Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Sunday June 21 2015, @10:42AM   Printer-friendly
from the on-the-other-side-of-the-mountain dept.

The New York Times has a story that delves into a conundrum faced by Europeans: Why are there few, if any, technology companies from Europe with the size and reach of American tech giants like Google, Amazon, and Apple?

The article hypothesizes that, even though employment regulations and other business and legal factors play a role, it's actually deeply-embedded cultural differences that are the primary cause, citing less aversion to risk-taking, less stigma from business failures such as bankruptcies, little or no stigma from leaving and rejoining a company which is seen as disloyal in European cultures, more acceptance of disruptive innovation, and a less rigid educational system that allows individuals to find their own form of success.

(Considering the many indications that US schools now train for tests, not knowledge, perhaps alternatives to school are more attractive.)


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday June 21 2015, @02:54PM

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 21 2015, @02:54PM (#199082) Journal

    IN EUROPE. this is the sentence that you quoted.
    Is this not the truth?

    You say UK, France an Finland (the 3 examples I quoted) were not Europe in 1980?
    I'll grant to you, not the entire Europe had access to tech gizmos and related services, but... not even today one would pretend that the entire USA is a source of technological progress. Heck, have a look at the mobile coverage map [opensignal.com] and you'll see areas of "rural backwater": what good it would be to buy a mobile phone if you can't "consume" its services?

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2) by zugedneb on Sunday June 21 2015, @03:34PM

    by zugedneb (4556) on Sunday June 21 2015, @03:34PM (#199097)

    Well, I say, I am entirelly certain that this is thanks to US technology culture.
    Also, US compares best to Russia, not central and coastal europe. I do not think that solving communication and transportation problams across russia, from one end to the other, is even comparable to the rest of europe.
    Same with usa. Rural areas is not 15-50km, as i understand, but 300+...

    Secondly, I is irrelevant what a company does, when the entire chain of production/knowledge is not available in the same region.
    Who makes the processors/electronics in the products that you mention? Nokia?
    Who makes the OS, and the compilers they use?
    Where is the programming language coming from?

    In sweden, even Ericcson made computers, but abandoned it long time ago. Why?
    They made mobile phones, then platforms, and abandoned it recently.
    Nokia = Microsoft.

    Let us rephraise the question then: assuming that I agree with your way of thinking, where are the things today, that we had?
    Why do we not have a silicon valley today?

    And a fun anecdote...
    In sweden there are copper lines for phone. A lot of it, and they are good, and they can still carry internet with good speed.
    Now, these phone lines have been there for a while, and it is the culture of this country to lay these really good lines, of most pristine quality. The chance you get a "no line free" on the swedish phone netwprk has always been close to 0. There is a lot of "star" formations in the swedish phone line.
    Even the gsm towers used to use the ground cables. Dont know how they do today.
    Why? Do these people have 1337 and interesting things to say with very short notice?
    I had an interesting explanation from source i will not mention.
    The swedish military decided to make a very reliable network, in the days.
    Until some years ago, the phone company was still state owned.
    That is why we have a serious amount of copper in the ground today.

    So the phone coverage in west is not so strange. And, had very little with avarage consumers to do.

    I can imagine that it was the case also in some other countries in the west, but it is not public knowledge.

    --
    old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax
    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Sunday June 21 2015, @03:55PM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 21 2015, @03:55PM (#199101) Journal

      Why do we not have a silicon valley today?

      Why would you need one?

      Look, ARM [wikipedia.org] is European... thanks to Android, there are more ARM processors in this world than there are Intels.
      Raspberry PI is European [wikipedia.org]
      Arduino [wikipedia.org] is European
      Alcatel [wikipedia.org] (which bought Bell Labs) is European

      What's in Sillicon Valley now? A bunch of guys that invented "global taxi"? Or "show your privates, I'll show mine, this in the view of the whole world and we'll call it social media"?
      Mate, Europe has much denser population, a more relaxed life-style and better public transport: if you want to meet your friend (and show the privates to each other) you don't need Facebook/Twitter/Uber, just go to a beer garden of your choice and listen to a jazz band (or a gypsy one if so you like), then pick which place you retreat, her or your's.

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 2) by zugedneb on Sunday June 21 2015, @04:14PM

        by zugedneb (4556) on Sunday June 21 2015, @04:14PM (#199106)

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_architecture [wikipedia.org]

        Bro, give credit where it belongs.
        Arm is not actually manufactured enywhere in europe, the fabs or in other places. Also, the history of arm is a bit convoluted with a lot of US companies, as can be read on the wiki page...
        I begun with the 68000, have not even heard of arm, until maybe 10 years ago...

        What's in Sillicon Valley now? A bunch of guys that invented "global taxi"?

        Unfortunately, a lot of talent that is not used as they should...
        US, as it is today, is getting more and more defunct, but there is still an optimism inspiring amount of brainpower over there, so a "change" might actually lead to something constructive.

        The tech industry in US also led to large amount of science fiction that in turn lead to concepts and debates whould not have come from europe.

        No matter how you see it, europe lives in a dream that starts cracking up...
        Some say people in US have their identity in God, in the Army, or in Tech...
        In europe we have our identity in artists and composers now many decades dead, and in misinformation about one or other countries liberal lifestyle...

        --
        old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax
        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Sunday June 21 2015, @05:00PM

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 21 2015, @05:00PM (#199121) Journal

          Arm is not actually manufactured enywhere in europe, the fabs or in other places.

          Let me cite an 17y+ movie [wikipedia.org]: "American components, Russian Components, ALL MADE IN TAIWAN!" So why does matter? If the Chinese are able to fabs without being able to design a CPU*, why is this a problem for someone who can design?

          * not quite true [wikipedia.org], but surprise: BLX (the designer of Longsoon) is fabless. Guess who fabs them? STMicroelectronics [wikipedia.org], which

          STMicroelectronics is a French-Italian multinational electronics and semiconductor manufacturer headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

          ---

          In europe we have our identity in artists and composers now many decades dead, and in misinformation about one or other countries liberal lifestyle...

          You are mistaken and, as I see, in a pessimistic mood (are you Russian? Even so, it's summer there, can't get a reason for the gloomy mood). Science and innovation takes place in Europe more that in US nowadays, US is wasting itself like hell in destructive endeavours (their fault, nobody pushed Bush into Iraq). I gave you the links before, have some others.
          * Rosetta [wikipedia.org] landing on the comet is European
          * 3D printed space thrusters [soylentnews.org] are European ("We produce 150–200 thrusters in this class per year for different customers")

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford