OBS has a techy following though, rather than an audience of mainstream people who aren’t especially tech-savvy.

I suppose perhaps the best example of a successful open source social media platform is Bluesky. Some people on Lemmy don’t like Bluesky (and I don’t use Bluesky myself) but it’s getting at least some mainstream traction.

If Bluesky continues to grow then maybe a European open source social media platform could work. In fact maybe some European government or company could set up a Bluesky server.

I definitely want people to have control over their data. And I like open source platforms, which is why I’m using Lemmy. But I just think if we want a European social media platform that sees widespread adoption among normal people, then such a platform would probably have proprietary elements. Surely if it was completely open source then some company could come along, take the open source stuff, bolt on some proprietary novelties, and start grabbing market share.

Most people want to use a service which is big and popular and just works, and I don’t think they care about code licensing…

It would be cool if Europe could make a really successful, open source social media platform which most Europeans want to use, but if it was open source then I expect some company (maybe a foreign one) would take the code, bolt on some proprietary features, and start stealing users.

Realistically though, proprietary tech services tend to be more successful. Whether it’s Facebook, or Windows, or the most successful European tech service: Spotify.

I like open source, but realistically if we want a successful European social media platform, it would probably be largely proprietary.

I think it’s an interesting idea, but it’s just a concept right? And it’s intended for public sector use, rather than consumer use.

Average people who want to try a European Linux distro on their home computer could try Ubuntu (British) or OpenSUSE (German). Or whatever you like really. Debian is not really European but it is a global FOSS project so you could use that if you want.

My Linux experience is mainly with Debian and Ubuntu so I’m biased towards those I guess. Use what you like though.

JohnSmith and NotJohnSmith taking different sides of the argument, lol.

Anyway I like the BBC. I don’t blindly trust it, because I read other sources too, like Sky News, The Guardian, and others. But I think the BBC is very good. And I definitely don’t think it suffers from the sort of government control that RT does. There’s a difference between government-owned and government-controlled.

The Register is a British tech news website. It’s like if The Verge was even more techy, more sarcastic, and cared less about being trendy. I like it and read it sometimes.

The Register also has a few connected sites that cover different tech specialities. E.g. DevClass which focuses on news in the software development world.

That would be great. “Get tae fuck ya wee bawbag” (I think that’s the kind of thing Scots say)

Unfortunately I think they’ll stick with the USA

I could give it a shot, and see if my ISP notices. If they do object then I guess I could move to a cheap VPS.

Interesting, I might look into that. I was thinking of just renting a VPS but maybe I don’t need to. Thanks for the info.

Maybe I should try that. Thank you for the info.

I’ve thought of self-hosting a website at home on something like a Raspberry Pi but I thought of two problems with that idea:

1. I think most ISPs don’t like it if you try to host a website on a domestic internet connection, so maybe they would cancel your contract at some point.
2. If somebody out there doesn’t like the website you’re hosting then maybe they would try to attack your home server and therefore your home network, and maybe they would compromise your home network. Maybe it’s just safer to host a website on something like Hetzner.

I don’t know if I’m just worrying too much. Maybe I am.

Maybe Lemmy is a 2020s version of phpBB (the forum software, which is open source like Lemmy is). Lemmy and phpBB can both be hosted by anyone, but of course the interesting thing about Lemmy is that Lemmy servers can share their content with each other.

That makes sense. I guess if you want the star to be explicitly European then it could be a yellow star on a blue cloud, on a white background. Whatever you think works well really. I just thought I’d point out the socialist star thing since that other poster said they were reminded of Russia.

Fair point. I think a single star in the context of a co-operative business could make people think of the communist/socialist star symbol though.

Perhaps if the single star in the logo was replaced with a ring of stars, like the EU flag, then it might look more explicitly European.

Maybe I’m wrong but that’s just what I thought.

True. I know a lot of Linux people hate Ubuntu but I think it’s a decent distro especially for beginners, and like you say, Canonical is based in London.

Manson guitars are from the UK.

Also there are several Japanese guitar companies - sure they’re not European, but at least they’re not American. Examples would be Ibanez, ESP, Yamaha.

Also:

• Puma (German)
• Lacoste (French)
• H&M (Swedish)
• Primark (Irish)
• Ellesse (Italian, owned by the British)

Also there’s Fred Perry and Fila which are both Asian-owned (by Japan and South Korea respectively), but they’re at least nominally European brands.

Some European brands are American-owned though, like Umbro and Reebok.

The phrase about freedom and convenience in the OP image reminds me of what France’s foreign minister recently said about Europe’s relationship with the USA:

We are faced with a choice that is imposed on us, between effort and freedom, or comfort and servitude

If you really want to represent Europe, you could wear Lidl clothes:

Or just buy Adidas stuff I guess, whatever you prefer.