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Facing reality about the EU is a core requirement for good management

baldurbjarnason.com

81–90 of 526 posts

Re: Facing reality about the EU is a core requirement for good management

#81

What amazes and perplexes me is that Apple thinks it can effectively play politics against the EU and that somehow their customers will back them in the face of the "consequences" Apple applies, which are pretty transparent and really quite amateurish (eg no more web apps for you!). As the article states, the first mistake Apple makes is thinking the EU is somehow like the US, but I can't see how any large proportion…

“brainwashed”

Distrust of government, and the limiting of its powers, is an American founding principle. It has resulted in federalism, separation of powers, a Constitution that protects property rights, and a Bill of Rights. This skepticism of government stemmed from the lived experience of the founders.

That this founding principle still permeates American thinking and American life is something I would call culture, or an ethos. But it is not, in my experience, brainwashing.

Re: Facing reality about the EU is a core requirement for good management

#82

What amazes and perplexes me is that Apple thinks it can effectively play politics against the EU and that somehow their customers will back them in the face of the "consequences" Apple applies, which are pretty transparent and really quite amateurish (eg no more web apps for you!). As the article states, the first mistake Apple makes is thinking the EU is somehow like the US, but I can't see how any large proportion…

I think there needs to be a word like "Paris syndrome" for when Americans meet actual Europeans and find out their politics.

I've not met anyone who doesn't work in Brussels who thinks the EU isn't a dysfunctional pile of shit. The most spirited defense I've heard of it is "Well at least it keeps the Germans from invading again.".

> The EU, it's better than genocide, by a bit - probably.

-- Enthusiastic EU supporter, 2024.

Re: Facing reality about the EU is a core requirement for good management

#83
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes each time we see these cookie warnings, we admire a system that does so much to our benefit

Nothing in the law requires those cookie banners. If you don't agree, you can quote to me the exact passage in the GDPR where it talks about cookies, banners, or browsers. Or you can read what Github has to say about this: https://github.blog/2020-12-17-no-cookie-for-you/

This is the exact problem though, noone really cares what the law says, they care that now they have annoying cookie banners. They don't blame the businesses for this; they blame the EU. The more of this they layer on the more ordinary people get irritated by the EU.

This is how Brexit happened, remain tried to explain this stuff over and over again and no one wants to hear it. They want the cookie banners gone, or the bendy banana rules gone. The EU makes itself an easy target everytime they add more.

If nothing else was learned from Brexit that should have been the thing. There actually isn't a point where you can spend enough money to convince people of this stuff when they don't want to hear it.

Re: Facing reality about the EU is a core requirement for good management

#84

What amazes and perplexes me is that Apple thinks it can effectively play politics against the EU and that somehow their customers will back them in the face of the "consequences" Apple applies, which are pretty transparent and really quite amateurish (eg no more web apps for you!). As the article states, the first mistake Apple makes is thinking the EU is somehow like the US, but I can't see how any large proportion…

>EU citizens haven't been brainwashed into thinking that their government is their enemy, at least not to the same extent as the US. The same phenomenon can be seen in other areas, such as digital cash: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Dpu6G_UlSdM On paper, digital cash is superior to both physical cash and digital bank money in almost all aspects, but many Americans oppose it anyway because they see their government as t…

There's a big difference between cryptocurrency and CBDCs.

Re: Facing reality about the EU is a core requirement for good management

#85
But that is nothing compared to the reality that the EU is not facing:

You know who is even more important than the EU to the peace and security of Europe?

The United States.

The audience for the whining of the American tech companies isn’t the EU consumer, it’s the US voter.

They are pushing the narrative that the EU is a bully beating up on innovative American companies.

And with the rise of the “America First” isolationist faction in the US, they might find an audience for the US Government to start taking action against the EU and/or retaliate against EU companies for the perceived bullying of US companies by the EU.

Re: Facing reality about the EU is a core requirement for good management

#86

At least in the case of Apple, it’s not at all specific the the EU. That company is run by children. Everybody who works with Apple, be it developers or suppliers complains about how shitty they are to work with. They maintain relationships by the strength of their market power alone. Bridge burning is ingrained into the company culture. Apple is treating the EU like they do everyone else: they are being dicks. Unfor…

Apple saw what happened when Google was nice to developers and got shitty camera views in apps and adobe flash. Apple has rightfully concluded that developers do not deserve to have any freedom on their platform because they immediately abuse it for their benefit and to the detriment of the user. Devs got so bad meta lost billions in value when Apple set up a privacy transparency feature in the App Store, say what yo…

Any platform operator needs policies to protect users against spam and abuse. But does Apple do a good job at this? No. Many of the popular app store apps are low quality games that exploit addiction with loot-box mechanics. But those scam apps make money for Apple so it's fine.

Apple does not keep spam and other crap from the App store, but it does police high quality apps that offer their own subscription services. Because Apple feels entitled to their cut.

Re: Facing reality about the EU is a core requirement for good management

#87

This honestly just sounds like a lot of whining from the author. As someone who’s set in rooms with loads of regulators (1) you can pretty much always compromise with them. (2) they want to ensure criteria is met & typically not penalties nor want you to leave a market It’s more accurate to think of regulators as customers. They just have different requirements they need to solve their problem. Rarely are they protec…

In your meetings with regulators how often have you seen the "we'll exit the market" bluff actually work? I can't see many companies wilfully exiting the third largest market in the world.

Re: Facing reality about the EU is a core requirement for good management

#88

What amazes and perplexes me is that Apple thinks it can effectively play politics against the EU and that somehow their customers will back them in the face of the "consequences" Apple applies, which are pretty transparent and really quite amateurish (eg no more web apps for you!). As the article states, the first mistake Apple makes is thinking the EU is somehow like the US, but I can't see how any large proportion…

> EU citizens haven't been brainwashed into thinking that their government is their enemy

I don't think that EU is so homogeneous in this regard. Ask that question to people from Italy and Finland and you will get quite different answers, and rightly so, because Italian and Finnish government, and in general state are quite different.

Re: Facing reality about the EU is a core requirement for good management

#89
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gosh damn you Denmark! You where super late to the party and then choose to be special :( https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1545/5143/files/Plugs_of_t... That really grinds my gears. But I think the narrow 2 pin plug can be used in most EU countries. --------- >The fact that the EU regulators can arbitrarily go after companies is a real problem. Do they go arbitrarily after companies though?

At least all the phones will use the mechanically defective USB-C connector though. Huge win for labor unions and internal market?

I have no idea about USB C connector being mechanically defective, but how would that relate to labor unions? And how does that relate to my question?

Re: Facing reality about the EU is a core requirement for good management

#90
post #51

I quite like the article as far as it goes; but this begs the follow up question - is the strategy working? Because for all their standards and harmonisation, the manufacturing is happening in China and the decisions are being made in North America. This should be an article about how Nokia or equivalent is approaching the US all wrong and not understanding the realities on the ground. I'd put energy in a similar fra…

> Because for all their standards and harmonisation, the manufacturing is happening in China and the decisions are being made in North America.

Seems like this holds true more generally.

The manufacturing is happening in China, the decisions are being made in North America, and the regulation in the EU.

Its like direct (US), produce (China), react (EU)

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