Important. Proton has been great for me. Thanks for the other good suggestions. Our digital sovereignty is as important as our economic and territorial sovereignty. Substack is a particularly difficult case. Great content and real ease in publishing. So I’m still hanging around to read and occasionally comment, but moved publishing, infrequent as it is, to Ghost (IR), when Substack refused to enforce its TOU over Nazi content.
Hey, wasn’t expecting such a quick response! 💖 But since you are around, I’d love your thoughts on using Proton docs for collaboration. People don’t love being required to make a Proton account, even a free one, just to collaborate with one person. I end up having to use Google docs to avoid the grumbling.
Yeah, I still end up stuck in Google Docs in those situations too. Still trying to figure out the best way to try to convince people to do something else because Google Docs just feels like infrastructure now!
It was a trailblazer in the early days. And I advocated for it at work. Still think it was right in those circumstances. No longer. Oh, and X? So easy!
I will note that Proton in specific has been kinda weird - claiming "political neutrality" while their CEO praises Trump and Republicans on Twitter for being "the party for the little guy," and providing the IP address, device info, and account creation details of a French activist to Swiss and French authorities upon (legal) request. The second one really irks me given how prominently they advertised that they didn't log IPs, but there's some nuance in the fact that they only complied with court orders issued after the Swiss Federal Department of Justice determined that said activists' actions were illegal under Swiss law. There was also a whole lot of weirdness given France is in the EU but Switzerland isn't, so it's more complex than I can fit in a single comment. Whatever the case, my point is just to thoroughly investigate all these service providers before you trust them with your data!
Any comment on replacing Windows/iOS with a European version of Linux? There's lots of of people being told their Windows support is ending AND that their hardware will not run the new version of Windows.
As an exploratory mess around I recently installed Linux Mint, which I understand is developed by an Irish team, on a 13 year old Asus laptop. There was a bit of command line to navigate, but overall I found it to be straight forward.
Then installed Linux versions of DDG browser with Ecosia search, Libre Office, Proton Mail, Nord VPN, STEAM. Gaming limited, but it is an old machine. Everything works fine.
Also tried Brave browser and search, but the crypto tie in is off putting.
Not something I'm looking to do in the short term (I'm on Mac), but I am looking to learn more about Linux to see if it's something worth considering for myself in future.
I am also using Proton (email, pwd manager, disk) and it pretty much replaces google and dropbox. When converting my password storage from google to proton i had to clean up my password directory. For the first time (in many years) I felt like having almost control over my passwords. Quite good feeling.
I have converted my PC to Linux (Ubuntu) from windows, and it is suprisingly good! I am also using LibreOffice, stil not as good as MS Office, but ok for my usage. Google maps is difficult to replace, even more complicated if you are using android auto with your car. I have still nor found anything as good as google maps, but i often have to remind myself that I am not doing this to improve the quality of my services. I am doing this because I dont want to support the current development in the US, and also to obtain some online privacy.
But: I have found my smartphone to be the hardest service to convert. I am currently using Vollaphone (German phone and OS- Volla OS)and it works pretty good. But I still cannot use all the apps I want to use, because of googles control over the app distribution (certificates). Especially bank services are problematic, but it is possible to use the browser, so it pretty much replaces the need for a bank app. Edit: And also all Meta accounts where permanently deleted after zuckerbegs visit to Mar a Lago. Still haven't found anything replicing these services, but I consider Meta to be a "nice to have" service .
So I am some steps down the convertion road, but it still remains a few tasks.
I deleted Facebook after the Cambridge analytica scandal. I don’t like WhatsApp, but everyone from family to friends use it and they don’t want to install a telegram or signal. I deleted my Twitter account and moved to Bluesky, but most of its users seem to be from North America, and there is hardly any conversation about India or football. I stopped using Amazon for shopping and moved to Flipkart last year, but their sellers are scamming customers. For instance, I recently bought Careless people by Sarah Wynn Williams from Flipkart and they sent a pirated copy. I returned it and the replacement was also a pirated copy with fewer misprints. I want to stop using apps and services of any company that is harming people, exploiting workers and is complicit in genocide. Gmail, Google cloud are some of the services I want to stop using. But the switch seems too frustrating as I don’t know what to move to. In countries like India, encrypted services like proton mail or signal that are not as compliant as WhatsApp are seen as a threat by the govt.
For online collaborative authoring, my organisation's been using OnlyOffice + NextCloud as a full replacement for Google Docs for 4-5 years. Works remarkably well. If you don't like OnlyOffice, you can swap in Collabora Office (a collaborative browser-based front end for LibreOffice).
In my experience, OnlyOffice is more polished, modern, and has better performance, but Collabora has the power of LibreOffice behind it, and that means a really deep well of capabilities as the Collabora team progressively unlock more and more of it with their collaborative interface. It's possible that the EU will focus on Collabora, as it's a libre initiative in the EU, whereas OnlyOffice is somewhat tarnished in the eyes of many due to being a Russian initiative.
Have you thought about Synology for Notes? I know it means having one of their NAS devices, but that means going with a Taiwanese corporation AND storing data yourself. I switched to them so I had more control, and have been happy. Though the newest "lockdown" of drives has me wondering about the future.
Thanks for some great recs. Especially with the maps.
Important. Proton has been great for me. Thanks for the other good suggestions. Our digital sovereignty is as important as our economic and territorial sovereignty. Substack is a particularly difficult case. Great content and real ease in publishing. So I’m still hanging around to read and occasionally comment, but moved publishing, infrequent as it is, to Ghost (IR), when Substack refused to enforce its TOU over Nazi content.
I’ve been wondering about Substack too. Much harder for me to leave than X, LOL!
Don’t have anything to say yet on that front, but working on it
Hey, wasn’t expecting such a quick response! 💖 But since you are around, I’d love your thoughts on using Proton docs for collaboration. People don’t love being required to make a Proton account, even a free one, just to collaborate with one person. I end up having to use Google docs to avoid the grumbling.
Yeah, I still end up stuck in Google Docs in those situations too. Still trying to figure out the best way to try to convince people to do something else because Google Docs just feels like infrastructure now!
It was a trailblazer in the early days. And I advocated for it at work. Still think it was right in those circumstances. No longer. Oh, and X? So easy!
I will note that Proton in specific has been kinda weird - claiming "political neutrality" while their CEO praises Trump and Republicans on Twitter for being "the party for the little guy," and providing the IP address, device info, and account creation details of a French activist to Swiss and French authorities upon (legal) request. The second one really irks me given how prominently they advertised that they didn't log IPs, but there's some nuance in the fact that they only complied with court orders issued after the Swiss Federal Department of Justice determined that said activists' actions were illegal under Swiss law. There was also a whole lot of weirdness given France is in the EU but Switzerland isn't, so it's more complex than I can fit in a single comment. Whatever the case, my point is just to thoroughly investigate all these service providers before you trust them with your data!
Any comment on replacing Windows/iOS with a European version of Linux? There's lots of of people being told their Windows support is ending AND that their hardware will not run the new version of Windows.
As an exploratory mess around I recently installed Linux Mint, which I understand is developed by an Irish team, on a 13 year old Asus laptop. There was a bit of command line to navigate, but overall I found it to be straight forward.
Then installed Linux versions of DDG browser with Ecosia search, Libre Office, Proton Mail, Nord VPN, STEAM. Gaming limited, but it is an old machine. Everything works fine.
Also tried Brave browser and search, but the crypto tie in is off putting.
Not something I'm looking to do in the short term (I'm on Mac), but I am looking to learn more about Linux to see if it's something worth considering for myself in future.
I'm pretty sure we're switching to Linux Mint. There will be growing pains, but whatever.
I switched to Linux in '94, and no regrets. Have helped quite a few others switch, and Linux Mint is definitely a great option. You won't regret it.
Thanks!
Have you tried Organic Maps? I've been using it for the last couple years and it's worked perfectly.
Have you tried Organic Maps? I've been using it for the last couple years and it's worked perfectly.
Have you tried Organic Maps? I've been using it for the last couple years and it's worked perfectly.
Huge respect for making the shift—it's tough but necessary. Looking forward to your list of alternatives.
🔐 I analyse financial markets using cycles: strategymaster.substack.com
Didn't know Vivaldi, just downloaded it, so thanks for that.
And yes, one day, i'll switch what can be switched to Proton.
What about Substack?
I am also using Proton (email, pwd manager, disk) and it pretty much replaces google and dropbox. When converting my password storage from google to proton i had to clean up my password directory. For the first time (in many years) I felt like having almost control over my passwords. Quite good feeling.
I have converted my PC to Linux (Ubuntu) from windows, and it is suprisingly good! I am also using LibreOffice, stil not as good as MS Office, but ok for my usage. Google maps is difficult to replace, even more complicated if you are using android auto with your car. I have still nor found anything as good as google maps, but i often have to remind myself that I am not doing this to improve the quality of my services. I am doing this because I dont want to support the current development in the US, and also to obtain some online privacy.
But: I have found my smartphone to be the hardest service to convert. I am currently using Vollaphone (German phone and OS- Volla OS)and it works pretty good. But I still cannot use all the apps I want to use, because of googles control over the app distribution (certificates). Especially bank services are problematic, but it is possible to use the browser, so it pretty much replaces the need for a bank app. Edit: And also all Meta accounts where permanently deleted after zuckerbegs visit to Mar a Lago. Still haven't found anything replicing these services, but I consider Meta to be a "nice to have" service .
So I am some steps down the convertion road, but it still remains a few tasks.
I deleted Facebook after the Cambridge analytica scandal. I don’t like WhatsApp, but everyone from family to friends use it and they don’t want to install a telegram or signal. I deleted my Twitter account and moved to Bluesky, but most of its users seem to be from North America, and there is hardly any conversation about India or football. I stopped using Amazon for shopping and moved to Flipkart last year, but their sellers are scamming customers. For instance, I recently bought Careless people by Sarah Wynn Williams from Flipkart and they sent a pirated copy. I returned it and the replacement was also a pirated copy with fewer misprints. I want to stop using apps and services of any company that is harming people, exploiting workers and is complicit in genocide. Gmail, Google cloud are some of the services I want to stop using. But the switch seems too frustrating as I don’t know what to move to. In countries like India, encrypted services like proton mail or signal that are not as compliant as WhatsApp are seen as a threat by the govt.
For online collaborative authoring, my organisation's been using OnlyOffice + NextCloud as a full replacement for Google Docs for 4-5 years. Works remarkably well. If you don't like OnlyOffice, you can swap in Collabora Office (a collaborative browser-based front end for LibreOffice).
Collabora seems like a great option for companies, because of the support it provides.
In my experience, OnlyOffice is more polished, modern, and has better performance, but Collabora has the power of LibreOffice behind it, and that means a really deep well of capabilities as the Collabora team progressively unlock more and more of it with their collaborative interface. It's possible that the EU will focus on Collabora, as it's a libre initiative in the EU, whereas OnlyOffice is somewhat tarnished in the eyes of many due to being a Russian initiative.
Here’s help on the way. A Canadian social media app. Let’s see whether it takes off.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/economy/article-tech-leaders-ready-launch-of-canadian-social-media-platform-gander-to/
I'm a bit skeptical of this. We'll see.
Yup
I'm afraid, that Todoist can be considered US as well. Doist, the company behind Todoist is registered in Delaware.
Oh, I didn't know that. Thanks for the head's up, maybe I'll have to look for another option.
Have you thought about Synology for Notes? I know it means having one of their NAS devices, but that means going with a Taiwanese corporation AND storing data yourself. I switched to them so I had more control, and have been happy. Though the newest "lockdown" of drives has me wondering about the future.
https://european-alternatives.eu/