It's that they only know Microsoft, they don't want to learn something else, and if there's a problem, it's Microsoft's fault, no theirs, so they don't have to deal with their own incompetence.
If you want an anecdote, we were working with SAS, a statistical software which required costly licences (more than a million € for a few dozens of workers). I suggested to switch to R or Python to the top director, who agreed.
First meeting with the service in charge, the chief opens with "ok, we are asked to change, but the goal here is to show that we tried, and found that it's not possible."
I resigned a few months after, as everything was in the same vein.
Governments should pay software engineers and system administrators (or infrastructure engineers if you like) to build and run their systems, ideally open sourcing whatever makes sense
Most people seemed to have a retirement clock running and wanted to avoid doing anything they don’t give a crap about until then.
Giving a crap about your job is an outlier.
I used to work part-time in 1st level IT support in a local hospital when I was younger.
The main "theme" of my superior's work subjects there (2009-2016) was the migration from XP to 7. You heard that right.
And apart from the usual Office- and AD-Lock-In, the most problematic workstations of course were always ones with very specialized software. Virtualization and terminal services were in use, but the whole selling point of Windows was mostly put ad absurdum already, because they needed Windows licenses for dedicated machines running e.g. specialized MRT software, but those weren't even part of the main network anyway. They needed arcane syncing procedures anyway and Windows provided no value whatsoever on these devices. Same for the patient monitoring systems on ICU beds. These were using some "embedded" Windows and were rarely working in a stable way at all, nor way they connected to the networks running AD or the CIS (edit: seems it's called HIS in English)
CAD and stuff in the office divisions was similar, but with less integration needs (apart from network printing)
What I'm trying to say is: like in many offices, any slight change made users hostile, updates cost obscene amounts of work and money, and Windows didn't provide much more value compared to SAMBA. That is dated experience, I know.
But MS has not shown to be a trustworthy company in any of my work experience so far.
It was impossible to create working solutions without MS, yes, but the reasons for that never seemed to be grounded in actual value provided by an MS-centric software and networking structure.
It was just the one available commercial solution with enough adoption, and MS has been milking their target markets with these strategies for a very long time.
Making themselves "indispensable", even in machines where their software was used to run a terminal server, basically.
Hell, in my town, 3 years ago, they started to replace subway train LED signals with crappy Windows-CE-based software.
The effects are still noticeable... the whole infrastructure is still 80% worse compared to 10 years ago.
You recognize the useless Windows licenses by the occasional Desktop (seriously, google "cologne KVB windows trashcan"....), 90deg-tilted display, and of course 20% of the signage is out of operation on average now.
I think the long-lasting solution will be to move to a web-based application system, instead of depending on Desktop applications made for Windows or Linux. Using a web app system, the government only has to concern itself with proper development and maintenance of servers and web apps, and the public workers can use any operating system with a web browser.
Just kidding. Triggered some memories.
The article also refers to some report claiming that European solutions are "wrongly judged to be too costly or inefficient". I'd be interested to read it if anyone has a translation. Even for something as basic as word processing software, every case I've seen so for the alternatives quickly lands on "you have to accept rough edges because that's the cost of data sovereignty" - much easier for a hobbyist or politician to say than an IT director charged with making sure your organization runs well.
> [French MP Philippe] Latombe criticised the US-EU Data Privacy Framework (DPF) deal, saying it no longer served EU interests due to the US president’s “impulsive” nature.
Am I wrong to say that there’s something profoundly rotten in that statement with regards to the rule of law?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Schrems#Schrems_I
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Schrems#Schrems_II
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EU%E2%80%93US_Privacy_Shield
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EU%E2%80%93US_Data_Privacy_Fra...
Why do you think that? The agreement was negotiated under certain conditions, it’s not really surprising that a change in circumstances would make it unfit for purpose.
No. The laws are applied as long as they serve the rulling elite. See GDPR for examples. Or the copyright law for examples at the other end of the pond.
I'd say that if whether or not an agreement serves the EU's interests entirely depends on who the US president is, then it's not an agreement that serves the EU's interests.
You mean products like Microsoft Windows, Apple's iOS and MacOS, Google's Android, Chrome and ChromeOS, Cisco, Fortinet, HP, Dell, AWS, Linux, Meta's Whatsapp Facebook and Instagram and so on and so forth.
Citation needed.
If you want to move away from <insert US tech giant>, you either need to embrace Linux and open source software which requires the state's employees to learn a new "stack" of applications which means they need to be given appropriate training or you need to have you home grown solutions that are as easy to use as their US counterparts and were developed within the EU by the EU's member countries with the EU's values embedded in them.
The first solution is not going to happen, as Linux is still relatively unknown all things considered and I don't see the French government employees learning how to use this OS and/or the applications running on it by themselves.
Secondly in times of budget cuts like in France currently, the government is not about to rip all the Microsoft products off and replace them with something that would take years to transition to and cost a fortune to implement.
So that leaves the homegrown solution. Unfortunately the work to move off of Microsoft et al should have started 10 years ago but it hasn't. Europe has completely dropped the ball on tech and now it's coming back to bit it in the ass.
The Draghi report from last year was supposed to kick things into gear but we will be lucky to see anything coming through within the next 5 years and by this stage the US tech giants will have entrenched themselves even more in the EU.
I am sorry to say but this is a failure that will resonate for the many decades to come.
But at least in Germany, I've seen Windows being written into agreements between state governments and trade unions representing clerks and employees. Good luck changing those without a negotiation running 3 years.
Turns out it was founded by an American, who was arrested on suspicion of bias-motivated crimes, second-degree assault and harassment after attacking a reporter in the USA but currently living in Hungary and running some media org there, with ties to the right wing Fidesz party. And he is on paper as being the founded of brusselssignal.eu
His organization received a big loan from an undisclosed source to set up the Brussels organisation and it seems to made up of or advised by a rag tag of European right wing politicians.
The whole thing stinks of Russian meddling in Europe.
Sources https://www.szabadeuropa.hu/a/szazhetvennegy-millios-kolcson...
https://www.companyweb.be/company/0793608171/free-pub/231068...
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/12/28/us/patrick-thomas-egan-ac...
the deeper problem is governments are not technology builders and cannot produce tech products because they have no unique ability to deliver anything anyone subject to them actually wants.
Of course the rest of the administrations are not there yet, there are contracts to abide to, habits, etc... But there is the start of a general recognition that overdependence on the US is a liability at some level.
Also, it would incredibly more feasible to move IT infrastructure back and have some reign on data, then it would be to recover from our overdependence on China in terms of... Well, in terms of everything physical.
Which means that the first milestone would be to host pour data on "sovereign" data centers... Using East-Asian made hardware.
One thing at a time, I guess ?
Most DCs are already using "Asian made" hardware such as Korean memory chips, Taiwanese power supplies and fabricated chips, and Japanese designed storage.
Unless you mean Chinese-made hardware, which would put much of Europe in the exact same position, with the added downside of supporting a nation that is cooperating with Russia, and is strongly in support of a Russian victory [0] in Ukraine. China has also begun leveraging export controls on tech transfers and outbound FDI as well, so dependency on an external nation would remain.
The reality is there is no choice other than America+ or Chinese made hardware for EU member states, and as long as Russia continues to leverage Chinese dual-use technology, it will be a no-go. And the European (in reality German+Dutch) ecosystem has largely been stagnant since the 2000s, and critical technology like EUV is nominally owned by EU companies but developed and manufactured by autonomous JVs within the US.
Either the EU supports Ukraine, in which case there is no choice but to deal with America+ or the EU leverages China, in which case support for Ukraine would have to stop.
[0] - https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3316875/ch...
Very difficult.
Countries like Ireland, Poland, Czechia, Romania, and Bulgaria are heavily dependent on American FDI in their tech industry, and the European Council has final say and requires unanimity. A rule such as the one you mentioned would smother VC/PE in much of the EU, as European funds like Index Ventures and Munich Re Ventures are heavily dependent on the US to raise capital and build dealflow.
Major European employers like Volkswagen AG, Siemens AG, NXP, Phillips, Infineon, and others would also face severe retaliation as a result.
It would also set a precedent that would make an alternative like China extremely hesitant to invest, as the Chinese government heavily utilizes export controls on tech transfers. For example, BYD investment in Hungary is largely CDK with the core high value components like Batteries being manufactured in China. Biren, Huawei, and SMIC would face similar export controls.
Startups that are not in a large marketshare situation wouldn't trigger the need for intermediary/isolation so the effect on FDI would be limited, and anyway, the tides are turning on US capital in general.
Retaliation: I'm not sure the US fiscal and legal overreach isn't already in place, e.g. VW dieselgate, export controls etc. The US looks after its interests (fair enough), but its time the EU levelled the field to protect its citizens, a small loss of regional sovereignty for those companies in exchange for the EU revenue they continue to make.
That's already done today with little-to-no acrimony, and none of the regulations you mentioned
> Startups that are not in a large marketshare situation wouldn't trigger the need for intermediary/isolation so the effect on FDI would be limited, and anyway, the tides are turning on US capital in general
It's not just startups. American GCCs represent the bulk of tech related FDI in Czechia, Romania, Poland, and Bulgaria, and Ireland's US-friendly business law has lead to a severe dependency on the US for capital [1].
> the tides are turning on US capital in general.
American Capital markets continue to remain larger in size than the entire EU's combined [0]. And China's is roughly in size to the entire EU. An the reality is, European capital markets are nowhere near as unified as either the US or China's.
> its time the EU levelled the field to protect its citizens, a small loss of regional sovereignty for those companies in exchange for the EU revenue they continue to make
But how?
The EU isn't significantly unified, and depends on unanimity within the European Council. As I mentioned before, Ireland, Czechia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Poland would be a significant veto to any shift against the US.
Furthermore, French and German domestic giants continue to compete against each other in every industry, which has lead to cooperation failures such as the FCAS snafu recently.
There is no "EU grand strategy", as major member states like Germany, France, and others push back or compete with each other internally.
[0] - https://www.sifma.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/2024-SIFMA-...
[1] - https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-fdi/forei...
ColinWright•8h ago
https://www-senat-fr.translate.goog/compte-rendu-commissions...
================================================================
Quoting the translation:
Mr. Dany Wattebled , rapporteur . - Mr. Carniaux, as Director of Public and Legal Affairs, you represent Microsoft France before public decision-makers. Can you guarantee before our committee, under oath, that the data of French citizens entrusted to Microsoft via UGAP will never be transmitted, following an injunction from the American government, without the explicit agreement of the French authorities?
Mr. Anton Carniaux . - No, I cannot guarantee that, but, again, it has never happened before.
================================================================
Original:
M. Dany Wattebled, rapporteur. - Monsieur Carniaux, en tant que directeur des affaires publiques et juridiques, vous représentez Microsoft France auprès des décideurs publics. Pouvez-vous garantir devant notre commission, sous serment, que les données des citoyens français confiées à Microsoft via l'Ugap ne seront jamais transmises, à la suite d'une injonction du gouvernement américain, sans l'accord explicite des autorités françaises ?
M. Anton Carniaux. - Non, je ne peux pas le garantir, mais, encore une fois, cela ne s'est encore jamais produit.
================================================================
Thread on Mastodon:
https://toot.cat/@devopscats/114879479938557566
Disposal8433•3h ago
He's smart, he doesn't want to go to jail. But all the governments and current and/or past administrations are guilty of pretended to be retarded since we all knew for the past 30 years that Microsoft was not to be trusted.