Yes, but the cost-to-switch is more important right now than the details, the bigger fear I have is that if such an EU alternative is successful that the US incumbents will swoop in and buy it and then you're back to square 1. That has happened quite a few times already.

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atmosx 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

And the EU governments will be advertising it.. already happened in Greece… few companies with strong core tech were bought by Microsoft and the gov was “so happy” for the “success story”.

Everybody and their mother is using Gmail anyway

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toomuchtodo 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Is there a mechanism the EU could use to inhibit acquisition by a non EU entity?

	▲	jacquesm 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		There is in France. They have a government investment arm that will invest relatively small amounts but with a string attached: a veto on any majority acquisition. This was used for instance to block the takeover of Dailymotion by Yahoo iirc. It's a double edged sword: it may help in some cases but it hurts the investment scene overall because an exit to the USA is what most EU investors dream about because their returns overall are pretty crappy. Fragmented markets are a lot harder for investors than uniform ones.
	▲	atmosx 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		It’s not a matter of mechanism. It’s a matter of mindset. Until today the mindset wasn’t there. Maybe this will change.