Digital sovereignty isn't a phrase you often hear in the US, but it's a big deal in Europe. Here's why.
  • rudyharrelson@lemmy.radioEnglish
    531·
    14 hours ago

    Kudos to Germany for pulling it off. Was also happy to see them mention

    Last year […] the government began rolling out LibreOffice as the default office suite to replace Microsoft Office.

    • Strider@lemmy.worldEnglish
      8·
      4 hours ago

      It’s one German state. Nevertheless, better than none. Sadly, for instance, Munich moved away from Linux to Microsoft in 2017 (end of project limux). Did I mention Microsoft has a location there?

      • Jason2357@lemmy.caEnglish
        4·
        2 hours ago

        Earlier switches were primarily about cost-savings, so Microsoft would just swoop in with discounts and backroom deal$, or offer discounts to anyone considering copy-catting, isolating the early-adopters.

        This case is not about cost but data sovereignty, and it’s also a smaller switch (keeping the Windows OS), so we can have hopes for better success.

          • PushButton@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            21 minutes ago

            Did you know horses were the only way to move around before cars?

            Did you know the US airline industry, and AT&T phone system were a monopoly situation?

            Do you remember when Dropbox, Docker were the only product that filled their niche spot?

            So, no, monopoly does not always win.

          • Jason2357@lemmy.caEnglish
            1·
            26 minutes ago

            Well, we have like 3 decades at most of this kind of tech, and really only a couple of generations modern capitalism, so it’s a bit tough to say “always” about anything. It would be more accurate, historically, to say that the monarchy always wins - but especially in that case - past performance does not guarantee future returns.