Trying to escape Google’s ecosystem, but past purchases keep pulling me back. #DeGoogled #GoogleLockIn #PrivacyStruggles #TechDilemma #FOSS #DigitalFreedom #AndroidAlternatives
Trying to escape Google’s ecosystem, but past purchases keep pulling me back. #DeGoogled #GoogleLockIn #PrivacyStruggles #TechDilemma #FOSS #DigitalFreedom #AndroidAlternatives
Amateurs. Why did you buy all this proprietary software in the first place? Get rid of it. Setup your own cloud services, all with FOSS tools and you’re fine.
You phrased it a bit too harshly to be constructive, but that’s basically the way.
OP you don’t have to ditch it all at once. Just make yourself familiar with FOSS alternatives to these apps and once you’re content using those it will be easier to ditch the proprietary ones.
Everyone has been there, including you and me. How is our community supposed to grow if they constantly get chastised for mistakes of the past? If we value freedom in computing, shouldn’t we help others get there as well, instead of being purists about it?
“Just have tons of time, expertise, and money, you idiot, what’s wrong with you?!” is how I read this as someone with two jobs most of the year. I technically have at least the base of the expertise and used to do selfhosting, but there is no way I have the time nor money to keep up with that these days, let alone energy.
Because it is not that cheap to fully FOSS-ify myself here. 😅 I can’t buy my own servers.
You don’t need servers to have freedom in your computing, just do things locally on your computer. Even phones are surprisingly capable. For a great starting point, I’d recommend F-Droid (AppStore) in GrapheneOS (Android minus the Google viruses), Super easy to set up, and it gets you everything you need. Well, at least for me. There is also a good website called alternativeto.net, If you’re searching for software on a normal computer.
Edit: Plus, if you use Aurora (google play store access programme) with your Google ID, you have access to every paid program on your phone. Also, if you’re an EU citizen, they can’t ban you because they have been ruled a gatekeeper thanks to the DSA and DMA. MicroG, as far as I’ve read about it, since I don’t use it, is only needed for Google Apps, so if you don’t use them, why bother?
But what do you actually need in the first place? I mean it, all the stuff you mentioned I’ve never touched on a phone, how much worse would your life be without them?
You definitely don’t need any programming learning apps to learn programming, I know that because I’ve personally done it. AI chats serve what purpose? Can’t you chat with real people? Art generators for what? What did you do before you were able to generate art? Audio and video editing on a phone means you can’t be doing this professionally, what are you actually editing? Why not do it on an older laptop with larger screen that actually has access to open source apps that do this properly and almost as good as professional proprietary software?