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The Internet's best online platform is European

Why European? Just say French

Why European? Just say French

Completly true...

Completly true...

I became a patron after reading this one.

I became a patron after reading this one.

Not a European myself, but I do honestly believe Europe today is uniquely positioned to counterbalance the unbounded greed of capitalism that's increasingly fuelled on by nationalist fervour, which makes it doubly harmful. It's possibly the only place with enough prosperity to finance grandiose concepts like freedom and equality, but also decentralised enough to actually care about them.

A great example is EU's replaceable battery legislation, coming into effect in 2027. Everyone I know has always wanted replaceable batteries back one time or another; many see its gradual disappearance as an example of the erosion of consumer rights. But we all had to wait for the EU to act because both China and USA "have horses in the race" so you can't really expect anything from them, and everybody else has no leverage (read "market too small") on the tech giants. So ugh, thanks EU I guess.

Alright that's more than enough unsolicited political opinion in one sitting so I'll shut up now. Coming back to the topic of Lichess, I'd like to add that another way to contribute is to donate compute by joining fishnet. Great for someone like me who does not have the cash to spare but ugh, to put it in a way that's not going to get me in trouble, have access to some powerful servers that may be put to better use. If you are in a similar position, I encourage you to do the same.

Not a European myself, but I do honestly believe Europe today is uniquely positioned to counterbalance the unbounded greed of capitalism that's increasingly fuelled on by nationalist fervour, which makes it doubly harmful. It's possibly the only place with enough prosperity to finance grandiose concepts like freedom and equality, but also decentralised enough to actually care about them. A great example is EU's replaceable battery legislation, coming into effect in 2027. Everyone I know has always wanted replaceable batteries back one time or another; many see its gradual disappearance as an example of the erosion of consumer rights. But we all had to wait for the EU to act because both China and USA "have horses in the race" so you can't really expect anything from them, and everybody else has no leverage (read "market too small") on the tech giants. So ugh, thanks EU I guess. Alright that's more than enough unsolicited political opinion in one sitting so I'll shut up now. Coming back to the topic of Lichess, I'd like to add that another way to contribute is to donate compute by joining [fishnet](https://github.com/lichess-org/fishnet). Great for someone like me who does not have the cash to spare but ugh, to put it in a way that's not going to get me in trouble, have access to some powerful servers that may be put to better use. If you are in a similar position, I encourage you to do the same.

@Qusai1910 said ^

Why European? Just say French

French would of course be even more accurate. I was going for a counter-point in the political debate/narrative on how "Europe" is falling behind the tech race being contested by the U.S. and China. The point here of course being that for me to some extent it is the European/French values of not everything having to be made with profit in mind that sheds light on how enshittification can be avoided and how this so-called race cannot solely be based on the valuation of certain tech giants. It's a big and nuanced topic of course, but just to answer your question :)

@Qusai1910 said [^](/forum/redirect/post/DMNWc22f) > Why European? Just say French French would of course be even more accurate. I was going for a counter-point in the political debate/narrative on how "Europe" is falling behind the tech race being contested by the U.S. and China. The point here of course being that for me to some extent it is the European/French values of not everything having to be made with profit in mind that sheds light on how enshittification can be avoided and how this so-called race cannot solely be based on the valuation of certain tech giants. It's a big and nuanced topic of course, but just to answer your question :)

"In fact, the Internet’s very best online platform was founded in Europe - and in France no less."
This is fact but it has nothing to do with "how "Europe" is falling behind the tech race being contested by the U.S. and China" debate. This could have happened anywhere in the world. Remember that the main advocates of open source/free software are from USA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_S._Raymond but this means nothing as well.
Anyhow, lichess is awesome and your blog post is also great :) Thx for writing it!

"In fact, the Internet’s very best online platform was founded in Europe - and in France no less." This is fact but it has nothing to do with "how "Europe" is falling behind the tech race being contested by the U.S. and China" debate. This could have happened anywhere in the world. Remember that the main advocates of open source/free software are from USA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_S._Raymond but this means nothing as well. Anyhow, lichess is awesome and your blog post is also great :) Thx for writing it!

Yes you are right; Neither Europe nor France has monopoly on open source solutions. I admit that I was being polemic on purpose because I am a bit tired of the endless negativity in Brussels and elsewhere on how Europe can do nothing right in the field of tech (which is of course also exaggerated polemics, yet pervasive nonetheless). And the juxtaposition with the US-based chess.com is an interesting analogy in my view (because Chess.com is more "successful" on some of the parameters that create anxiety and a feeling of falling behind in Europe).

Yes you are right; Neither Europe nor France has monopoly on open source solutions. I admit that I was being polemic on purpose because I am a bit tired of the endless negativity in Brussels and elsewhere on how Europe can do nothing right in the field of tech (which is of course also exaggerated polemics, yet pervasive nonetheless). And the juxtaposition with the US-based chess.com is an interesting analogy in my view (because Chess.com is more "successful" on some of the parameters that create anxiety and a feeling of falling behind in Europe).

Haha, I feel with you. We just voted out Orbán from our parliament, so I know how it sounds that Europe can do nothing right in anything :)

Haha, I feel with you. We just voted out Orbán from our parliament, so I know how it sounds that Europe can do nothing right in anything :)