{"id":15089,"date":"2022-09-16T08:49:31","date_gmt":"2022-09-16T06:49:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bluemind.net\/?p=10445"},"modified":"2026-06-04T18:10:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T16:10:43","slug":"europe-and-digital-sovereignty-loves-me-loves-me-not","status":"publish","type":"ressource","link":"https:\/\/www.bluemind.net\/en\/ressource\/europe-and-digital-sovereignty-loves-me-loves-me-not\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cEurope and digital sovereignty: loves me, loves me not\u2026\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An article by Pierre Baudracco, BlueMind&#8217;s CEO<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Digital sovereignty isn\u2019t about blindly putting anything labelled \u201cmade in Europe\u201d first. Contrary to popular belief, big tech companies aren\u2019t an issue because they\u2019re American but because they\u2019re too powerful. They use their dominant position to impose their rules, their terms and their laws. Digital sovereignty \u2013 or independence \u2013 is about being able to choose and act without pressure or constraints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Do as I say, not as I do<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Governments and major organisations across Europe advocate digital sovereignty, but if they\u2019re to be believed, there are no local solutions that would enable them to put it into practice. This big lie may be attributed to intellectual laziness but also \u2013 and perhaps most significantly \u2013 to intense lobbying by big tech companies with near-unlimited resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Saying that there are no sovereign alternatives on the Old Continent is simply untrue. The current situation is more accurately the result of short-term choices and a certain amount of indifference or acceptance IT decision makers, countries or major companies talk themselves into.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For sovereignty to be truly taken on board, we need a bona fide digital industrial strategy rather than quick fixes that prolong the status quo with a vague hint of sovereignty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Open source: a solution, not a problem<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although software publishers are responsible for 90% of open-source software development, their role is underappreciated and all too often denied for ideological reasons, including by open source fundamentalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Potential clients merely view open source as a way of reducing costs while breaking free from proprietary publishers they feel trapped by. On the other hand, governments and some perhaps overly dogmatic advocates may support open source but often restrict it to their own projects. They may even anxiously insist on developing or cobbling together their own solutions, including for non-core or non-specific needs arguing that open source is all about service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">None of this works! And everyone laments that there are no credible open-source alternatives!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unfortunately, what typically happens is that people\u2019s legitimate aversion towards major publishers and their monopolistic or even outrageous commercial practices grows into an all-round aversion of software publishers as a whole who are viewed as business parasites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What this all boils down to is simple. There are businesses that meet the technical, functional and ecosystem compatibility requirements needed to develop solid, long-term and quality solutions: they\u2019re software publishers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A solution isn\u2019t source code<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Software solution development isn\u2019t based on providing a series of services or support. The result is always the same! It always comes back to the same denial of software publishers\u2019 contribution and not understanding what their role is in building software solutions. Developing new features is just the tip of the iceberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Being a software publisher isn\u2019t something you improvise. It involves long-term commitments, effective business governance, sound development, quality and maintenance capabilities, having a vision, being able to anticipate, and having an entire organisation that responds to the demands and needs of clients and partners who want a solution! And a solution isn\u2019t source code\u2026 It\u2019s a reliable, supported, quality product people like with a reasonable, transparent cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Working with an open-source publisher rather than trying and circumventing them will maximise your chances to succeed, to have a better solution, to ensure software continuity and to enjoy first-class skills while saving money and promoting the open-source philosophy, which everyone will ultimately benefit from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whether they are a company, a non-profit organisation or a foundation, software publishers are the champions of the future of open-source solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A little light at the end of this cutthroat tunnel<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This lack of vision or government will must be addressed quickly, but all hope isn\u2019t lost:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>&nbsp;Strong positive signs are being felt at the European level with the EU\u2019s approval of the DMA and the DSA to try and bring some order to the digital Wild West,<\/li><li>There are real European solutions that put out all the stops to offer credible, well-grounded solutions,<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Software publishers are here. Solutions, including open-source ones, exist. All that\u2019s left to do is to turn rhetoric into action and embrace them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14564,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[425],"tags":[446],"class_list":["post-15089","ressource","type-ressource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsroom-en","tag-news-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u201cEurope and digital sovereignty: loves me, loves me not\u2026\u201d - BlueMind<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Digital sovereignty \u2013 or independence \u2013 is about being able to choose and act without pressure or constraints.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bluemind.net\/en\/ressource\/europe-and-digital-sovereignty-loves-me-loves-me-not\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cEurope and digital sovereignty: loves me, loves me not\u2026\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Digital sovereignty \u2013 or independence \u2013 is about being able to choose and act without pressure or constraints.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bluemind.net\/en\/ressource\/europe-and-digital-sovereignty-loves-me-loves-me-not\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BlueMind\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-04T16:10:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bluemind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Nextcloud_Logo.svg-scaled.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1803\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"\u201cEurope and digital sovereignty: loves me, loves me not\u2026\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Digital sovereignty \u2013 or independence \u2013 is about being able to choose and act without pressure or constraints.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bluemind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Nextcloud_Logo.svg-scaled.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bluemind.net\\\/en\\\/ressource\\\/europe-and-digital-sovereignty-loves-me-loves-me-not\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bluemind.net\\\/en\\\/ressource\\\/europe-and-digital-sovereignty-loves-me-loves-me-not\\\/\",\"name\":\"\u201cEurope and digital sovereignty: loves me, loves me not\u2026\u201d - 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