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Comment by foepys | Hacker News Reader

Easy: because next to 100% of EU government computers run Windows and MS Office.

Not true. The European Union runs RHEL, OpenShift and some SUSE.

Seems like a vulnerability

Some part of me feels like (and hopes?) this could create a golden era for tech in the EU. Competing operating systems, productivity software, SaaS solutions. If I had any say in the EU right now, I'd look at ways to increase visa access for disaffected tech workers looking to leave the US turmoil.

If you have a job offer for 50k and a university degree you can get an EU "blue card". Went through the process and it's pretty easy, I don't think this visa is a big issue for tech workers

> If I had any say in the EU right now, I'd look at ways to increase visa access for disaffected tech workers looking to leave the US turmoil.

We're lacking VC funding, not skilled tech workers. Increasing visas for tech workers without increasing the funding just lowers wages which are already low.

That might be true, I wouldn't know -- but I do know a lot of EU countries have visas for skills shortages and software is listed among those skills. I assumed that meant there's an opportunity to expand and expedite access if the need was more imminent.

Just because companies say they have skilled shortage doesn't make it true. They're mostly just picky and want to put pressure on wages. I also have a Ferrari shortage, so we need to make more Ferraris.

Plus, EU visas are basically just rubber stamps anyway compared to how hard getting an H1B is.

Actually here's another unused pressure point, the EU can retaliate by making it as difficult for Americans to work in the EU as it is for EU citizens to work in the US. Why isn't it already reciprocal?

Any solution would need to be multi-faceted

One facet could be increasing investment, VC and otherwise

_How_ you do that? I'm not sure, but I also doubt it's a completely unsolvable problem

It's Ubuntu time !

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