Apple/Bing/Google Maps Alternatives

It’s the Gulf of Mexico. It was named that before the United States even existed, and Donald Trump doesn’t have the authority to name it anything else, no matter what his decaying fascist brain may think.

Despite this, the big tech companies of Alphabet, Apple, and Microsoft, have all updated their maps to reflect what Trump wants. They can cave all they want. We have options.

Instead of using a mapping service which is beholden to the country it’s headquartered in, there is an open and worldwide service we can use, including for navigation. OpenStreetMap, founded in 2004, uses a combination of GPS traces, public domain information, and crowdsourcing. As the name indicates, the mapping information is open source and available to anybody who wishes to access it. This includes app developers who might wish to use OSM for mobile device navigation software.

There are two apps in particular, available on both iPhone and Android. The first is OsmAnd (OpenStreetMap Automated Navigation Directions), while the second is Organic Maps. Both apps are open source and are free to use. OsmAnd has a paid tier to unlock features such as unlimited maps (you only download the maps you need), while Organic Maps is funded by donations. Both apps work offline, so you can navigate even when you hit a dead cell signal zone. Most importantly, both apps focus on user privacy, as neither app collects any user data.

OsmAnd:
iOS download
Android download

Organic Maps:
iOS download
Android download

#Alphabet #Apple #Bing #Google #Microsoft #MinimizeBigTechReliance #Navigation #OpenStreetMap #OrganicMaps #OsmAnd

Ever since I first used Microsoft Outlook, I’ve looked for ways to organize my calendar, contacts, and notes. Whether it was a paper planner, a Palm Pilot, or the current method of choice, a smartphone, the ability to organize my life at my fingers is something I enjoy doing. Once companies like Yahoo and Google started offering their own PIM services, it just made sense to use them in tandem with my phone.

Now that I’m weaning myself away from the Big Tech companies and their services, I needed to find an alternative. Fortunately, there is a cloud based PIM service, Nextcloud, which is open source and, should I wish, something I could host on my own hardware and network.

Not only does Nextcloud offer the same calendar, contacts, and notes management as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and others, it also features a file syncing service similar to Dropbox, OneDrive, or Google Drive. Unlike the big corporate services, Nextcloud is fully open source, secure, and has many hosts around the world to choose from. I am currently trying out on of those hosts which offers 8GB of storage under their free tier. If everything works well enough, and I believe it will, my next step is to spin up my own Nextcloud host on my own network and take full control of my data.

You can find out more about Nextcloud at https://nextcloud.com/.

https://medi-nerd.com/2024/03/13/minimize-big-tech-reliance-cloud-personal-information-services/

#2024Goals #CloudServices #MinimizeBigTechReliance #Nextcloud #PersonalInformationManager #PIM

Microsoft. Apple. Amazon. Meta (Facebook). Alphabet (Google). Together, these companies comprise what is known as Big Tech. The services offered by the companies throughout the years are utilize by many businesses and consumers all over the world, including myself.

The business practices of Big Tech, however, are questionable, at best.

Microsoft’s Bill Gates era was marred by predatory and monopolistic business practices, while their current focus on subscription services started a dubious trend across technology. Apple champions themselves as protecting user privacy, but their hardware is designed with no user upgradability and few, it any, user repair options. Amazon has all but declared war on small businesses and their own employees. Meta created a toxic social media environment that fosters disinformation and extreme right wing beliefs, not to mention major privacy concerns. Speaking of privacy, Alphabet wrote the book on accessing user data as the trade off for their “free” services.

In order to move away from these companies as much as possible, I am looking at software and service alternatives that fit some of all of the following criteria:

• Comes from the FLOSS (Free, Libre and Open Source Software) community
• Is platform/hardware agnostic
• Is user/consumer focused
• Is privacy focused

In some cases, I’ve already made the move to providers which fit these criteria. I’ll be discussing their pros and cons, as well as other options you can choose from. In other cases, I’ll be checking out my options as I prepare to make my move away from Big Tech and will bring you along on the journey. There may even be some services which I self host, now that I have a fiber connection for my home and some spare equipment I can put to use. I actually like that idea the most since I would have full control of the software and hardware.

If you’re already using non Big Tech software and services or know of some you think I might be interested in, let me know in the comments.

https://medi-nerd.com/2024/01/20/2024-goal-minimize-big-tech-reliance/

#2024Goal #Alphabet #Amazon #AppleMeta #BigTech #FacebookTechnology #Google #Microsoft #MinimizeBigTechReliance