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Go European: Discover European products and services

goeuropean.org

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Re: Go European: Discover European products and services

#81

Post by [deleted] »

bigfudge wrote: post #47
shafyy wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and ideally we would have no wars, either. But because of fucking psychos like Putin, Trump, Xi Jinping and many more, we do. Therefore, unfortunately, it makes sense for EU to decrease their economic dependence on outside players like the US and China.

I think it's important that we _do_ also include China in this. It's not just that Trump has demonstrated that the US is unreliable. We have also seen (again) that sociopaths in charge of authoritarian regimes can do things that are perfectly capable of acting against their own economic interests for political, cultural, religious reasons. Depending on global interconnectedness of markets has not and will not save us…

[deleted]

Re: Go European: Discover European products and services

#82

Post by dns_snek »

zppln wrote: post #42

While I do find it an interesting exercise to reflect over my own choices of products and services and consider how I could divest myself from relying on ones provided by US companies (and I do agree Europe is too reliant on the US in some regards), it is a bit sad to see how quickly things are spiraling here. People really love to have a clear enemy...

I don't think anyone loves this but it's the most rational response to the threats made by the US government against its former allies.

Re: Go European: Discover European products and services

#84

Post by zppln »

Yeul wrote: post #60
zppln wrote: post #42

While I do find it an interesting exercise to reflect over my own choices of products and services and consider how I could divest myself from relying on ones provided by US companies (and I do agree Europe is too reliant on the US in some regards), it is a bit sad to see how quickly things are spiraling here. People really love to have a clear enemy...

If you walk into a European supermarket, fashion store or MediaMarkt there is very little coming from the US. The giant container ships are coming from the East not the West.

Sure. My microwave from 1988 is about the only thing made in the US in my home (interstingly an Electrolux). However, every purchase I make is with a Visa card. Most services I use are American. And as I'm typing this... anyone know a European alternative to SwiftKey? :P

Re: Go European: Discover European products and services

#85

Post by t43562 »

bigfudge wrote: post #39
mavdi wrote: post #11

[flagged]

First, taking you at face value: it's not clear we did that yet. Second, this is ridiculous. Trusting an until-this-point-mostly-trustworthy ally is not spineless (although I guess it might be naive).

It is weak to not recognise the change that has happened. It has been telegraphed for many years.

What has happened in the US could happen to us and we must prevent that while we hope that more sensible people eventually prevail there.

Re: Go European: Discover European products and services

#86

Post by squarefoot »

Geenkaas wrote: post #7

This is such a shame, we should be looking to source and produce things globally and find better ways to improve the logistics and efficiency world-wide. Why would the EU take such a protective stance which only enforces isolation and increases cost? Edit: Thanks for the responses, I am still looking for a signal that tells my post is sarcasm multiplied by cynicism.

It's to discourage the US from escalating the tariff war, which in the end always hurt consumers. People in the US are already paying that insane choice, but I don't hold my breath waiting for GOP voters to reconsider their choice: propaganda is a powerful weapon, and we're struggling against it also over here.

Re: Go European: Discover European products and services

#87

Post by TrackerFF »

h1fra wrote: post #38

I'm always sad that very successful European companies got fully incorporated in the US: datadog, algolia, dataiku, dashlane, etc. Also it seems to be missing some techs company: pigment, aircall, contentsquare (but not sure if it's a mistake)

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, the end goal for many startups is to be acquired by some megacorp or market leader, for something like €10m-€50m. In the US you can multiply that number by 10 or 100, or in general have ambitions of developing the startup into a unicorn.

That was at least how things used to be. US has a long, long history of (risk willing) VC investments - while European countries have been lagging far behind.

Good VC cultures have developed in some European countries for the past 10-15 years, and startups have become more ambitious, but unfortunately there's still a culture of nickel and diming startups. And the places that rob you, will fund you maybe a month or two worth of capital.

EDIT: Should be said, that I'm also from Europe. And as someone else have pointed out in this thread, Europeans hate risk.

Re: Go European: Discover European products and services

#88

Post by kergonath »

Lio wrote: post #30
vanrohan wrote: post #20

Great to see a directory like this starting to include physical products. I'd be interested in having some extra datapoints to help with decision making: - How much of the product/company's supply chain is in EU (to get an idea of just how European the product is, is it made here or abroad) - Some way to show if the company is paying "fair" tax in EU (or are profits shifted abroad) These are difficult datapoints to g…

It might be worth noting that this is not specific to the EU, it's the whole of Europe. So for example it includes companies from Norway, Switerzland and the UK. So asking how much tax is paid or how much supply chain is in the EU doesn't necissarily make sense here.

In this case, "in the EU" is a shorthand for "in the single market", "in the customs union", or "in the EEA (plus Switzerland)".

High-level discussions rarely go down to this level of detail, and from the point of view of the consumers it is not very relevant. What matters is coupling with the US or China, and the relevant regulations.

Re: Go European: Discover European products and services

#89

Post by briandear »

NalNezumi wrote: post #62

Today I learned that DeepL was German. It's hands down the best Japanese to English translator (according to my Japanese coworkers) and I was surprised how many used it in office. (never used it myself as a trilingual)

I like DeepL, but without Catalan, it has less value.

Re: Go European: Discover European products and services

#90

Post by paganel »

Is there any European alternative for Hacker News? And if yes, what's its URL/web address?

Preferable in French or Italian, or maybe even German, which I wanted to learn for a long time and this would be a good enough motivation, because, and with all due respect to the Irish, having a continent-wide conversation in a language natively spoken by only ~5 million of its own people is not very conductive to the forming of an European spirit.

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