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True, I don't think we need to copy the technology: that is probably easily available, you just need good engineers and money. The problem is exactly the second you mention: why is it that EU companies don't have the market share that US ones have? Why are our companies not big enough? What prevents entrepreneurs in Europe from creating tech giants such as the US ones? These are the things we need to copy- not the technology.

> The goal is not to create from scratch a European cloud giant ... It is just way not to rely on them

And how do you avoid relying on them? Are you going to force EU companies to choose a EU cloud provider, even when they would have preferred a US one? No, you need to create an offer that is competitive: and once it is, it will be competitive for everyone, not just our companies.

> why is it that EU companies don't have the market share that US ones have? Why are our companies not big enough?

They created the Cloud and we arrived late on this market, so we lag, therefore our companies are not big enough. This FR-GER initiative will secure market shares for european actors, in order they can grow enough to provide a sovereign platform for EU companies which need it.

> Are you going to force EU companies to choose a EU cloud provider, even when they would have preferred a US one?

All defense/sensitive/state owned companies, administration and maybe banking companies will not have the choice as they must comply to EU or national rules about data management. And I guess many european companies competiting with US and Chinese ones in highly competitive markets where bleeding edge techs and secrecy matter are looking for sovereign European solutions.

> They created the Cloud and we arrived late on this market

Same for the web, for the mobile, and for many other sectors. We seem to be always late on the market, why is it so?

> All defense/sensitive/state owned companies, administration and maybe banking companies will not have the choice

Ok, so if I understand it correctly the EU is going to regulate out from some sectors non-EU companies and has to both come up with a legal excuse and to create some acceptable alternative before the regulation comes in force. And if the alternative is mediocre it won't be much of an issue because there will be no choice anyway. But the idea of creating an interoperable standard is good: it could allow a sane competition between companies to provide a basic standardised service. I hope it doesn't resolve in the next embarrassment. It won't solve our problem of constantly lagging in most consumer high tech sectors anyway.

> Same for the web, for the mobile, and for many other sectors. We seem to be always late on the market, why is it so?

1.We lost the WWII. The US won it and took the leadership of the world. At a moment we were rebuilding our continent, they developed very quickly and took a competitive advantage in many sectors. We managed to catch-up in some but not in others. And since the beginning IT has always been an American thing (apart Minitel in France in the 80's). The information era was shaped by IBM, Bell, Intel, Microsoft. Not by Thomson, Siemens or Olivetti.

2.The US are very good at selling stuff and making profit. But as I stated in another post this also has big downsides.

3. Europe is not a country and there are 27 economic policies and strategies which does not help European companies...

4. I think mobile developed first in Europe (Nokia ?)and not in the US but this is detail.

. > And if the alternative is mediocre it won't be much of an issue because there will be no choice anyway.

This move is not about making good products or value the european savoir-faire. It is about geopolitics.

> And since the beginning IT has always been an American thing

> apart Minitel in France in the 80's

> Thomson, Siemens or Olivetti.

> I think mobile developed first in Europe (Nokia ?)

Yep. And let's not forget that the www was invented by an Englishman in Geneva.

So how come we seem to be losing all the battles in the end? I agree that there's geopolitical explanations too: another commenter mentioned that the petro-dollar system grant the US with a much lower cost of money- and it's not a small thing. If I understand it correctly, the US acts as the world's bank: prints money that everybody is forced to use and emits in exchange debt titles that everybody wants to buy. That's a huge advantage.

But let's not forget that in the US rules are simpler and companies often have a relative freedom to break them if the public finds it useful; that they can easily downsize and fire underperforming people in case of need; that professionalism and expertise are highly valued; that public administrations are open and welcome new initiatives (imagine in the EU a small private company like SpaceX was at the beginning getting multi-billion contracts from ESA...).

While in France you have judges ordering (shamelessly, in my view) that Google both has to do a certain job and pay for the privilege of doing it.

> So how come we seem to be losing all the battles in the end?

Vast question, and apart the geopolitical reasons, I could not say why we are unable to develop in specific sectors such as IT. I could not speak about whole Europe, but France, my country has serious issues with transforming a tech success into an economic success. If you take this Minitel story for example : the US would have made it a worlwide success 15 years before Internet emerged with hundred of billions of profits. In France it was distributed almost freely to families by the state owned phone company. So it became a booster to the national economy but not much more than that. It never became a standard, never went out of France and never allowed us to become an early IT champion... We simply have different mindsets. But I think that other European countries are far better than us in this domain.

> While in France you have judges ordering (shamelessly, in my view) that Google both has to do a certain job and pay for the privilege of doing it.

Again this is geopolitics. In France Google is perceived as a dangerous company for our European interest. MOreover like other US tech companies, they cheat to avoid their tax duty in France, which infuriates many people. So all the actions intended against Google are part of a dirty war. These actions are undoubtly unfair. But do not forget Google actively lobbies against our governements at the EU level, try to prevent us from passing laws to regulate our data privacy issues, help the US agencies to spy on us... They are not our friends.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/08/07/158371114/ou...

Nasrudith 2203 days ago

> Same for the web, for the mobile, and for many other sectors. We seem to be always late on the market, why is it so?

From what I have seen it is because of an "ask for permission culture" as a norm. The French show up the most in news stories with "felony interference with a business model" stories.

Say what you will about its role in food but it isn't exactly surprising that innovation doesn't spring forth when new ways of doing things are greeted with such hostility.

> The French show up the most in news stories with "felony interference with a business model" stories.

I agree with you. And am French. But France is not whole Europe.

> These are the things we need to copy- not the technology.

This is only my own subjective opinion: the worst thing that we could copy from the US is their business mindset. It destroys society, states, fair competition, and at the end the core values of capitalism. Their mindset gave them leadership but now is about to destroy their society. We have to find our own path.

I agree up to a point. I do think as well that there are the downsides you mentioned to the US business and social culture. But at the same time it produces a clear supremacy in a lot of sectors. We might be able to find a sweet European middle ground, but we need to start with the idea of learning from others, and learning is always a changing process. And I don't think that declaring your pride and love for who you are is a good starting point for any kind of change.

> "And I don't think that declaring your pride and love for who you are is a good starting point for any kind of change."

Lol. American do it constantly and it works for them.

They don't need to change from this point of view. And probably will never change for the others :)