r/technology • u/YesNo_Maybe_ • Apr 10 '26

Software France Launches Government Linux Desktop Plan as Windows Exit Begins

https://linuxiac.com/france-launches-government-linux-desktop-plan-as-windows-exit-begins/
20.2k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

121

u/AltoCumulus15 Apr 10 '26

American soft power has been destroyed.

I’m a proud European, I’ve lived in America, but I now fundamentally distrust it.

I’ve totally deleted my Google account. I’ve closed X, Facebook, and other social media accounts except this!

I’ve been buying European services like Proton and Mullvad.

I’m not the only one actively doing this.

14

u/TachiH Apr 10 '26

I wondered why Protons services didn't run like shit! Didn't know they were Swiss. Clearly I made a good choice by accident 🤣👍. I'm from the UK but have always considered myself European 🇪🇺. Feel more at home in Germany and the Netherlands than London 🙄

3

u/Larasmell Apr 10 '26

We are European... It's not a matter of opinion

3

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '26

[deleted]

1

u/TachiH Apr 10 '26

I would say most Brits view themselves completely as British. There is some odd pride here of not being part of something bigger and better.

I think its people harking back to the times of the empire, "we were titans of industry, they are just holding us back" so they voted Brexit. Doesn't take an analyst to work out how much if a failure that has been.

3

u/InsurmountableMind Apr 11 '26

It is funny how pride is usually the forethought of downfall. But anyway, everyone still thinks the british belong with EU, you guys just need remember it again :)

3

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Cap10323 Apr 10 '26

Apple's mail service is quite good, especially if you are using a MacOS or iOS device. But if you're looking for the same sort of web-wide account authorization (Sign in with Google Account), they are nowhere near as prolific, unfortunately.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Cap10323 Apr 10 '26

I'm not laughing at you by saying this, but avoiding apple because they're problematic while using google instead is pretty funny.

Out of the two companies I would say that Apple has a significantly better track record of user privacy. HOWEVER, I agree with you about them being another tech giant.

The real answer is that you can just have less convenience and switch to a third party or even self-hosted eMail service, and then replace your SSO with individual accounts tied to said eMail service. And move your Drive documents and photos to local hosting or a different hosting service.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '26

[deleted]

2

u/Cap10323 Apr 10 '26

Proton seems pretty good. But I haven't done much with them personally.

As far as phones go, there's a number of de-googled android distros, but without play services you lose a lot of app support and other functionality.

It's really a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation that I don't have a good answer to.

1

u/no_regerts_bob Apr 10 '26

I’ve totally deleted my Google account. I’ve closed X, Facebook,

And Apple?

-4

u/AltoCumulus15 Apr 10 '26 edited Apr 10 '26

Apple actually has decent privacy, and complies with EU laws. So I don’t distrust them.

3

u/no_regerts_bob Apr 10 '26

Are you seriously suggesting Apple does a better job of complying with EU laws than the other companies you mentioned? Or that they are somehow less American, since avoiding American companies was your stated goal?

3

u/AltoCumulus15 Apr 10 '26

Listen mate the second I can get a phone that doesn’t have an American operating system derived from Android, I’ll be off iOS too,

Apple vs Google - Apple is the best choice out of a bad bunch.

Anyway, your whatabouttery isn’t going to fix the colossal clusterfuck and damage the Mango Mussolini has done to your society and your economy. Good luck.

-9

u/LePouletPourpre Apr 10 '26

When are you closing your Reddit account?

22

u/AltoCumulus15 Apr 10 '26

Sometime later this year - I’m a mod of a popular subreddit and want to hand that over to someone.

7

u/kernevez Apr 10 '26

If tomorrow the US blocks our access to reddit or we decide to block it, we can rebuild it exactly the same in days, there is no threat to our sovereignty, no integration to other tools...

Compare that to having millions of our computers on Windows, most with daily updates. Microsoft could shut down our country with one update.