Over the past few months, I embarked on a rewarding digital journey to move away from US big tech and towards more European [EU], open source [FOSS], privacy-oriented [P], and decentralized [D] alternatives.

I’m sharing my experience here in case it can be useful to others, as well as to gather any additional thoughts or suggestions:

  • Desktop OS: Microsoft Windows 11 --> OpenSUSE Tumbleweed + KDE [EU][FOSS]
  • Web browser: Google Chrome --> Brave --> Vivaldi --> Mozilla Firefox + Strict privacy settings, uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger, Conset-O-Matic [FOSS][P]
  • Email: Gmail --> Infomaniak Mail [EU][FOSS]
  • Calendar: Google Calendar --> Infomaniak Calendar [EU][FOSS] + OneCalendar [EU]
  • Files: Dropbox --> Infomaniak kDrive [EU][FOSS]
  • Photos: Google Photos --> Infomaniak kDrive [EU][FOSS]
  • Notes: Google Keep --> Notesnook [FOSS][P]
  • Social Media:
    • Facebook --> Nothing
    • Twitter/X --> Mastodon (mas.to) [EU][FOSS][D]
    • Reddit --> Lemmy (lemm.ee) [EU][FOSS][D]
  • AI Chatbot: OpenAI ChatGPT --> Mistral AI Le Chat [EU]
  • Videos: Youtube --> Unwatched [EU][FOSS][P]
  • Podcasts: Apple Podcasts --> Spotify --> Pocket Casts [FOSS]
  • Translate: Google Translate --> DeepL [EU]
  • Maps: Google Maps --> Organic Maps [EU][FOSS][P]
  • Weather: Apple Weather --> YR [EU]
  • Online payments: PayPal --> Revolut [EU]
  • Password manager: LastPass --> Mozilla Firefox --> Bitwarden [FOSS][P]
  • Online shopping: Amazon --> Cdiscount [EU]
  • Travel booking: Booking.com --> Direct booking

And here’s the list of things I couldn’t let go of:

  • Mobile OS: iOS | I have a business iPhone which is also my personal phone
  • Messaging: WhatsApp | The network effect is too big here: family, friends, local businesses, etc
  • Streaming services: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ | These come basically for free with my ISP and are too convenient for the moment (esp. w/ kids)
  • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    3·
    10 days ago

    don’t forget that bitwarden has EU servers, but afaik they are not the default even here. you can move by exporting and importing, but editing history may get lost

      • huppakee@lemm.eeEnglish
        2·
        10 days ago

        Thanks, I did not know that and feel a bit stupid now.

        In July 2005, the company was acquired by Priceline Group (now called Booking Holdings) for $133 million, and was merged with ActiveHotels.com, a European online hotel reservation company, purchased by Priceline Group for $161 million in September 2004.

        In 2006, Active Hotels Limited changed its name to Booking.com Limited. The integrations of Booking.com and Active Hotels helped its parent company improve its financial position from a loss of $19 million in 2002 to $1.1 billion in profit in 2011. The acquisition of Booking.com was praised by some social media as “the best acquisition in Internet history” since no other acquisition in the digital travel market had been shown to be as profitable

  • ReannleggeEnglish
    2·
    10 days ago

    I have given up on a traditional Desktop computer a while ago and moved mostly to my iPad, but if I had the choice now I would be using something with an ARM or RISK5 processor and probably Debian. I am trying to get away from safari but I find a new browser I like but there is always that one thing that pulls me back (usually tab groups). I used to have Wordpress host my domain, it is now hosted by hosthero. I went from a .com to a .ca tld. I use my ISPs email server for professional emails, I however think they are trying to phase out offering email addresses. I used Apple’s hidemy email for signing up for things I now use my domain to create pseudo random email addresses. I host my own Nextcloud and VPN (wireshark) at my home for files I am looking for an off site option as well. I have tried multiple times to use a different Calendar setup with Nextcloud. I am wanting to find a way to download all my iTunes music into my Nextcloud music library but that is going to be tough for the moment, maybe if I really cared I would find a way but not right now. All of my photos are still on Apple’s servers, I do however occasionally get around to backing them up on my Nextcloud. Notes I have not really cared enough to actually move but I should probably move them to Nextcloud, just like reminders. Social media I mostly just use Lemmy (Lemmy.ca) I do use discord, I would drop it in a second if the communities I belong to would as well. I will have to look at AI, I use chatgpt for proof reading and helping me code things. Question for you what is unwatched? I have been thinking about setting up a new device to watch youtube stripped of the ads but that is a little ways off right now. I use youtube for the podcasts I follow but I am thinking of moving my podcast subscriptions to my Nextcloud. I have no regular need for a translator so I do not have one. The first internet thing I changed was my password manager, I use 1Password as it is Canadian, if I where to do it again I would go bitwarden. My online shopping has stopped at Amazon, the occasional time I will buy whatever I need right from Canadian store webpages. I cut my subscription to Amazon prime, Disney+, and AppleTV+. And moved to sailing the high C’s (C, C+, C++). I do not like pirating but it is better than paying the enemy. I use Jackett and the arr apps (sonarr, radarr, have no need for the other ones yet) and then it is just added to Jellyfin. I am considering moving to plex because the Jellyfin app on my AppleTV wants me to pay for a subscription in order to use it all. I much prefer Jellyfin so we will have to see what comes from my decisions on a new media centre.

    My Nextcloud is hosted on a 1TB NVMe drive in a raspberry pi 5, my VPN is on a pi 4 booting off of a USB drive, and I sail the high C’s on another pi 5 that hosts my Jellyfin server. On both of my pi 5’s I have pihole working as my DNS so that way I am blocking ads and ad trackers over my LAN. I am considering my options on how to remove my iPhone and iPad backups off of icloud. Maybe I will get my old Mac Pro working again and backing things up there?

    • ceiron@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      2·
      10 days ago

      That’s a great setup you’ve got with the Pis and Nextcloud!

      Unwatched is an iOS app that allows to handle subscriptions to YouTube channels without a Google account, the ads and the recommendation algorithms.

  • AuliEnglish
    1·
    9 days ago

    With their surveillance laws they are trying to push. Europe doesn’t even seem like a good option.

  • liverpoolbutterEnglish
    11·
    10 days ago

    Infomaniak is great, but it’s not in the EU, and I’m not sure what you’re referring to when you are claming it is FOSS?