[roenxi]

I do like the thrust of this article - it is the sort of principle-based reasoning that I can get behind. Like all principle-based reasoning; it is for the small number of people organising for change. Most humans (including most politicians and administrators) aren't principles-based and, indeed, are almost always in a state of causing problems by acting randomly based on short-term incentives.

The real issue in the EU is not that they don't understand the problems in outcome, but that in the US people can get rich by selling software products (particularly SAAS & advertising) and people in the EU cannot. Therefore, the US has a huge structural advantage because they control everything. We know they have the people - Torvalds and Sergey Brin spring to mind. Big European success stories, except for the fact that they aren't really European any more.