You could always just use PDF

No, I can't. You're obviously not familiar with such processes. The format is enforced, nobody cares about some dude asking for money and then also asking to use a different format. Won't happen.

Vivaldi is from Norway

Uses chrome under the hood

Ecosia is German

Uses Google/Bing under the hood

Mullvad

Uses Firefox under the hood

Kagi

Is American

Technically we're on social media

Yes, and there are dozens of us!! Dozens!

You're twisting my words, end of discussion here for me.

Look up the Atlantic treaty association, for example. Look at what the Snowden Files revealed about how America treats its "friends".

No, not out of convenience. I don't know what your image of American diplomacy is like, but they have always been willing to force other countries to go their way. In some cases they had to kill political leaders, in the EU for example politicians "understand' without getting killed.

But I think we're generally on the same boat. It's weird how all relevant tech companies are in the US. The difference is, I don't think this is because of"convenience". That doesn't scale that much. This is enforced.

Yes, but nobody cares about Spotify. It's not an essential app in any sense. It's also owned by the music industry, btw:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ5z_KKeFqE

But I can use my own cd collection instead if I want to or play my own music or none at all. Nobody cares.

What I can't do is write a funding proposal in libreoffice, because docx is the standard form and if your proposal looks odd they are happy to desk reject it. I also can't just use my own search engine, browser, social media. Well, I can, but I'll have to be tech savvy and will be isolated. This is by design.

The actual counterexample is SAP, which for some reason managed to cling itself into core business infrastructure. I don't know of another example, but let me know if you have one.

Many other startups were founded abroad and eventually bought by big tech or moved over for tax reasons. This is part of the "standard path" now, and people discuss when the strategic point in time is right to move over. American diplomacy made sure there is no competing environment anywhere else, except in China where they couldn't enforce it.

what exactly is the rest of the world’s excuse for not creating viable local or collaborative alternatives to American corporate services and products?

Decades of American diplomacy and big tech market domination hindering them from doing exactly that. It's not a coincidence all relevant tech companies are in the US. For the most time, if you started a company elsewhere and it became reasonably relevant, you had to eventually move to the US or go down.

Of course, you could start a non profit, but it would also stay irrelevant because it's incompatible with big tech. Microsoft's docx, android and iOS locks etc.

That said, there is now a political opportunity to move away from this system, but it takes a few years.

Yeah, I wouldn't say "semi legit", but they know how to run a business 😅

If you're talking about ransomware (?), they are actually famous for great customer service and not stealing your credit card details. If people don't trust them, noone will pay. So they offer live chats with real humans to help you set up a bitcoin wallet etc., to ensure smooth processing.

The business has developed further though, not if you don't pay they often threaten to release the data on the web.

Well, either Ronny is an introvert and not interested in meeting new people, or he has already been introduced to Jesus before and makes an informed decision here

Furry coming down to you