'The EU runs on Microsoft' – and Uncle Sam could turn it off(theregister.com)
theregister.com
'The EU runs on Microsoft' – and Uncle Sam could turn it off
https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/04/eu_foss_fears/
11 comments
The US is edging up to a place where the it will become a defacto terrorist state that has overplayed it's hand in such a way that forces every other country to develop it's own internal sovierign comunications networks that never communicate with outside entities directly.
Worldwide, including the US, public sentiment is that privacy and indipendence
have been destroyed by american technology.
The authoritarian/fashist and often zionist
forces are hated and resisted with a grim carefull determination by populations that have less and less time, for anything else.
It's pretty clear that Linux, or even BSD, is the way forward. My concern at this point is what the picture will look like with embargoes around software development and FOSS -- we saw this with the Russian devs contributing to Linux being cut off a few years back, though it's possible that LLM's will make this point moot very shortly.
You say: "My concern at this point is what the picture will look like with embargoes around software development and FOSS"
Can you elaborate on this point?
To my mind, there is no better warranty mechanism for digital sovereignty than FOSS, even if that means each nation has to fork the software tools that they're embargoed from.
Can you elaborate on this point?
To my mind, there is no better warranty mechanism for digital sovereignty than FOSS, even if that means each nation has to fork the software tools that they're embargoed from.
It's going to be a headache if America and Europe can't share code and we see the balkanization of Linux and FOSS in general. Developers, many who work for free, will potentially have a whole lot of hoops to jump through to submit (or accept) code, and there's the potential for them to commit serious crimes without even realizing it.
Yes it's great for sovereignty, but I really hope it doesn't get to that point.
Yes it's great for sovereignty, but I really hope it doesn't get to that point.
The thing about copyleft FOSS however is that the code is almost certainly available, can be vetted by any nation, and accepted into any digital sovereignty framework.
If what we were talking about here are proprietary (or "closable" non-copyleft) codebases atop proprietary protocols, then yes, we're doomed.
If what we were talking about here are proprietary (or "closable" non-copyleft) codebases atop proprietary protocols, then yes, we're doomed.
> It's pretty clear that Linux, or even BSD, is the way forward.
Yeah and in many EU institutions and companies there's been a move to webapps. And in the big ones, like the EU parliament or EU Commission, there are rules: for example webapps must work on every MEP's smartphone, no matter if it's Android or iOS. So those webapps tend to be very portable (they work on any phone and on any desktop/browser combination).
For many "whatever OS + whatever browser" is literally all that's needed. So switching to "Linux + a browser that ships with Linux" is not a showstopper.
People are convinced there's no way out of Microsoft's grip but Windows getting viruses (just like Microsoft's founder btw, like the Epstein files showed) may be a thing of the past for many very soon.
Now I like Anthropic and I'm a very happy paying Google customer: can we please just ditch Microsoft and not the entirety of products made by american companies? Microsoft produces shit but it's not the case of every american company.
Yeah and in many EU institutions and companies there's been a move to webapps. And in the big ones, like the EU parliament or EU Commission, there are rules: for example webapps must work on every MEP's smartphone, no matter if it's Android or iOS. So those webapps tend to be very portable (they work on any phone and on any desktop/browser combination).
For many "whatever OS + whatever browser" is literally all that's needed. So switching to "Linux + a browser that ships with Linux" is not a showstopper.
People are convinced there's no way out of Microsoft's grip but Windows getting viruses (just like Microsoft's founder btw, like the Epstein files showed) may be a thing of the past for many very soon.
Now I like Anthropic and I'm a very happy paying Google customer: can we please just ditch Microsoft and not the entirety of products made by american companies? Microsoft produces shit but it's not the case of every american company.
> Now I like Anthropic and I'm a very happy paying Google customer: can we please just ditch Microsoft and not the entirety of products made by american companies? Microsoft produces shit but it's not the case of every american company.
That's not what this debate is about. Sovereignty implies that the country keeps running when a hostile company owning the software decides it doesn't want that to happen. The incident with the ICC / ICJ judges investigating Gaza attacks and against Israel resulting in them personally sanctioned by Trump's administration was the wake-up call.
Rule of law in software doesn't exist anymore (when the software is in US' proprietary hands), and that's the threshold that has been crossed and is non negotiable.
That's not what this debate is about. Sovereignty implies that the country keeps running when a hostile company owning the software decides it doesn't want that to happen. The incident with the ICC / ICJ judges investigating Gaza attacks and against Israel resulting in them personally sanctioned by Trump's administration was the wake-up call.
Rule of law in software doesn't exist anymore (when the software is in US' proprietary hands), and that's the threshold that has been crossed and is non negotiable.
It is possible, but it would be like suicide bomber blowing itself. Spectacular show once, but can't repeat it.
You mean like tariffs on your allies? Like telling your neighbors you are going to annex them? Like telling one of your allies you are leaning on non military ways of stealing their land? How about publishing in the open you will be funding fringe groups with the aim of destroying EU?
Would you say then the ICC lockout is akin to the bomber blowing itself prematurely?
Yeah that pretty much, like blowing up pharmacy while wanting to blow up big demonstration.