Kyle Piira

So I was recently asked why I prefer to use free and open source software over more conventional and popular proprietary software and services.

A few years ago I was an avid Google user. I was deeply embedded in the Google ecosystem and used their products everywhere. I used Gmail for email, Google Calendar and Contacts for PIM, YouTube for entertainment, Google Newsstand for news, Android for mobile, and Chrome as my web browser.

I would upload all of my family photos to Google Photos and all of my personal documents to Google Drive (which were all in Google Docs format). I used Google Domains to register my domain names for websites where I would keep track of my users using Google Analytics and monetize them using Google AdSense.

I used Google Hangouts (one of Google’s previous messaging plays) to communicate with friends and family and Google Wallet (with debit card) to buy things online and in-store.

My home is covered with Google Homes (1 in my office, 1 in my bedroom, 1 in the main living area) which I would use to play music on my Google Play Music subscription and podcasts from Google Podcasts.

I have easily invested thousands of dollars into my Google account to buy movies, TV shows, apps, and Google hardware devices. This was truly the Google life.

Then one day, I received an email from Google that changed everything.

“Your account has been suspended”

Just the thing you want to wake up to in the morning. An email from Google saying that your account has been suspended due to a perceived Terms of Use violation. No prior warning. No appeals process. No number to call. Trying to sign in to your Google account yields an error and all of your connected devices are signed out. All of your Google data, your photos, emails, contacts, calendars, purchased movies and TV shows. All gone.

I nearly had a heart attack, until I saw that the Google account that had been suspended was in fact not my main personal Google account, but a throwaway Gmail account that I created years prior for a project. I hadn’t touched the other account since creation and forgot it existed. Apparently my personal Gmail was listed as the recovery address for the throwaway account and that’s why I received the termination email.

Although I was able to breathe a sigh of relief this time, the email was wake up call. I was forced to critically reevaluate my dependence on a single company for all the tech products and services in my life.

I found myself to be a frog in a heating pot of water and I made the decision that I was going to jump out.

Leaving Google

Today there are plenty of lists on the internet providing alternatives to Google services such as this and this. Although the “DeGoogle” movement was still in its infancy when I was making the move.

The first Google service I decided to drop was Gmail, the heart of my online identity. I migrated to Fastmail with my own domain in case I needed to move again (hint: glad I did, now I self host my email). Fastmail also provided calendar and contacts solutions so that took care of leaving Google Calendar and Contacts.

Here are some other alternatives that I moved to:

Migrating away from Google was not a fast or easy process. It took years to get where I am now and there are still several Google services that I depend on: YouTube and Google Home.

Eventually, my Google Home’s will grow old and become unsupported at which point hopefully the Mycroft devices have matured and become available for purchase. YouTube may never be replaced (although I do hope for projects like PeerTube to succeed) but I find the compromise of using only one or two Google services to be acceptable.

At this point losing my Google account due to a mistake in their machine learning would largely be inconsequential and my focus has shifted to leaving Amazon which I use for most of my shopping and cloud services.

The reason that I moved to mostly FOSS applications is that it seems to be the only software ecosystem where everything works seamlessly together and I don’t have to cede control to any single company. Alternatively I could have simply split my service usage up evenly across Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple but I don’t feel that they would have worked as nicely together.

Overall I’m very happy with the open source ecosystem. I use Ubuntu with KDE on all of my computers and Android (no GApps) on my mobile phone. I’ve ordered the PinePhone “Brave Heart” and hope to one day be able to use it or one of its successors as a daily driver with Ubuntu Touch or Plasma Mobile.

I don’t want to give the impression that I exclusively use open source software either, I do use a number of proprietary apps including: Sublime Text, Typora, and Cloudron.

https://www.kylepiira.com/2020/01/09/why-i-quit-google/

Personal information management - Wikipedia

Jan 9, 2020 at 7:45amWeb
Show threadKyle PiiraJan 9, 2020

@kyle I just installed the WordPress ActivityPub plugin to my blog. This is my first ActivityPub enabled blog post!

https://wordpress.org/plugins/activitypub/

#activitypub #wordpress

ActivityPub

Connect your site to the Open Social Web and let millions of users follow, share, and interact with your content from Mastodon, Pixelfed, and more.

WordPress.org
Show threadthomasJan 10, 2020
@kyle The prospect of something like sudden account termination scares the hell out of me, but I'm still very invested with Google. I remain only through some combination of fear, procrastination, and denial. A dangerous trifecta!
Show threadthomasJan 10, 2020
@kyle BTW, aside from being informative and interesting, your links to alternatives are very helpful, thank you!
Show threadJRDMBJan 11, 2020

@kyle

Great writeup, lots of good messages, info, and references.

Did you ever find out what caused the account suspension? Was it perhaps hacked, leading to the TOS violation? Or perhaps terminated due to inactivity? Or ?

Show threadKyle PiiraJan 11, 2020
@jrdmb No I never did find out. I didn't want to cause a stir because I was afraid that Google might link the temp account with my real one and close both.
Show threadKicouJan 11, 2020

@kyle I used to use Google for your Domain for the whole family but realised that we were depending too much on the Google ecosystem.

We are now using Zimbra, Nextcloud, Collabora Office, Matrix/Synapse. I am waiting for a Librem5 and a PinePhone.

The very last step was shared calendars because it was harder to seamlessly integrate with all family members' mobile devices. With Z-Push (activesync) and DavX⁵ (caldav) I finally managed to move everyone to Zimbra calendars last week!

Show threadThe Ghost of Toots PassedJan 11, 2020
@kyle
Don't forget Google Keep -> @Carnet
Show threadJørgen KjenstadJan 11, 2020
@kyle Great list. I recently installed an appsuit from F-Droid. These are great apps.
Simple Gallery
Simple Contacts
Simple Clock
Simple Calculator
Simple Files
Show threadKyle PiiraJan 11, 2020
@bingoronger Yeah the Simple Mobile Tools suite is really nice. I use a lot of them on my phone.
Show threadWylieCoyoteUK Jan 11, 2020
@kyle Although I am not a big Google user, I recently moved house and changing address and email address on all my online accounts was a long process, especially as these days most use your email address as a username. There are still 2 accounts that I cannot change my user name on.
It was further complicated by the fact that my house was newly built and the postcode was not recognised by most companies' databases, including Google's.
I use FOSS as much as I can and avoid Amazon.
Show threadFully Automated RashiJan 11, 2020

@kyle @andreas this is really well written and argued, thanks, even gave me some new services to look at.

One thing: ebooks - maybe look at a non-amazon device that uses the open ePub format over a closed “rent seeker” system. If you lose your amazon account, you lose the books.

Show threadKyle PiiraJan 11, 2020
@dgold
Thanks! I don't actually read very many eBooks so it's not a huge priority. But yes, I do agree and usually if I can find the ePub or PDF available for purchase I'll buy that instead.
Show thread 𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚊 Jan 11, 2020

@kyle

That "wakeup call" is surely something that would destroy alot of lifes if is would happend to someone else - I would be devastated.

The journey you described is awesome, I wish that more people could think like you do :)

Show thread NiklasJan 11, 2020
@kyle Very interesting post 👍 I remember there was a time when I used every Google service,too.At least the free ones.I even had a Chromebook some time ago 😕 I wasn't hit with a account termination notice but I simply felt that life is much better and easier with open source software.Some years ago I deleted my account myself and never regretted it 😃
Show threaded(1) conferenceJan 11, 2020
@kyle I'd add that Google Reader was pretty readily replaced by ttrss (Tiny Tiny RSS). At least it has served sufficiently for my wife's needs. I switched to rss2email when Reader died and like having the full power of my mail-client for purposes of reading RSS.
Show thread*sigh*Ber nardJan 11, 2020
@kyle LineageOS without Gapps, how did you get (push-?)notifications to work?
Show threadKyle PiiraJan 11, 2020
@brnrd Unfortunately the answer is I don't. At least not for apps that require GMS. Thankfully I use Signal for most communication and that can use Web sockets instead. I don't really care about notification from any of my other apps.
Show thread*sigh*Ber nardJan 12, 2020
@kylepiira It's nice and quiet indeed! That dopamine-trigger not going off all the time should be considered a bonus!
Show threadmagellanoJan 11, 2020
@kyle , glad to see you made the move. I too started my degooglisation ... need to figure out how to get rid of Amazon now ... its going to be so painful though ... its just too easy to use ... and that is why its such a bgi problem moving away
Show threadXaviJan 11, 2020

Thanx for the read @kyle

You'd like to read this, @checksom

Show threadChecksom II*IIJan 11, 2020
@arnaus @kyle awesome!
Show threadDanielJan 11, 2020
@kyle its not a Webservice, but a good photo management tool: digikam
Show threadKyle PiiraJan 11, 2020

@dadosch Yes, I do use digiKam! I'm actually very excited for the upcoming improvements to the facial recognition.

https://www.digikam.org/news/2019-12-22-7.0.0-beta1_release_announcement/

digiKam 7.0.0-beta1 is released

Dear digiKam fans and users, we are proud to announce the first beta of digiKam 7.0.0.

Show threadThe whaleJan 11, 2020
@kyle Very interesting, thanks for sharing your experience. How do you install Fastmail on Cloudron, I don't see it in the Cloudron App Store?
Show threadAzure BlueJan 11, 2020
@thewhalecc fastmail is great. I used to have a free account with them. This reminds me, so I may open one again just cos. But is their backend using google servers?
Show threadAzure BlueJan 11, 2020
@kyle your story is shocking. I don’t know anyone who has invested their whole life into google. Seriously. Glad you left it.
Show threadParnikkaporeJan 12, 2020

@kyle Right now, for me Google Docs still has a few advantages on its sleeves: the UI and UX is far more polished than LibreOffice, and real-time collabs are easy to use. Although it looks like Collabora is finally filling in that void!

I'm currently using GPhotos as a free™ off-site backup solution, although I have classical backups available. My parents are aware enough of privacy stuff that they won't photograph sensitive documents with their phones.

Show threadKyle PiiraJan 12, 2020

@Parnikkapore If you don't like the UI of Collabora there is also ONLYOFFICE which has both desktop and online versions and seems to have a much nicer UI. It also has a plugin to integrate with Nextcloud.

https://www.onlyoffice.com/

Online Office Applications for business

ONLYOFFICE offers a secure online office suite highly compatible with MS Office formats. Connect it to your web platform for document editing and collaboration or use as a part of ONLYOFFICE Workspace.

Show threadDanJan 12, 2020
@kyle this is incredibly helpful for someone just starting this journey. thanks!
Show threadJulien DeswaefJan 12, 2020
@kyle This is a great article. Thanks a lot for putting it together. I'd be curious to hear you on your move from Plex to Jellyfin. How you managed that? How was the transition? Does it have feature parity? What are your thoughts on boh. Maybe a good subject for another article? ;)
Show threadpinkprius [en]Jan 12, 2020
@kyle the #wordpress #ActivityPub plugin gave you 10x the blog reads that you would've had normally, correct? 😂
Show threadJoeJan 13, 2020
@kyle thank you very much for this big post. I'm at the beginning of this process right now.
Show threadCelestiaJan 13, 2020
@kyle
Show threadroptatFeb 2, 2020

@kyle
Hey, great post :) I just need to correct you on one point: it's openstreetmap, without an s ;). And please contribute some data if you have a bit of time. Using streetcomplete (from f-droid) would already be very helpful :). It gives you very simple "quests" you can answer e.g. on your way home from work and that improve the data quality.

I also use youtube, but never log in, and clean cookies everytime. I use skytube to keep track of channels I like instead.

Show threadIanFeb 9, 2020
@kyle great story! I’ve made very similar switches to you, including Cloudron, and have been very happy with it. I used to be die hard Google as well. Thankfully I didn’t have a scare like you. Just an impending dread when I thought about how dependent I was.
Show threadBaloo Uriza 🏳️‍🌈🇺🇸Feb 12, 2020
@kyle Going Google to Microsoft seems out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Show threadActivistFeb 29, 2020
@kyle #DuckDuckGo → searxes.eu.org (#DDG is a profit-driven corporation that supports #privacy abusers, see https://dev.lemmy.ml/post/30827)
Show threadActivistFeb 29, 2020
@kyle Signal → Jami or Wire (#Signal app is #nonfreesoftware from an org that acts like a profit-driven corp. It subjects users to many forms of #masssurveillance [see https://github.com/privacytoolsIO/privacytools.io/issues/779])
❌ Software Removal | Signal · Issue #779 · privacytools/privacytools.io

Problem with Signal Signal has copious privacy issues making it unfit for privacytools.io endorsement. Users are forced to supply a phone number to Signal (#432) (diagram of mass surveillance) Phon...

Show threadActivistFeb 29, 2020
@kyle Paypal → something else.. I don't care what but #Paypal is among the least ethical options & very #privacy abusive: https://dev.lemmy.ml/post/30880