Spyke
buyeuropean·Buy Europeanbyqaz

Software alternatives

Credit to https://www.reddit.com/user/lukakopajtic/

There might be some changes that could improve it further:

  • Remove Brave
  • Maybe add Signal; It's easier than Element, but it's also centralized
  • Stop suggesting Linux Mint specifically
  • Recommend Hosted Nextcloud
  • Add GrapheneOS
  • Maybe add Delta chat
  • Maybe remove Bluesky
  • Remove Stremio and add Jellfyin (even though it's selfhosted and not a direct equivalent)
  • Add ente because Immich is selfhosted
  • Add aurora
  • Add SearxNG
  • Add SimpleX
  • Add lichess
  • Add pCloud

Any other suggestions?

Temporary improved version:

FromToCompromise
X, ThreadsMastodonBluesky
InstagramPixelfed
YouTubePeerTubeReVanced (just blocks adds)
RedditLemmy
Netlix, Disney+🔨 Jellyfin
Google Meet, ZoomJitsi Meet
Google DocsEtherpad
Google Search🔨 SearxNGKagi, Ecosia
Google DriveNextcloudpCloud, filen, Proton Drive
Google Photos, iCloudImmichEnte
Google ChromeLibrewolf, FirefoxUngoogled-chromium
All messaging appsElement (matrix)Signal
Google Home, Amazon AlexaHome Assistant
Play StoreF-droid, Aurora
Google Android, iOSLineageOS, GrapheneOS
Windows, MacOSLinux Mint

🔨 = Self-Hosted only (requires running a server)

View original on lemmy.world
JackAttackreply
lemmy.dbzer0.com

Could you clarify some of these issues? I'm a long time brave user and have really enjoyed using it and haven't noticed any issues besides some if their Web 3.0 integrations that you can turn off.

Always happy to find Better options though.

14
lemm.ee

Instead of downvoting you, as is the style on these types of platforms it seems… I’ll actually try to link a few websites. One moment.

EDIT:

Crypto is dumb and bad for the environment

"reward" system, which is not cool

Further issues some have with the browser

And really, it is just YET ANOTHER Chromium browser, which gives Google MORE dominance on the web, which is a really really BAD thing. They are the ones who are trying everything in their power to not only siphon data off of you to sell to shady businesses, but also don't like how we can block ads, which I care the most about, personally. I'm sure there are plenty more people who are way more knowledgeable than I that can explain the domino effect of what happens when a company has total domination in a field, be it technology or otherwise.

EDIT2: Opera (and Opera GX) for those that like it for some reason...

Opera is shady as fuck too!

34
JackAttackreply
lemmy.dbzer0.com

Thanks for actually answering my question. It was a genuine question based on my opinion for what I knew.

Based on those articles, the crypto stuff doesn't necessarily worry me as much as the affiliate highjacking that they were caught doing. I wasn't aware. Honey recently got caught up In a scandle just as bad if not worse (by scale of users).

And yeah, I heard Opera was pretty terrible. I wanna say I heard the developers of themselves opera left and created Vivaldi and Opera is Chinese owned I think? I could be wrong on that.

Either way, thanks.

7
lemm.ee

Of course! I'd rather send links to someone than sit there and just downvote and move on, even if said person ignores every thing I sent. I tried to help!

My go to is this: Is it Chromium? Move on!

I want to see more Gecko and Webkit browsers than yet another freaking Chromium browser!

The Chinese ownership is stated in the "opera is shady as fuck!" link I sent! When you have time, and if you care enough, I'd recommend looking at the myriad reasons why they are both just really bad browsers, even for someone who can ignore the crypto garbage!

Anyway, have a good rest of your day, Jack! :)

5

Yeah, I'm not exactly thrilled on chrome either but at a certain point I think it comes down to "who's fucking me the least". Which I totally understand it's probably still chrome but I think just like with privacy, there is no sweet spot with browsers. It's all subjective on each person's threshold and what they want/need.

Call me crazy, but an example I've been thinking about is this:

Firefox is great. But with their recent TOS addition a lot of people want to jump ship of which ive seen a lot reference forks of Firefox. If, hypothetically, mozilla followed suit and became the next google, wouldnt a lot of those forks just be getting their updates from upstream (depending on the type)? And either way, they would be gecko which is developed by mozilla. So if 10 years from now mozilla goes the data route then we could be back in the same predicament.

Of course, those forks might not add crypto or screw over creators by affiliate link highjacking so I get there's more to it then that.

But either way, I kinda look at these things like the Signal messenger argument. Is it a perfect solution? No, some people say go further because it's centralized but it does offer a great mix of security and eas of access. And I think those trade offs apply to browsers as well.

Anyways, thanks again and have a good one as well! I appreciate the discussion!

6

i've been using brave for a long time and never had issues, although i've had to disable all of their random useless features, very easily done in the settings

it's the only chromium based browser with a full ad blocker and it has more than a few really useful differences to chrome

it worked incredibly well on lower spec phones as well

1

Huh, never heard of this guy, but looked him up and it seems like he's a classic Catholic boomer snowflake. Gross.

2

Lots of these are still American, and Bluesky isnt any-less of a walled garden, they just haven't reached enshitification-critical-mass yet.

107
sh.itjust.works

OP, quite a few of these are still American, some open source, some not. It's more like a generic list of alternatives to mainstream.

62

Being FOSS alone doesn't help much if it's a service that requires you to connect to a server by a private American company. Until 2017 Reddit was FOSS too, but at that point it was already hopelessly enshittified

Edit: changed "until recently" to "until 2017"

1

Saying “this FOSS is American” is a little like saying “any wheat in a meal makes it Egyptian because that’s where wheat comes from.” FOSS doesn’t have borders, because it can be used, forked, and modified by anyone. Even if an American created it, as soon as it becomes FOSS, it is a worldwide project.

6
lemmy.world

Bluesky absolutely belongs in the left column.

It's not Transparent, Decentralized or Open Source.

It is a centralized social media network exactly like Twitter. The only 'open' part is a protocol that lets you interact with their, private, service.

The fact that it is 'open source' is largely a red herring, if Bluesky decides to no longer support their protocol then it is worthless. It cannot simply be forked and remain useful.

Bluesky is simply engaging in a PR campaign to steal customers from Twitter. It is exactly the same as Twitter in all of the ways that matter. It can be purchased by Musk or manipulated by the existing owner in the same way as Twitter.

Making a Bluesky account is simply trusting a new corporation to not act like a corporation in the future... which is a pretty naive position.


Ecosia is not open source, or decentralized. It is a private search engine based in Germany that provides search results from the major search engines and sells advertisements via Yahoo and Microsoft ad networks. These ad networks are part of Surveillance Capitalism and earn their money primarily by spying on you, collating your data and selling it/using it to place ads.


Stremio is largely a piece of software used to funnel people into paying for monthly for pirate streaming services. It's not getting rid of Netflix or Disney+, it's giving you the option of paying Russian or North Korean supported cybergangs instead of Netflix for access to streaming content.

The real open source alternative is Jellyfin. Then using qBittorrent along with Sonarr and Radarr to self-host your own media server.


The other suggestions are mostly okay with minor gripes.

  • They could add GrapheneOS as an Android alternative.
  • Linux Mint is not a bad option but 'What Linux Distro should we recommend to new people' is a contentious topic in the community, Mint is fine but there are other options (EndeavourOS is Arch Linux installed with the Calamares graphical installer and some sane options for a desktop PC, btw)
  • While Signal isn't 'open source'. It is, for the moment, a secure option that doesn't require a lot of user knowledge to setup. It is a vastly superior choice than using social media for messaging without requiring a lot of technical knowledge on the user's part.
56
Serinusreply
lemmy.world

It is exactly the same as Twitter in all of the ways that matter.

I think the fucking Nazi at the head matters.

15

There are Nazis at the head of Lemmy instances. Because it isn't centralized it's very easy to deal with.

When there is a centrally controlled social media and a Nazi takes over, it is a huge problem and requires a large amount of social effort to solve.

Bluesky could be purchased by Elon (or the current owner may decide they prefer the alt right by this time next year) and then we'd be in the same situation.

The weakness in Twitter and Bluesky is central control. Elon just provided a very poignant example as to why.

Don't use Bluesky and also delete Twitter. Don't support the idea of a single person or entity controlling the social lives of everyone else.

6

+1. Was really surprised to see ecosia (searx!?) and stremio as the only options of their categories; kinda sketchy...

Graphene should also for sure be included, even if it's Pixel only. I don't care that much about Bluesky as I've dealt first-hand with trying to get my gen-x mother on mastodon, and failing spectacularly. It's not better in the long run, but in the short term it's good to leave Twitter, simply to lose Elon some money. Either way, the list is kinda weird.

Edit: also, only mention droidify and not plain f-droid, obtainium, and Aurora? What?

Edit: corrected last edit

4
lemmy.world

Yeah, I was gonna say… Recommending Brave isn’t a great look right now. Especially right in the wake of the Brave CEO going off on that unhinged ultra conservative rant.

And Firefox recently had its own controversy, with the removal of their “we promise never to sell your info” section of their ToS. When questioned, they basically responded with “well some jurisdictions define “sell” as “exchanging for money”… We don’t agree with that. But because some jurisdictions do define it that way, we need to remove that section. All we want to do is exchange your info for money. But again, we don’t think that should be considered selling your info.”

12

Yeah Mullvad also has a browser (which is well-known), but now it has a search engine as well

Just wanted to say that it is the perfect replacement for brave

2

Fucking brave shows it's ugly head again. The only thing worse than a browser owned by a greedy corpo is a browser that is owned by two greedy corpos, one of which is mostly a crypto scam corpo.

53

It goes beyond just cracking, with support for features like SponsorBlock and Return YouTube Dislike, but essentially yes. It's not a meaningful YouTube "alternative", just a tweaked version of same.

28
sh.itjust.works

Yes it is, if you want something different there is Newpipe, Tubular (with sponsor block and returndislike) , or Freetube. Probably others as well.

None of these let you login, if that is something you need.

7

They all still rely on YouTube for content. Of course the problem is that the real alternatives (such as PeerTube) have only a fraction of the content.

5
lemm.ee

I don’t think BlueSky is a great alternative, it’s still American and also still pretty big tech

41

But it needs to stay. Mastodon is better, but Bluesky has momentum, and anything to get people off Twitter.

Mastodon is still there, and first.

8
Lucareply
feddit.it

I also still don't fully understand if it can be categorized as decentralized.

7
lemmy.world

Suggesting linux mint specifically is good. Linux is overwhelming to new users, don't give them choice paralysis too.

36
DreasNilreply
feddit.nu

I completely agree! I switched to Linux Mint yesterday, and please don’t give me a bunch of alternatives before even deciding to try out Linux 🤣 Took me much longer to take the leap BECAUSE of all those alternatives.

10

I honestly agree here. Better to suggest a specific distro than just saying "use Linux".

10

There are several reasons why Linux Mint is to be recommended:

  1. That specific distro is almost superlightweight on the resources so even superold computers and laptops can run it smoothly
  2. it is ''Windows- like'' so transitional users can easily transfer
  3. Linux is compatible and supports even the oldest hardware (or has a ''driver code support'' for it). Remember that good Canon scanner without drivers for windows? Now you can use it.
  4. Linux has ''try without installing'' option

I personally transitioned more than ten years ago; started with Ubuntu and that was fine, but then I discovered that Mint ''flies''. :-)

Deffinitely to be recommended to a wide public who wants to transition.

3
jlai.lu

Ecosia is a German web search engine based on Bing and Google's index.
Qwant is a French web search engine based on Bing but which has been working on its own index for a while.
I just found out that Ecosia and Qwant started teaming up last year to build a European search index. I hope something will come out of it. https://blog.ecosia.org/eusp/

PeerTub is developped by French non-profit Framasoft, which also develops multiple de-gooling apps: collaborative docs, forms, agenda, or host other open-source collaboration tools. https://degooglisons-internet.org/en/

33

I hope something will come out of it.

Same, as soon as I heard they were developing an European search index i instantly switched to Qwant.

2
lemmy.world

Lichess instead of chess(dot)com.

Thanks to another post in this community I found out about and it is great.

  • Open source
  • No ads
  • unlimited puzzels from real games
  • No constant message to buy premium
  • All the finances are public

You can donate to the project, if you have the means and enjoy the app please do.

20

While this list is itself could use a major rework, I'm happy to see that this list, originally posted on reddit specifically, gives visibility to lemmy as a reddit alternative.

19

signal is a good option for messaging. it is technically american, but i feel like FOSS projects should generally get a pass.

also, as an american who is very not okay with what our (russia's) government (puppet) is doing, wouldn't supporting non-american businesses mean paying the tariffs and supporting the oligarchs? i'm not really sure what us yanks can do besides just trying not to spend ANY money.

17

Signal is extremely expensive, they pay $15m+ to Google and Amazon because they don’t self-host so around half of their donations go directly to tech oligarchy

6
Serinusreply
lemmy.world

what us yanks can do besides just trying not to spend ANY money.

That's about to get a lot easier. How do you feel about a $3000 laptop? Car manufacturing might just stop temporarily. They've got a month to figure out how to change pretty major processes that companies may not have the current ability to change.

And let's see if they're going to move into the US or out.

1
lemmy.ml

In the context of the parallels now being drawn between post-WW1 Germany's slide to WW2 and present-day USA's situation, I worry that the major quality-of-life hit starting to happen in the US might be at least slightly on purpose.

Aside from the "Krasnov" explanation for such intention (which seems compelling but I haven't yet seen enough evidence to have a strong opinion either way about), another perhaps simpler explanation (either instead of or in addition to that) could be that he is gambling that the same poor, disempowered, uneducated subset of people in the US who end up being easily stirred into a military mindset fever are the same ones who will easily forget that the leader promising them their "national pride and identity" back is the same one whose decisions accelerated that very descent into poverty, disempowerment, and poor education (& undermined press) in order to create that pliable situation.

I vividly remember in history class seeing the photos from the post-Versailles-treaty period, of German kids flying kites made of nearly worthless Deutchmarks, and people with wheelbarrows full of notes paying for bread. Hitler was able to so easily stir up people "with no hope or dignity left" by promising prosperity based on building autobahns, factories, etc - manipulating their despair to hijack rational or compassionate thought. Anyone informed and principled enough to see through that slide to madness and act accordingly ended up running for their lives (along with the many others who had to run just for being born a certain way). It looks a bit like the situation in the US is on the precipice of sliding that way, with the compounding factor that online click-hungry faux-press and automated disinformation/propaganda bots on social networks are able to very quickly create and maintain cult-like bubbles in which a "leader" can manufacture shadows and "instruct" followers to jump at those shadows in the same breath, under the assumption that enough people will be gullible and/or lazy enough to fall for it unquestioningly.

I really think the people in the US who are not part of that subset need to be very proactive (in real-life terms, not just rage-scrolling & rage-clicking) in being the bulwark against that slide to madness, and right now - starting to react months from now might already be too late to avoid dangerous global conflicts escalating, and new ones starting. I am very wary of doom-and-gloom hyperbole, and aware that overstating things can risk fostering apathy instead of overcoming it, but I think this is one of those rare historic moments when such statements are not hyperbole.

3

Reminder: Stremio can use Torrents. Be aware of your local laws before enabling Torrent addons.

16

Droid-ify is an alternative frontend for f-droid

And IMO it's better

8

Linux Mint is the simplest Linux distro if you come from Windows, unless there are others that recommendation is pretty much accurate.

Anyone else who uses other distros on a daily basis will simply skip that recommendation.

13

Nobara is a really solid distro for gamers. It's packaged with a lot of stuff to streamline the setup.

3

Nice, if you have any questions about Lemmy feel free to ask

7

I strongly support Homeassistant. The sheer amount of features they've added and the community built around it make it a no brainer for home automation.

12
lemmy.world

I feel like there would be value in having a "self hosted" column or tag. Like I think jellyfin should be on this list but if I went to switch from a streaming service to a self hosted jellyfin I'd be immediately upset that this list isn't offering alternatives that are "ready to play" so to speak.

Just a friction point deterrence.

11
qazreply
lemmy.world

Yes, if I create my own version I will add something to differentiate.

2

I know I also used it but it's just like frontend for F-Droid repo. That's why I said F-Droid

5
lemmy.wtf

Maybe add Signal; It’s easier than Element, but it’s also centralized

signal runs on amazon servers. Anything that can't self host and isn't federate isn't worth it. Matrix (and element) fill this requirement. But IMHO, the best is XMPP where you can self-host or use federated servers located in other countries.

Maybe add Delta chat

Delta chat is basically email.

Remove Stremio

Why? Because it's torrents?

Other alternatives would be viaplay or britbox. Unfortunately there's no legal alternative that's available in all europe.

Add aurora

Aurora is just a front-end for google playstore. You should add f-droid

9
qazreply
lemmy.world

signal runs on amazon servers. Anything that can't self host and isn't federate isn't worth it. Matrix (and element) fill this requirement. But IMHO, the best is XMPP where you can self-host or use federated servers located in other countries.

Why would you prefer XMPP? Last time I checked most features (like E2EE) weren't part of the base protocol.

Delta chat is basically email.

It supports mail, but also has an encrypted normal chat backend AFAIK

Why? Because it's torrents?

Yes, it's not really a good alternative since it's illegal. I'm not judging but it's not a good option for most people.

Aurora is just a front-end for google playstore. You should add f-droid

Droid-ify is F-droid

3
lemmy.wtf

Why would you prefer XMPP? Last time I checked most features (like E2EE) weren’t part of the base protocol.

Just because it is not part of the base protocol, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist or supports it.

I like it for personal reasons. Just because is lightweight and there are way much more servers than matrix, imho makes it better. However, In the end it boils down to personal preferences and your attack surface.

It supports mail, but also has an encrypted normal chat backend AFAIK

WHen i tried it years ago, it was just a normal email with a special subject that the delta chat client would read, parse and display.

1

WHen i tried it years ago

you should try it again, Delta Chat is totally on a different level than a few years ago, there has been tons of improvements, I started using it around 2018, now I am even contributing to it

0
pathiefreply
lemmy.world

If everything is e2e encrypted do servers actually matter?

1
lemmy.wtf

yes. Metadata. some protocols leak more info than the others.

Also servers in only one place (institution), only makes it easier for the government to go to that place and seize them.

0
pathiefreply
lemmy.world

And what metadata is Signal leaking? As far as I know even their notifications are not sending the message.

The government seizing an entire batch of amazon servers seems unrealistic, but the data would be encrypted anyway. Do they even store messages on servers, anyway?

1
lemmy.wtf

And what metadata is Signal leaking?

We don't know. We don't have access to what's running on their servers. (yes i know that the source code is available, but there's no way to check if that's the same thing running on the servers). And this is a problem for me: i have to trust a walled garden.

The government seizing an entire batch of amazon servers seems unrealistic

Usually the government goes there a just takes whatever is in the rack they want. Screw the legal business that are there. That's what happened with the pirate bay raid. If the US government wants to shut it down. It just needs to knock on the amazon door.

the data would be encrypted anyway. Do they even store messages on servers, anyway?

The problem is that you have to trust them. You have to trust a chain of organizations based in the US. Signal pays millions (who pays for this? i have my doubts that monthly donations will pay for this forever) to amazon for the servers. So using them and sending them money is the same as giving money to amazon.

If you are fine with these risks, then use it. Better using signal than using messenger and whatsapp.

-1
pathiefreply
lemmy.world

We don’t know. We don’t have access to what’s running on their servers.

Aren't they audited, tho?

(yes i know that the source code is available, but there’s no way to check if that’s the same thing running on the servers)

But isn't this true for most services, such as Matrix as well? Nothing assures that a Matrix instance is running the exact code on git.

Usually the government goes there a just takes whatever is in the rack they want.

But if your threat model is the goverment, aren't all services affected as well? If they want to take element's servers, they will. If you selfhost and they want to take your server, they will?

The problem is that you have to trust them.

I feel like in communication apps you're always going to have to rely on trust. Even if you self-host in a Swiss server, with the best intentions and security practices... Other people are going to have to trust you. You trust yourself, but others might not.

1

But isn’t this true for most services, such as Matrix as well? Nothing assures that a Matrix instance is running the exact code on git.

It's valid for any server. But for signal messaging is even worse than the competitors because it's centralized.

If you selfhost and they want to take your server, they will?

Correct. With signal there's no way to escape the US government, but with matrix (or other federated protocol) you can make it harder, so it won't be worth it the resources spent. You can also host it where the US government don't have any reach.

Even if you self-host in a Swiss server, with the best intentions and security practices… Other people are going to have to trust you. You trust yourself, but others might not.

But who is more trustworthy? The US government or the swiss government?

Also, the point is to avoid american services. Signal is an american service.

0
adbenitezreply
lemmy.ml

Delta chat is basically email.

and how is that exactly a problem? the protocol is email, but email done right is actually good and fast, as it can be tested if you actually try out the app. The new chatmail servers are optimized for chatting, the main reason classic email providers suck is because they have to deal with spam and arbitrary decisions like gray-listing etc

0
lemmy.wtf

Email isn't a good protocol for instant messaging (it wasn't designed for real time communication and it lacks some features like typing indicators or voice/video calls)

3
adbenitezreply
lemmy.ml

it is pointless to talk in theory without actually trying things out, besides the app doesn't have to do only email, in fact it already has p2p support for real-time that can be used for now inside the https://webxdc.org/ mini-apps, and might be used for calls in the future, or just use WebRTC for calls, one of the mini-apps in the store "Live Chat" already has typing indicators btw. The app already has Jitsi Meet invitations integration.

Chatting in Delta Chat with chatmail feels just as fast as WhatsApp, Telegram etc. sometimes even faster depending on the chatmail server you use

1

The app already has Jitsi Meet invitations integration.

That's cool!

I'm not going to change my IM app, because i'm happy with, but it's nice to know of alternatives.

0

Self hosted software shouldnt be on the list. Self hosted software is its own glorious list which can be used by the technically inclined. The average user is not going to run a server at home, nor should they without knowing what they are doing.

And why is revanced here? Thats just youtube with removed ads. Thats not moving away from youtube, its youtube with extra steps. Its going to hurt but we will have to move away from youtube, not just squint and pretend we did.

8

I get the desire to post "simple" answers like this. And while some of the recommends do make sense... I believe the lists should be better researched. A few other comments also pointed out some of the issues already.

I've noticed with a lot of these lists that worse/unreasonable/less private/less secure/not even European or FOSS are being recommended as alternatives and I think they do more harm than good for people that might need genuine help making this process more simple. They also tend to miss a lot of excellent alternatives.

For what it's worth, these lists oversimplify and can't take into account individual needs, so own research is always necessary IMO.

For me, it's paramount that the software we use is secure and privacy respecting / transparent. A great resource for good recommendations is: privacyguides.org .

7
programming.dev

Omg, Stremio without VPN is the worst advise ever. This graphic could do get innocent pirates fined and then they'll just think there was no alternative!!

7

Theres also CalyxOS, which is not only easier to install than lineage, but also relocks the bootloader and includes MicroG, which improves overall compatibility (especially regarding banking apps).

3
lemmy.world

So as someone who recently went from MacOS to Linux (at least partially) Mint is terrible for macOS users. It is like going back to windows. I get it is the easiest for Windows users but maybe add a row for Macos to Fedora or something (but maybe it is too complicated, I just know most mac users would scoff at Mint's interface).

6

Actually a solid point, we should suggest a flavor of Linux that prefers Gnome for Mac users. It's the closest default to their workflow afaik

4
lemmy.world

I have not yet :) Currently using Fedora XFCE, my first distro (tried Mint as well but wasn't for me) as most others failed to install on my mac and Fedora workstation was too slow on the old thing.

XFCE is however really good for keyboard navigation, never have to touch my mouse. My biggest issue with GNOME coming from MacOS was that keyboard navigation in the GUI was very inconsistent. The part that I always liked with MacOS was overall design philosophy enforced everywhere. Still, for many Mac users GNOME is probably still preferable because it is so incredibly readable, just works and looks good.

I'll look into hyprland, thank you!

3
discuss.tchncs.de

I see that this is focused on foss alternatives streaming wise I would suggest mubi and your local library which often include streaming services. At least here in Germany.

6

French public libraries do that too, additionally to being able to borrow (and rip) DVDs.

1
DreasNilreply
feddit.nu

I’m very curious about Delta Chat! You have a good experience with it? I just downloaded it but haven’t started telling people to get it with me yet.

2

Oh yeah. You can use their servers or any email server that supports IMAP. Messages are PGP encrypted. Could require some advanced setup if you want to use it on several devices, but there is a way.

1
lemmy.wtf

Fun that Element is on the list, while there is a 3rd bill attempt in a year to forbid or bypass encryption in instant messaging. Europe maybe not as fascist as US or Russia, it's still is a shitty capitalist and imperialist place.

5

Yes exactly I'm mostly on-board with this flyer, I particularly like that tagline. But the inclusion of the EU flag is just completely bewildering to me, even as an EU resident myself. Are there really people out there who see the EU as some sort of bastion of freedom and justice?! Or is this some noncredibledefense-esque ironic meme that I'm too dumb to understand?

2
lemm.ee

I would add SimpleX, Session, Threema, and Signal. Telegram sucks, and while I love the stickers, it sucks. As the other person said, Stremio is torrenting, which puts your IP address on as billboard. Don’t do it without a VPN or running it through Tor or I2P. I would add every Proton/Tuta product as an alternative to one of the 3000 Google products, like Gmail and Drive. However, I will ALWAYS recommend privacyguides.org ;3

5
aicsereply
lemm.ee
  • No encryption by default (you have to start a secret chat to have end-to-end encrypted communication).
  • No encryption for group chats and there is no option for secret group chats.
  • They store all your chat history on their server and have the keys to decrypt it at any time.
  • They have a pretty shitty support, if you need to report a bug or something, you can't easily do that.
  • They have a broken testing process for new features, may be pushed to streamline without making sure those work properly. I don't use it as my main communication app but even with rare occasions - the app crashes way too often.
4
reddthat.com

Ah okay. I mainly use it for file transfer between my devices. Is there a better way i could be doing that that you know of?

1

Session has a note to self feature afaik

Edit: also SessionX has one too

2
aicsereply

LocalSend is a good tool for sharing files between devices. It is more of a AirDrop alternative.

1
feddit.nu

Also add Fairphone (Netherlands) and Nothing (UK) as alternatives to iPhone and other Androids.

4

I thought that section was more to get away from stock android and google rather than just US companies, I have a nothing phone and it very much uses regular android and google services though the bootloader is unlockable to install something like LineageOS.

2
infosec.pub

Currently on mobile and hardly working. Can somebody please do an edit removing fakeogtwitter and the homophobecrytofascistbrowser from this list? The send it to op for replacement. Please and thank you. Cheers.

4

I'm on mobile too, but I've added some changes to the post description for now

2
BlackEcoreply
lemmy.blackeco.com

GIMP for Photoshop, Darktable or RawTherapee for Lightroom, Inkscape for Illustrator. For Premiere I was about to suggest DaVinci Resolve but it's Australian, not European / FOSS.

10

You may want to clarify which parts you want to replace. As a whole suite, there isnt anything I am aware of, but each individual part usually has one or more open source alternatives

3

Home assistant is the gold standard for home automation now, they are light-years ahead of anything from the big tech. Billions of dollars and they can't even make a usable home automation service.

4

Why is blue sky in the right side column? It’s the same thing as X.

4
lemm.ee

Nextcloud is not the same as Google Drive. Element is not the same as Netflix. Recommending bluesky as a replacement for X is at least misleading, it is neither European nor free nor is it anywhere near better than X.

Edit: Stremio comparison with Netflix wanted to say

3
libranet.de

Yep, most things on that list are not drop-in replacements for these products at all, as you're supposed to change your behavior entirely. i.e.:

  • For Nextcloud, you have to self-host or to search for a provider. Nextcloud themselves aren't offering any cloud services;
  • Same for Element (which is Matrix);
  • Flashes is just Bluesky, but with only photos - these same photos can be posted on Bluesky directly.
  • ReVanced as an alternative to YouTube? You gotta be joking.
  • Stremio - if you're not looking for piracy, then this is not for you. But it's a nice touch though
  • Immich - you can only self-host it
  • Brave; Firefox - they're the lesser evil, yet they're still American
  • For Droid-ify - you gotta jump to Android first. If you want to stay on Apple, use Alt Store

Probably the most feasible things for the regular folk to jump to are Mastodon, PeerTube, Pixelfed, Lemmy (self-hosting is not mandatory), Jitsi, Ecosia, LineageOS (if they switch phones) and Linux Mint (or any flavor of Linux for that matter).

1

people have issues with brave, because its owned a trump loving homophobic, and the crypto scams.

1
lemmy.world

This is the alternatives that I use:

X - Mastodon | YouTube - PC Youtube with uBlock Origin, android ReVanced | Netlix, Disney+ - Stremio (With VPN!) | Google Search - Qwant Startpage | Google Drive - Proton Drive | Google Chrome - Mullvad, Librewolf and Brave (with crypto stuf disabled) | Messaging apps - Session (<3) | Google Android - LineageOS | Windows, MacOS - Linux Mint or Fedora with KDE | Microsoft Office - LibreOffice | VPN - Mullvad (or proton vpn) | Google Maps - Wego.here.com or en.mapy.cz | Google Maps Navigation (Waze) - Sygic or TomTom AmiGO | Google Translate - DeepL | Google Gmail - Tutanota or Proton Mail | Google Authenticator - Ente Auth or Aegis | Password Manager - Bitwarden or KeePass | ChatGPT - Mistral Le Chat |

3
qazreply
lemmy.world

Google Search - Syartpage

Do you mean startpage?

2

I'm using if for 6 months and I don't miss google search. And the option to open search results in "Visit in Anonymous View" is something that I love.

2
m2Lmreply
lemmy.world

I actually changed it, in Reddit Buy European they mention that Startpage was sold in 2019 to US company. So I changed it to Qwant (French) it also respects privacy and it's based in Europe.

2

I recently moved Gmail, Google Docs and Sheets, Google Keep (tasks) and Drive to Mailbox.org. It's super affordable and works really well. You can edit docs/sheets online or offline. No self-hosting required. I recommend it. It's located in Germany.

3
programming.dev

Seriously add Signal, seconding your bullet point. It hits a great sweet spot of privacy and convenience for convincing people who are hesitant about new apps.

3

I recently found edupad.ch for collaborative writing.

It's very simple, and - most important of all - doesn't require an account.

I'm using it for the first time, so I don't have much of a review, but the first impression is very good for my use case.

2

Element is owned by a company and likes to collect a shit load of data... i'll never understand people that vouch for matrix

2
lemmy.world

I use Nextcloud as a similar way as Google Drive or Google Photos. But it's self-hosted and not for the mass.

I would recommend a mail service for drive. Most are quite stingy with storage. Mailbox.org or Infomaniak.

2
feddit.org

It's very affordable to rent a hosted nextcloud instance on a European server. I love nextcloud. It's my data storage, webmailer, calendar and contacts sync, collaborative office, shared finance manager and so much more!

1

Would you mind sharing a provider for this? I use Ionos currently and I'm quite unhappy with the features they provide, and I but i can't find an alternative provider with the same amount of storage packaged. Thanks!

1
lemm.ee

My problem with Jellyfin is that I'd need something like Google Chromecast for it. AFAIK all those dongles are American. Raspberry pi doesn't cut it unfortunately.

2

That's one problem I have come across. Roku, Apple, Google, Amazon. They make great streaming devices but they'll all track you. The best answer I have is a PC attached to your TV.

2
lemmy.world

It doesn't show in this list, but I recently found Odysee. Can it be also an alternative to YouTube?

1
qazreply
lemmy.world

Last time I checked it was owned by a crypto company and was filled with conspiracy theorists, I don't think that's a great place to direct people to.

3

Damn, crypto scam seeded that platform? Let me remove it from my bookmark. Thanks man.

2

Why is no one mentioning Delta as alternative chat app? it is neat, has bots and mini apps, multi device too.

1

pCloud and pCloud pass to replace Dropbox and 1Password respectively… They also offer a lifetime paymeny option, less subscriptions!

1

Yep, just switched to Proton (Swiss). Tutanota (German) is the other serious option for end-to-end encrypted, managed mail and calendar.

The main difference is that Proton offers a full "eco-system" to better compete with Google: besides Mail and Calendar, they offer an integrated Drive with automated photos backup on mobile, VPN, and private mail alias service (SimpleLogin) on their subscription.

I like it, but others prefer to spread their services among different. The price for the full package is similar to the price of Mail + VPN so you don't lose anything if you choose to use a NextCloud instead of their Drive, to better integrate with other open source apps for notes and photos.

3
qazreply
lemmy.world

Signal is E2EE how could they access the data?

2
feddit.rocks

Yeet Brave & element. add jabber and irc. Swap mint 4 fedora atomic.

-1

Why fedora atomic? Surely you don't expect to convince anyone if you haven't provided a reason

1