum 2 year warranty  
  - food safety regulations (but if you don't care you won't be impressed by it)  
  - certain regulations regarding flights and passenger rights (cancellation compensation, recent regulations regarding baggage, to fight with scammy practices of flight operators)   
  - right to repair 
  - even the commonly memed bottle caps is nice UX — you (or more commonly a kid) won't be able to drop a cap on sand rendering :) And thanks to that there is noticeably less "small trash" on beaches and in parks (left to solve are beer caps ;)
The intend of this comment is just to show that it's not "nothing" if you bother to look, the stupid/bad/ugly is beside the point here.

Re: The EU Open Source Strategy

#94
post #83
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" True but it also reflects that the EU has indeed destroyed most goodwill towards it in the last decade regarding most things digital. " And these criticism destroys any goodwill from me. These are non topics my among political diverse friends. Most people criticise the EU internet regulations are American cry babys. Their arguments are shallow, their knowledge about EU is low.

If your friends have never said “man I hate these cookie popups”, they sound like a highly selected group.

Don't be silly, the legislation doesn't state that websites have to show cookie popups. It's rather where the term malicious compliance enters the picture, a compliance incentivized by the financial interests of the biggest advertising businesses the world has ever seen.

Re: The EU Open Source Strategy

#95

I wish there was somewhere I could earnestly and intelligently have discussions about EU related tech and tech policy, but HN isn't it. As you can see already in this thread, there's 14 comments besides mine and they are 100% negative, and about 95% low effort/reactionary. Of course there's a lot to criticize and also to appreciate about the EU. But this is supposed to be a forum for intelligent, thoughtful discussio…

If you create one, I would join

Free to copy this code base https://github.com/lobsters/lobsters

Re: The EU Open Source Strategy

#96
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess the hate is because the EU also invented the following monstrosities: - CRA (cyber resiliency act): Manufacturers must handle and release security patches for vulnerabilities, and developers are required to report actively on exploited vulnerabilities and breaches. - PLD (Product Liability Directive): A failure to provide critical security updates or the presence of exploitable vulnerabilities can now legally…

All of this makes perfect sense

There was so much more they could do... like 25 years before requiring detachable batteries, they should have required selling the OS separately.

Re: The EU Open Source Strategy

#97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most EU initiatives have damaged everyday UX on the web and in tech. Are you really trying to suggest that GDPR and PECR are bad pieces of legislation because businesses have decided that they’d prefer to give you a bad UX?

[flagged]

I read it in full years ago and found it quite clear. Which parts did you find to be vague?

Re: The EU Open Source Strategy

#98
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most EU initiatives have damaged everyday UX on the web and in tech. Are you really trying to suggest that GDPR and PECR are bad pieces of legislation because businesses have decided that they’d prefer to give you a bad UX?

Right. It’s the loopholes that make them bad

What loopholes?

Re: The EU Open Source Strategy

#100
post #27
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although I usually come up negative on my The Year of Linux Desktop comments, that would already be a starting point. Unless EU citzens are able to easily walk into FNAC, Vobis, Cool Blue, MediaMarket, Carrefour, Publico,.... and come out with a laptop or desktop with e.g. SuSE Linux already set up, this will always be a niche thing from nerds assembling their own PCs, or finding their ways into Tuxedo and co. And th…

> And there needs to be some kind of value in actually doing that for normal people, otherwise it will be just like netbooks, most people will return them and ask for a Windows PC, after being "tricked" into getting one of those Linux PCs. This is the big thing. Even as a massive nerd, I keep trying various distros and going "meh" and right back to MacOS.

So maybe BSD + nice GUI is the solution :)
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