If you could pick one non-U.S. tech, product, or service to switch to, what would you recommend, and why? Open-source and self-hosting options welcome!
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@zackwhittaker Oooh, tough, would have to be either @protonprivacy or @signalapp and I can't decide which.
Either way the world needs more privacy as the current manifestation of surveillance capitalism is doing very few people any favours.
@zackwhittaker kanidm.
Wonderful and simple identity management platform, written in rust, open source of course.
@zackwhittaker Using LibreOffice and SyncThing side by side replaces Office and OneDrive.
@zackwhittaker
Well, they should move away from using American Certificate Authorities as quite a high priority and should be treated as a national security issue. So perhaps GlobalSign.
For consumers, Affinity by Canva and Davinci Resolve instead of Adobe.
@zackwhittaker
Nextcloud for calendar, contacts, files, photos and many more, depending on installed add ons. Did self hosting on a raspberry pi4 for years, then switched to a German provider
@klic big fan of self-hosting.
@zackwhittaker
Raspberry 4 with 8G and external HD. Still runs pi-hole, MediaWiki, a lyrion music server (ex squeezebox server) and a snowflake proxy.
Just moved nextcloud off site because I switched the pi of when in holidays....
@zackwhittaker #Fairphone5 (with e/OS) has probably been my favourite non-US hardware purchase.
For non-US software alone I'd say #protonmail (or their whole suite)
@zackwhittaker
OpenBSD, not the least because it ships with a powerful crypto stack due to Canada's relatively sensible export controls.
https://www.openbsd.org/crypto.html
You can hire an OpenBSD VPS from OpenBSD Amsterdam. This EU company donates a decent chunk of its revenue to the OpenBSD Foundation.
There are other hosts, but I can no longer recommend Vultr since it started calling itself "The AI-first Global Cloud Platform." <Gagging sounds>
@zackwhittaker OpenBSD, the largest non-US Open Source OS.
@zackwhittaker
#Linux. It's a good first step to get you out of the #Microsoft ecosystem. (Though probably a big one.)
@zackwhittaker #Nextcloud self hosted for calendars, address books and files. #GrapheneOS without Google Play Services and Google Accounts. Family approved, three devices so far, more to come. Works like a charm. 💪
@zackwhittaker Brush up your German skills 😅 https://di.day
@zackwhittaker Immich is an amazing replacement for Google/Apple Photos and for storage Opendrive/Nextcloud and these i was able to fully host myself with little knowledge of doing that. For mail/calendar etc. Protonmail.
@zackwhittaker and yeah, Mastodon!
@zackwhittaker as a European I've been using OVH for years. My own mastodon and Nextcloud instance are installed on a physical machine I rent from them and my Tor exit node on one of their cheap VPS. They also have all my domains. Stable and practical, 100% uptime in > decade of use.
I moved away from Gmail to Proton mail in 2021. I'm a bit scared by their CEO but he kept quiet eventually. Good suite.
@zackwhittaker Linux, a good alternative for your computer and soon for your phone !
@zackwhittaker My recommendation is @nextcloud because it's open, rock sold - never let me down in ~10y of usage - and it's backed by a sustainable business model.
#yunohost , an easy to maintain platform for selhosting (at home) stuff like #nextcloud , mails, #matrix , #vaultwarden for family and friends (creation of users is easy)
Easy to install, and easy to maintain, thank you all @yunohost
@zackwhittaker Mailbox from germany, because They use Green Energy and value data Protection
@zackwhittaker n8n for Workflow Automation. Great software from Berlin.
@zackwhittaker Google Workspace and M365 -> Nextcloud
@zackwhittaker immich instead of all the cloud image services.
@zackwhittaker there are some great alternatives here: https://european-alternatives.eu/ and here: https://euro-stack.com/
@zackwhittaker Qobuz instead of Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal etc.
@zackwhittaker
codeberg
syncthing
onlyoffice
navidrome
only one?
@zackwhittaker
even i think one is too few.
i think replacing googled android or iphone with un-googled android or operating system goes as one. there are non-u.s. manufacturers and android variants.
normie smartphones are privacy nightmares.
serious contender is linux distribution. replace windows machine with linux.
@zackwhittaker I’m happy with the service I get from Fastmail. However they’re Australian and email privacy laws there are … so-so.
@zackwhittaker I use Delta Chat for keeping in touch with my contacts. Simple, effective and European.
@zackwhittaker shout out to @doncow for the all-in-one containerized mail server suite
@zackwhittaker I’ve been collecting Canadian alternatives to US tech: https://worktree.ca/taffer/canadian-alternatives
@zackwhittaker rather than picking one, here's a site to choose from:
https://european-alternatives.eu/
@zackwhittaker GrapheneOS, Proton mail, Vaultwarden.
@zackwhittaker Codeberg instead of Github
@zackwhittaker Nextcloud. Works great. Can be self hosted. Lots of add ons
Sorry... Can't pick just one...
Have been on year-long (+) journey to disengage from any/all US-based so-called Big Tech in each and every way possible...
Kagi search, Tuta mail, Open Street Maps, Card-a-base,...
On-going... 🤷♂️🤷♂️
@zackwhittaker
Immich for photos. Nothing else I've seen comes close in features. Requires self hosting but once it's up and running, it's wonderful.
@zackwhittaker yah, in my local area (us), there are a few engineers started to replace every big tech stuff with foss services and offering them to my local communty.
situation is pretty bad that one journalist friend became too worried and asked me to give access to my own hosted stuff, like matrix, nextcloud, blog, kiwix, etc.
@zackwhittaker Nextcloud
Also Vivaldi as a web browser
@zackwhittaker Mastodon ;P
- Nextcloud calendar, contacts, files storage, etc. and with Collabora to work on documents online.
- Mox self hosted mailserver.
- LibreOffice to work on documents offline.
- Home Assistant for home automation.
- Codeberg git server.
- DNS4EU, Quad9, and OpenDNS as DNS servers. LuaDNS and desec.io DNS for own domains.
- Fairphone
- OsmAnd, or TomTom navigation.
- GrapheneOS phone OS.
@zackwhittaker Univention Corporate Server to replace Microsoft Active Directory. Just ask the Germans.
@zackwhittaker Nextcloud, because almost everyone needs some sort of file sync, and you get calendars, notes, tasks, a collaborative office suite, cookbook, password manager and so much more easily installed.
Yes, there are better standalone options for many of those things, but the ease of setup and use in Nextcloud directly is really nice.
@zackwhittaker #NextCloud by a mile.
Pictures from your phone go where YOU save them, not icloud/gcloud whatever.
Calendar and contacts? Same deal, your hardware. Share them with your spouse! All bog standards
Dropbox? fuck that, YOUR hardware! Syncing clients for every desktop OS and phone.
Sharepoint? no more need.
Collaborative office suite opendocument compatible? Also yes.
Framework for even more shit (matrix, openstreetmaps, mastodon)? AGAIN, YES
100% FOSS, self-hostable, scales? 👍
@zackwhittaker NEXTCLOUD, by a mile.
Pictures from your phone go where YOU save them, not icloud/gcloud whatever.
calendar and contacts? same deal, your hardware. Share them with your spouse! All bog standards
Dropbox? fuck that, YOUR hardware! Syncing clients for every desktop OS and phone.
Sharepoint? no more need.
Collaborative office suite opendocument compatible? Also yes.
Framework for even more shit (matrix, openstreetmaps, mastodon)? AGAIN, YES
100% FOSS, self-hostable, scales? 👍
@zackwhittaker started looking at Nextcloud to replace M365 for the family. Can’t recommend yet cause we haven’t switched. Already have some Linux in place.
@zackwhittaker Proton app suite is great and replaces a lot of Google app functions (drive, mail, calendar, password locker + VPN as the cherry on top) but with an inbuilt privacy focus and hosting in Europe
Fastmail! Great open source developers, worker-owned, and it works really, really well!
@MichaelTBacon @zackwhittaker “worker-owned co-op”? Last time I’ve heard @fastmail laid off a large number of union members
via @fastmailunited
@sumek @zackwhittaker @fastmailunited @fastmail
Both are true. And the Fastmail Union has never called for a boycott or asked people to choose other options. That dispute became public because they were a unionized workplace in the first place. It helps the union to use Fastmail while pressuring management to agree to good terms.
Annoys the crap out of me when people hear "labor dispute with union" and automatically assume a boycott is needed. LISTEN TO THE UNION.
@MichaelTBacon @sumek @zackwhittaker @fastmailunited @fastmail just to be clear it is worker owned, not a co-op, as in it is owned by people who work at the company, not by everyone who works there
@pixls @sumek @zackwhittaker @fastmailunited @fastmail Thank you, will correct.
Yeah they are great service, keep in mind however their servers are hosted in the US.
A very real concern and I read "non-US tech" and thought "non-US techbro." For those of us in the US it doesn't make much difference in terms of threat model but for those outside it absolutely does.
So that disqualifies it somewhat, certainly.
Fairphone (E/os version)
with
Proton Mail/Drive
@zackwhittaker Signal because it 
#awesome :D