USA Big Tech grip on Europe
If - for some reason - you've recently started to feel the need to reduce your dependencies to US big tech, here's some food for thought.
The digital technologies Europe depends on have always been owned by US organizations. This has never been without problems but has been deemed an acceptable risk. The power that the US Big Tech companies hold over Europe is frightening. As the winds over the Atlantic seem to be changing permanently towards a more stressed relationship, these dependencies might have to be rethought.
The landscape
Digital infrastructure - governments and companies
It's no secret that European governments are glued to Microsoft. Windows, Outlook and Office have dominated for a long time already. Skype became Teams, which is (unfortunately) the default tool for organizational communications. And due to the earlier MS ties, recently governmental organizations have been migrating their services to Azure.
For sure, the integration between Microsoft services is decent (and the prices are subsidized) enough to make MS the default provider when considering new services for use. This is the most problematic relationship I see here, and the hardest to disconnect from. Since MS is a critical partner to pretty much all EU administrations, it would take something extraordinary to conjure up the political will to do anything too radical about it.
On the business side Azure is overshadowed by AWS, but besides that Amazon has very little presence in Europe at the moment.
The web
Changing default behaviors is hard. Google is such a ubiquitous name for web search that people don't really consider there to even be others. Though MS is forcing Bing on Windows users, not much else is in the way of Google web search dominance. Maybe ChatGPT et.al. will break the whole use case, but until something truly outrageous happens, Google search is the only search. Note: I love Kagi and haven't "googled" anything in almost a year, but paying for search is unfortunately not something that will fly for the general public.
On the same note, once people moved over to Chrome, there (apparently...) haven't been enough reasons for them to go browser hopping again. And since the main alternatives outside Firefox and Safari are all Chromiums anyway, Google's hold on the browser base is tight.
Meta
WhatsApp is the de-facto communications platform in most of Europe. Back when it came out and replaced SMS, there was a rush to get everyone on board. (Ironically, at one point my friend group moved our chat from Facebook Messenger to WhatsApp, due to some recent outrage, only to have FB buy it a year later). Naturally this means that the network effects standing in the way of moving your contacts to better alternatives like Signal are huge.
Facebook was wildly popular at the peak but has since been declining, which appears to be the trend everywhere. Instagram is still widely used, but TikTok must've eaten a big part of that particular pie.
Devices and operating systems
Here things are not quite so one-sided, but still in absolute US control. Windows is the default OS for PCs (75%), but the desktop operating systems are becoming increasingly irrelevant since the world runs more and more on web browsers. Macs and Chromebooks are quite popular, and of course computing keeps moving to phones. PC gaming is still mostly done on Windows PCs, but Valve is betting heavily on Proton and things like GeForce Now might tip the scales sooner or later.
Android holds the majority share (65%) in mobile phones in Europe and practically all store-sold phones are linked to Google. This, combined with the above, means that Google has a choking hold on the digital lives of European people.
Alternatives
Even though Microsoft and owns the governments, Google owns the web and Meta owns our interactions, they don't yet own everything. China has started to provide good quality services - out of the pan, into the fire?
Eurostack is an interesting initiative of having the entire stack - from chip to service - be European. Hopefully this will gain traction, as the alternatives are either an increasingly unstable US or the classic boogeyman China.
European alternatives has a nice collection of service alternatives for a wide variety of categories, but here's my own picks. Granted, most of the alternatives listed here are still US operated, but at least most are open source (OS)...
And here's a list of tech I like and can recommend - no Big Tech stuff here!
Microsoft
- If you've made your bed with Azure specific tech, you'll have to lie in it. Otherwise there's hope
- Linux can replace Windows PCs
- I've run a Linux-only gaming PC for years without issues
- Let's face it - most of the "PC" usage these days is "start the browser", so the OS should mostly just stay out of the way. Hint: Windows does not
- There's a few open source alternatives to Office, but since it's been the default for years, moving away is hard
- LibreOffice (OS)
- OnlyOffice (OS, Latvian/Russian?)
Alphabet/Google
- bunch of alternative search engines, and LLMs might overtake traditional search
- Kagi (US)
- DuckDuckGo (US)
- Ecosia (GER)
- for smartphones it's either Google Android or Apple IOS, so no winning here
- best bet would be a de-googled android phone, but you'll probably still need Play Store access so it's a moot point
- and here you'll likely be playing into Chinese hands - pick your poison
- best bet would be a de-googled android phone, but you'll probably still need Play Store access so it's a moot point
- for browsers, most are based on Chromium, so are at least partly controlled by Google, but there are others
- Ente (OS, US) is a great alternative for Google Photos
- YouTube has no real alternatives right now, but PeerTube (OS) is trying
Meta / Twitter
If you can't stop social media'ing altogether (worth a try), check out the fediverse for alternative platforms
Here's hoping
I wish that the current geopolitical atmosphere makes European alternatives more desirable, therefore increasing their numbers. In the most optimistic case, these shifts could start a renewed interest in protocols over platforms, something the fediverse has already been making headway in.
I fear that, should the dependencies be too one-sided, this will be used as a device to force out concessions in the political arena when the governments and the populace can be squeezed at the same time - no matter how short sighted such actions would be.
Tightening data security laws in the EU might not be enough to maintain trust in US organizations if the national leadership continues to thrash about, so the only safe option would be to start taking the reins in this crazy wagon. Hope we get there in time...
Thoughts, comments? Send me an email!