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Degoogle: Cutting Google out of your life

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Re: Degoogle: Cutting Google out of your life

#371

Post by efreak »

wintorez wrote: post #133

I tried. I failed. I returned. Google is like Gravity. It would be awesome to escape it, but it’s expensive, impractical, and sooner or later, you will be back where you where. :(

I'm stuck with Gmail. Getting the services I have free would probably be unaffordable with any other service; I've got two legacy free Google apps accounts; one has 500 users available with 4 domaine and several subdomains (about 20 active users and 40 inactive). The other has 100 users available, and is used for my personal/family use. I can't see getting this kind of service free anywhere. Not to mention, there's purchased apps from the play store (and other services) on some if these accounts that aren't easily transferred elsewhere.

Re: Degoogle: Cutting Google out of your life

#373

Post by Zak »

aftbit wrote: post #227

Google Voice is the hardest service for me to replace. I don't see any alternatives on this list. I appreciate that they let me seamlessly send and receive calls and texts from my Android phone or my desktop. I have a hard requirement that my phone should be optional for all parts of my communication workflow.

Google Voice also works if you have internet access, but not mobile network connectivity, and it works while overseas to provide a fully-functional US phone number (you do have to use a standard paid US mobile number to set it up, but do not need to retain it afterward).

Re: Degoogle: Cutting Google out of your life

#374

Post by hu3 »

AtomicPlayboy wrote: post #340
hu3 wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will keep using Google products for as long as they keep being great. Life's too short for extreme measures. You gotta pick your fights. What I did stop using was anything Apple related and that fight was easy to pick. Their repair-hostile-by-design hardware actually harm the environment. Plus it proved trivial to replace their crap with superior tech.

Whether their products are good or not is beside the point. They do everything they can to have your PII and this is something people should care about. Things like 'accidentally' collecting your BSSIDs for Google Maps or providing Google Fonts not because they want a more beautiful Web, but to have a tracker on your site.

None of that affects me negatively, they can have all my info for all I care.

Plus they make our lives easier on a level that was unthinkable not long ago with Best in Slot free products like youtube, maps, search, email, open source browser and accessible smartphones with open source OS.

My only complain to Alphabet is that they like to toy with us by keeping Mozilla alive on a feeding tube. That's just cruel, I expected some mercy.

Re: Degoogle: Cutting Google out of your life

#375

Post by maple3142 »

kevingrahl wrote: post #259
nickelpro wrote: post #61

Genuinely, why should I care? What harm is likely to happen to my life by sticking with Google, a service provider I find convenient? EDIT: I don't want to be accused of fan-boying or astro-turfing. I just see "Avoid Big Company X because they collect your data" a lot and I just can't give a damn about companies collecting my data. Be my guest, if it means I get free stuff. My data is boring tech nerd data, use it to…

Here’s an analogy I like to use for people who don’t care about privacy; Its similar to not caring about free speech just because you have nothing to say. It’s not just about you the regular joe who is of no particular interest to companies/governments but about those people who absolutely need it. You not caring about what they do with your data is totally fine but in my opinion you should care that they (in this ca…

I think what matters is whether you trust them or not. I do care about privacy, so I don't leak information that I care about on random websites, only trust entities. For me, Google is one of the company I trust, just like some people trust DDG, Mozilla, Fastmail...

Re: Degoogle: Cutting Google out of your life

#376

Post by charliebrownau »

Charliebrownau Recommended Alt tech List - 15/Aug/2020 ======================================================

* Fakebook >> Minds + Mumblit

* Twatter >> Gab

* Youtube >> Bitchute + Hoshpod

* Streaming >> JoshwhoTV + Mumblit

* Google E-Mail >> Tutanota + Protonmail

* Google & DDG Search >> swisscows/SearX/Qwant

* Google Maps >> OpenStreetMap

* Medium >> Publish0x

* Skype/video chat >> Jitsi Meet

* Whatsapp/fb/etc >> Matrix/Session/Delta.chat/Self hosted XMPP

* Discord >> Mumble or Matrix

* Reddit >> Poal.co + Voat

* Wiki >> infogalactic

* Free image site >> pic8.co or imgtc or tineye

* meetup.com >> @GetTogether

* Instagram >> pixiv.net

* Streaming chat/superchat >> Entropy

* Xsplit >> OBS

* Pateron >> Subscribestar

* Spreadshirt + teespring >> TBA

* MS Win 8/8.1/10 >> Linux OS (PC)

* MS Office >> Libreoffice

* MacOSX >> Elementary OS (PC)

* Android >> Lineage OS

* Playstore/fdroid >> Aptoide/Apkpure

* VPN (home PC) >> Mullvad VPN

* DNS (home PC) >> DNS.Watch

* Domain >> Epik & Unstoppable Domains

* Hosting >> Vultr

* Maillist/mailchimp >> Mailcow

* view Youtube anon+Privacy - https://instances.invidio.us/ * View twatter anon+privacy - https://nitter.net/

============================================================================

Re: Degoogle: Cutting Google out of your life

#378

Post by ayyy »

734129837261 wrote: post #239

I think Google is great. It's convenient. Their search results are tailored to my liking, I love Gmail, I adore Google Docs/Sheets, and there are tons of tools I use almost every day as well. Honestly, the "switching away from [nameHere]" trend is so tiresome. Good job, you're a unique little snowflake now. You don't have Facebook, no LinkedIn, you don't use Google but DuckDuckGo, and you're even switching away from…

People switching away from Gmail aren't switching away from IMAP.

People giving up Google Search aren't leaving HTTPS.

You draw the line at open protocols.

Maybe StackOverflow should be decentralized and community governed. Maybe we should be demanding more open hardware. Maybe we do need to re-evaluate who's maintaining our packages and make sure their interests are aligned with community interests. We can vote with our attention and money and what software we choose to run.

Personally, do what you're comfortable with, but you shouldn't mock others for trying to make privacy possible. You never know, some day you might need it.

Re: Degoogle: Cutting Google out of your life

#379

Post by malinens »

nowa1000 wrote: post #192
submeta wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here: Migrated all my gmail accounts to Fastmail. Took me two days. Migrated Google Docs to Dropbox. And replaced Google Sheets and Doc with a Microsoft subscription (MS Word and MS Excel). Then there‘s the search engine. I tried hard to replace Google Search with DDG, but I have to admit that Google gives me better search results. Still I would love to leave this also behind. Finally there is youtube for me. Ai…

Fastmail also wants a phone number. I no longer know what mail service to use apart from setting it all up myself.

I work for inbox.eu It is based in European Union and has 20 years experience as e-mail provider We do not require phone number for premium users. If You are using free trial version You still need to verify phone number to test e-mail sending (receiving works). It is needed to avoid spammers who signup for free to send spam.

Re: Degoogle: Cutting Google out of your life

#380

Post by efreak »

plexiglas wrote: post #178

Several months ago I took small steps towards this direction. It started with downloading Firefox on desktop and web. I love Firefox mobile. It's performant and supports multiple tabs. Also comes in Dark Mode. Next came email, which was difficult. I'm still transitioning. Protonmail was my pick because of the price point and ProtonCalendar (currently in beta). Gmail and Gcal are deeply integrated and wanted an altern…

The easiest, laziest way to remove google from your life is too simply stop using services as they shut them down. Instead of transferring from play music to YouTube music (play music is shutting down sometime after October, according to an email I got yesterday), I'm looking at setting up funkwhale or some other self-hosted music service (maybe just nextcloud? Not sure yet).
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