[uola]

Of course it's about perspective, I just don't think you have a very broad one. That Google didn't come from Europe has little to do with the current situation. Europe doesn't lack innovation at all, in fact the reason that startups aren't very popular is that there are many other interesting engineering companies to work for. Talent flight is not particularly significant, especially with the US visa rules.

European startups often out innovate companies like Google, but there's no way you can win when Google owns the platform. We already have sub-standard foreign technology when US companies don't roll out features in European countries. Yet, again you can't win because who's going to fund a company that any minute can be crushed by a much larger US competitor.

Being able to compete with US companies is very much a problem for European startups, not because of talent flight or innovation but because they have such strong market positions that they don't mind taking advantage of.

The funny thing is of course that a decade ago no one in the US cared about Europe, but now with all the shit going on in the US you constantly see shallow argument how horrible Europe is. I see that as a good sign.

[criley2]

"The funny thing is of course that a decade ago no one in the US cared about Europe, but now with all the shit going on in the US you constantly see shallow argument how horrible Europe is. I see that as a good sign."

Your entire post is full of the "troll level" ignorance that you claim mine is, but this right here is the ignorant cherry on top.

Thank you for demonstrating that you embody the criticism that you level on others.

P.S. Americans complained about European regulation, inability to compete in less regulated capitalism, laggy adoption of technology, and lack of innovation 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago...

P.S.S If the only reason Google didn't come from Europe is that Google has a giant market to use against competitors, how did Google get to its position? Why didn't the first Google come from Europe? Or Facebook? Or Twitter? Or ANYTHING? It's a chicken/egg problem for you to blame Google's dominance on its size, since it didn't always have this size, and there was ample opportunity prior!

[uola]

If my post is so full of ignorance it should be easy for you to formulate an argument against it, like I did against your comment. Yet, you seemingly can't.

Europe has been far better at adopting technology than the US has. Everything from Internet connection speeds and traffic prices to digital payments and identification. Europe has many successful technology companies and technologies, why they don't grow into the next big company is in part because they get acquired by US companies with offshore funds. The growth of silicon valley in the first place wasn't exactly a demonstration in free market capitalism if that's what you're claiming.

Edit: Of course none of this matters since your original comment gathered so many responses that the article got caught in the flame war filter (more comment than points over 40 points).