Open Source Projects Receive Funding to Reclaim the Public Internet

Money down the toilet. Job #1 is to make a google replacement. Job #2, a domestic phone manufacturer (with its own plaftorm / appstore). These are the two primary portals to "The Internet". Without meaningful replacements, they're still on Uncle Sam's plantation. China figured that out a long time ago, and is in a far better position to digitally de-couple from the United States.

They are so far behind. Focus! Spitballing 42 random projects is a luxury Europe does not have.

You didn't spot the open hardware tablet in there? There was another announcement made almost simultaneously about funding for a.o. F-Droid:

https://nlnet.nl/news/2025/20250421-project-selection-pilots...

There are many search projects you can find like marginalia.nu and Searx, just not in this call round.

If you are talking about the MNT reform, that is utterly fatuous. Same with f-droid. These are toys for IT fanboys--nothing that will significantly dislodge Europeans from the US tech teat. Europe needs iOS & Google-tier replacements ASAP. China has Huawei, Xiaomi, Baidu, Alibaba. Even Russia has Yandex & Telegram. Europe has zilch.

I figured that after we were caught bugging Merkel's telephone, Europe would have at least gotten started, but I figured wrong.

> China figured that out a long time ago, and is in a far better position to digitally de-couple from the United States.

Ok, that's great and I'm happy for them, how does that help us in Europe though? No matter how decoupled other countries are, doesn't make it less important for others to also eventually get there.

We can agree to disagree on what is meaningful. Especially F-Droid is already widely used, and I would certainly not call it a toy.

You shouldn't rule out the snowball effect of FOSS. The nice thing about this kind of open program is that someone like you that has a beef and a clue can actually propose something, and get a grant to get the party started. After that, communities can kick in.

China got there by banning Google. I don't think Europe is willing or able to do that unless Trump antagonism continues for years. Practically noone who has a choice (people in Singapore and Taiwan) between them uses Baidu

Trump has a 25% chance of dieing of old age before his term ends. It is unlikely that the US will relax the 2 terms max for president allowing him a second term. If Trump is your worry then you can just wait him out. The real question is will others like Trump get into power next or not, and if so how like Trump are they? (I cannot answer that)

Ban Google, make the internet a public utility, and fund a public search index.

I would certainly not bet on MAGA be gone post Trump. Firstly VP JD Vance is just as hostile, and ready to take over during Trumps term should anything happen.

Regardless, these euro-hostile MAGA voters will still breathe, eat and vote republican for the rest of my lifetime.

We should prepare in Europe for a future without the US in my opinion. Like China, but not, since the EU is about openness and freedom.

> Especially F-Droid is already widely used, and I would certainly not call it a toy.

F-Droid does not publish these statistics. How do you know this?

If Donald Trump is the sole motivation for this, they are hopelessly stupid. They need to be in control of their own infrastructure regardless of who runs the USA.

China built-up actual companies in a strategic order. Do what they did, rather than throw peanuts at a grab-bag of foss shitware. They are showing you the recipe for free.

They will not be gone, the question is will they be large enough to get power.

Several people who I know who voted for Trump (not a representative sample!) do not like what he is doing with tariffs (they are not Euro-hostile) but they are worried about the border. They would support someone else if that person "fixed the border" without raising tariffs. There is also the possibility that someone could convince them that the border isn't a problem (or something else is more important).

I know a couple people who voted for Trump the person. They don't see Vance in the same way and so won't be excited to vote for him.

Only time will tell. However remember that this too shall pass. There will be a different crisis in a few years.

Depending on what you mean by in control you are either right or wrong.

You cannot do everything. Specialists can get really good at one thing, so it is best for the world to specialize and get those other things from someone else. Going it alone is bad for everyone.

However you also cannot trust anyone else. So you need to have plenty of options such that if one specialist turns out bad you can cut that one off.

EU has almost 450M people. USA had the thing on lockdown for decades with < 340M people. Japan made a hell of a showing in the 80s with < 124M. Europe has the human capital. It is foolish not to use it.

There are other considerations outside of globohomo quantifiables—like workforce development, domestic know-how, self-sufficiency, robustness to supply chain failures & geopolitical upheavals… Basically, the Taleb stuff.