Open Source Projects Receive Funding to Reclaim the Public Internet

Notable funded projects & perceived impact

• Commenters highlight several grantees as particularly valuable: public-transit tools (e.g. MOTIS adding European data standards), OpenStreetMap contribution tools, KDE Plasma, PeerTube for institutions, Typst / CSS-for-print projects, DNS tooling, and small infrastructure pieces like dnsmasq.
• NLnet is credited with previously enabling projects such as Lemmy, Mastodon, and Marginalia, reinforcing its reputation as a high‑leverage micro‑grantor.

How NLnet / NGI funding works

• Many praise NLnet’s process as unusually lightweight for public money: a short proposal, milestone-based payouts, little bureaucracy, and no “consultants required”.
• Others recount negative experiences: long delays, opaque rejections, or broader frustration with EU cascade-funding programs and perceived cronyism.
• There’s recognition that government procurement (e.g. large LibreOffice deployments) is an important indirect funding channel.

Integrated system vendor vs modular ecosystem

• One major thread argues the EU’s real gap is an Apple/Microsoft-class “system vendor” that can deliver hardware, OS, office suite, identity, and support as one integrated offer for governments and corporations.
• Opponents say recreating a European Microsoft just reproduces monopoly problems; they prefer an interoperable ecosystem of smaller FOSS components, perhaps coordinated via a central “platform” for billing, discovery, and integration.
• Some propose a European software agency or defense-style procurement program for an OS, browser, and office suite; others fear bureaucratic bloat and political infighting.

Practical lock‑in: Microsoft, Adobe, Google

• Several participants stress that Microsoft 365, Active Directory/Group Policy, and the Office/Adobe stacks are the main blockers inside administrations, not OS kernels or servers.
• Replacing them requires: deep integration (identity, device management), workflow‑compatible office/design tools, and a single accountable support entity.
• Counterarguments: most users only need a fraction of current suites; Linux + FOSS office + web apps are already technically adequate if paired with strong integrators and support vendors.

Strategy, focus, and “reclaiming the internet”

• Critics say €50k‑scale grants for many disparate projects lack a coherent strategy; they call for grand industrial policy: a public search index, serious Google replacement, phone platform + app store, or a “cloud OS”.
• Others defend the “many small bets” model as akin to angel investing in commons infrastructure, with complementary efforts like the Sovereign Tech Fund targeting low-level plumbing.
• There’s broad agreement that better coordination and explicit architectural goals (interoperable standards, simpler web, less centralization) are still missing.