A lot of people are moving away from Big Tech. Many more would like to do so, but they do not know that it is really easy to do so and that there are good options.
You do, given that you are here. Maybe time to help your friends?
Some good options, that I use myself :
OS : Linux.
Browser : Vivaldi.
Mail client : Vivaldi.
Calendar client : Vivaldi.
Mail Service : Proton, FastMail.
Social : Mastodon & Fediverse in general.
Office package : Libre Office.
Video conference : Whereby.
Feel free to suggest more options and share with your friends!
#Linux #BigTech #Microsoft #Apple #Google #Alternative #EU #Europa #Vivaldi #Browser #Mail #Calendar #Technology
@jon The problem here is assuming that people care. I often bring this up to both people around me and to journalists, and except for when Trump was ranting the most about blocking europe from US cloud services (at which point I did manage to get an article published) _no one cares_.
I think people in general are not smart, and they hate change. I've given up completely on democracy and the capabilities for independent thought, when it comes to the common man.
@h4890 , my experience is that people really care. It is a question of helping them realize that there are options. We have seen significant growth in Europe, when there are articles letting people know that there are options.
@jon @h4890 My experience within my IRL circles is that people do not generally care enough directly about these issues to make any changes.
However, they do care about social, political and other issues affecting their world, nation and daily life... so if you wait until they complain about any of these issues and then clearly link their issues to one of our solutions involving #privacy, #decentralisation, #digitalsovereignty, #opensource, #ethicaltech, etc. in a subtle and not-pushy way, you can have a good chance of success.
Using this strategy, I managed to persuade all of my family members to #gnuLinux, and all of my family and most of my extended family + in-laws that I'm in contact with are now on #DeltaChat.
@jon @Vivaldi Btw, would be great to have a light stripped-down version of #Vivaldi without the any of the proprietary UI bits for people who prefer Open Source. You could even make it a paid offering like some other browsers.
@opensourceopenmind @jon @Vivaldi Family members is not a problem, because if they want my help, Linux is what they are going to run. =)
Beyond family members, the only ones I have ever met who do run linux are highly skilled technologists, and they are far and few in between.
As for vivaldi, I think it would be great if they could sponsor https://ladybird.org/ to use their browser engine.
@opensourceopenmind @jon @Vivaldi impossible to do anything with them these days due to red tape and administration. Therefore I always turn down their requests when they ask me.
@h4890 @opensourceopenmind @jon A @Vivaldi browser independent on Chrome would be great (and it would not happen as recently, the Manifest V3 forced adoption), but (among Firefox-based browsers) Zen is yet functionally very far from Vivaldi.
Actually, if the Servo browser engine reaches some day a fully functional release, it would be a great start point for a Vivaldi-like browser.
@IGVazquez @opensourceopenmind @jon @Vivaldi Chrome I cannot touch, because it is a control and domination mechanism created by Google.
No one should use it, because using it means contributing to establishing a mono-culture on the internet controlled by corporations.
While waiting for ladybird, I reluctantly use Librewolf, even though it is based on FF.
@opensourceopenmind @jon @Vivaldi Mozilla has sadly selfdestructed and gone all woke. Their CEO also earns disgusting amoungs at the expense of the programmers.
I suspect that the downfall of FF is due to the high salary, which has turned the organization from software to becoming a prestige job and a place for power accumulation.
Sadly the same goes for the linux foundation. They have become completely preverted by corporations, so it is basically