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Neil Brown

If you don’t like what Google is doing, spend a few moments seeing if some non-Google alternatives work for you:

Android —> GrapheneOS, /e/, Droidian, and more
Chrome —> Firefox, Safari, (Lynx :))
Docs —> cryptpad, Nextcloud docs, Collabora online
Drive —> Nextcloud
Gmail —> protonmail, mail from someone like Mythic Beasts
Search —> DuckDuckGo, StartPage

You don’t have to change everything at once, or commit to anything immediately. But it is Google, so you may be forced to move at some point!

26 Jul 2023 at 6:32 | Open on mastodon.neilzone.co.uk
15 comments
Neil Brown

This obviously isn’t a definitive list - more of a taster, or an attempt to plant a seed that alternatives exist.

26 Jul 2023 at 6:40 | Open on mastodon.neilzone.co.uk
DELETED

@neil I've been able to replace everything over the years, but the bloody phone OS.

It's always disappointing how, all Android alternatives are only developed for 2 or 3 of the highest priced, popular smartphone models.

27 Jul 2023 at 4:30 | Open on toot.site
Neil Brown

@rfg I can see why people might spend their time developing for phones that are popular, or phones that they have, rather than trying to target everything. PostmarketOS has a reasonably broad range of supported devices though?

27 Jul 2023 at 4:36 | Open on mastodon.neilzone.co.uk
DELETED

@neil I guess they try to cover a range that is most likely to be used with their OS, within their part of the world.

But everywhere else, especially Asia, the market is very different. Newer Samsungs and Pixels are always priced the highest here.

27 Jul 2023 at 4:50 | Open on toot.site
Neil Brown

@rfg

> I guess they try to cover a range that is most likely to be used with their OS, within their part of the world

Yes, probably!

27 Jul 2023 at 5:20 | Open on mastodon.neilzone.co.uk
Irene

@neil Nice checklist! AfaIk, Notesnook is also a nice alternative for note-taking. No tracker libraries.
But do you know which desktop/mobile mail client that might be the best option? I love FairEmail, but that's only for my mobile units.

27 Jul 2023 at 7:01 | Open on mastodon.nu
Neil Brown

@elmerot

> do you know which desktop/mobile mail client that might be the best option

I use thunderbird on desktop (previously evolution), and K9 (now merging with thunderbird) on my phone.

27 Jul 2023 at 7:26 | Open on mastodon.neilzone.co.uk
Irene

@neil Same as my setting, then 😃

27 Jul 2023 at 8:00 | Open on mastodon.nu
ScaredyCat
@neil @elmerot " K9 (now merging with thunderbird) on my phone." Wait what? Please no. Thunderbird sucks, please don't ruin K9....
27 Jul 2023 at 8:07 | Open on toot.net-pbx.com
Viv Smythe

@neil bookmarking for when I get organised enough to switch

27 Jul 2023 at 7:45 | Open on epistolary.org
Charles

@neil I was "forced" to deGoogle my phone because I have a Huawei, and let me tell you it's an absolute pain in the ass. The "big" apps all work fine, but all the small, local administrative stuff don't. The transportation app didn't work. The health insurance app doesn't work. The delivery app doesn't detect my location. Payment app entered captcha loop.

27 Jul 2023 at 10:37 | Open on fosstodon.org
Neil Brown

@aeftaw What a pain!

I found /e/ harder to cope with than GrapheneOS - I haven't found anything that hasn't worked so far (several months in).

27 Jul 2023 at 10:42 | Open on mastodon.neilzone.co.uk
DELETED

@neil 🏃🏻‍♀️🙋🏻‍♀️ i'm a bit late to the party, but use krystal instead of google domains.

source: i used google domains from march 2021 (simply because it was easy to use and affordable for me, a person with a visual arts/design background, and a pinch of technical knowhow at the time), and had to move from there when they announced that they were closing down and selling their assets to squarespace. i landed on krystal because they're a small(ish) sustainable company in the uk, and they also offer hosting as well (i'm not paid by them to say this, i'm just saying it from my own experience)

@neil 🏃🏻‍♀️🙋🏻‍♀️ i'm a bit late to the party, but use krystal instead of google domains.

source: i used google domains from march 2021 (simply because it was easy to use and affordable for me, a person with a visual arts/design background, and a pinch of technical knowhow at the time), and had to move from there when they announced that they were closing down and selling their assets to squarespace. i landed on krystal because they're a small(ish) sustainable company in the uk, and they also...

28 Jul 2023 at 14:17 | Open on post.lurk.org
Neil Brown

@rozina I know Krystal well, and have a lot of time for them - I think you've made a sound choice. There are others too; I like @aaisp for my domains.

28 Jul 2023 at 14:19 | Open on mastodon.neilzone.co.uk
Michael ヘビ Steinwandter

@neil
Do you know prism-break.org?
They list good alternatives, but not #Ecosia which I highly recommend too 😉

28 Jul 2023 at 18:04 | Open on fediscience.org
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