Comment by hermanzegerman | Hacker News Reader

Comment by hermanzegerman | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

Well the State of Schleswig Holstein is ditching Microsoft completely. But it's a difficult political uphill battle, because some Users won't change their habits and cry about it.

The Minister shut this up with "Software is a decision by the employer, the employee has to accept it"

Which then got blown up by the tabloid media, which ran BS Headlines like "OMG Courts and Police not working (because they're childish and refuse to learn another E-Mail Client)

Also Microsoft is playing dirty and lobbying very hard behind the scenes to obstruct it, in Munich they changed their German HQs to Munich and started to pay Taxes there. So suddenly the city changed back to MS

TL;Dr: It's a thankless and tough battle for politicians, because they face lobbying and media pressure against them. Also they will be blamed for any roadblocks, and there is no real upside for them in it, as no one except for a few nerds cares about this

You’re absolutely right. The benefit of being US independent has no value in the eyes of the large part of European population. The politician fighting for it is fighting uphill battle against mega corporation with endless lobbying budget and simultaneously digging a grave for the political career.

> The benefit of being US independent has no value in the eyes of the large part of European population

I think this may have changed a bit within the last year or so...

Definitely, at least in Denmark.

And in Greenland. ;)

That was true in the time when Munich went Linux yes.

It's no longer true. There's a huge public moment to move away from all things American since Trump and his tariff wars and putting NATO at risk. A lot of people I know are now factoring this in to their purchasing choices and there's a lot more empathy for employers changing things.

Well the Bavarian State has just tried to give Microsoft a huge contract without tender. But the governing party there is known to be quite susceptible to "Lobbying" and enriching themselves

I don't believe that's true any longer. The U.S. moves over Greenland have a large part to play in this, but I think the sanctioning of the International Criminal Court is much more relevant.

Overnight ICC officials couldn't access email, documents etc, all because the U.S. government leaned on Microsoft. If they can do it to a United Nations court they can and will do it to anyone.

Spending money on a system you don't have any control over doesn't make sense. The public understand this.

Framing lobby as corruption would take care of those Mega corporations.

> It's a thankless and tough battle for politicians, because they face lobbying and media pressure against them.

Awwww, poor babies.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com