Revamping my blog in a changing world

The world we live in is changing at a rapid pace. Not only technologically, but also geopolitically. As a kid, I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s — a time when tensions between the West and the East were high, with both sides threatening to obliterate each other using nuclear missiles. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, East and West found more common ground, and the fear of mutual destruction began to fade.

From Hollywood to Microsoft

As a young adult, I saw the US as the place to be. Shows like Miami Vice, Beverly Hills 90210 and Friends made it seem like anything was possible there: cutting-edge technology and endless opportunities. The US wasn’t just a country — it was a symbol of progress. Silicon Valley was booming, and I wanted to be part of it.

After earning my computer science degree, the choice was easy. I became a consultant, specializing in Microsoft technology. Microsoft was everywhere: Windows, Office, SharePoint, Dynamics, and later Azure. It felt like a natural step—not in Hollywood, but in the world of IT, servers, business software, and the cloud. In Europe, we grew addicted to the convenience of American hyperscalers.

No more investing in hardware or self-hosting; instead, we relied on the “always-on” availability of their services, blindly trusting our old ally.

But as always, reality caught up—and we didn’t see it coming.

A Wake-Up Call from the ICC

Then came the moment that shook our trust. Employees of the International Criminal Court (ICC) were suddenly denied access to US cloud services by the American government. It wasn’t just a technical glitch — it was a political statement! Overnight, the convenience we had come to depend on became a glaring vulnerability.

This was more than an inconvenience. It was a breach of trust, a stark reminder that blind reliance on a single ally — or a single cloud provider — could leave us exposed. For European governments, businesses, and citizens, it was a turning point. The realization hit hard: we had become too dependent. The services we trusted could be cut off at someone else’s discretion.

The message was clear: if we wanted control over our digital future, we needed to forge our own path.

Building Our Own Future

So here we are. If we want reliability, privacy, and true independence, we need to rebuild our own services and infrastructure. Not just any cloud, but one grounded in European values: privacy by design, open standards, and portability—so your workloads can run anywhere, free from vendor lock-in.

That’s why I changed this blog’s name from azurecodingarchitect.com to codingarchitect.eu. This isn’t just a rebrand — it’s a commitment. I’m setting out on this journey to explore new choices, new technology stacks, and what’s possible with limited resources and budget, without compromising on power or flexibility.

It’s time to take back control, one line of code at a time.