Hi all, I'm Nick, love Linux, love FOSS, though am wondering how realistic it is to go full FOSS. Finally moved away from gmail successfully to mailbox.org but found I still went back for google drive/docs since I can't find a privacy alternative that compares. Anyway, look forward to chatting on here. #introductions
Welcome to the fediverse !
Its ok if you can't go full FOSS right now, its just that each step we take brings us closer to privacy/freedom.
However I'll tell you that its possible to go full FOSS if you want. But there might still be things like social media/messengers that some may not be able to avoid, cause everyone uses it and they might even need it for their work or class.
BTW, try out nextcloud as a FOSS replacement for gdrive.
@futureisfoss True. And neat, I do have a raspberry pi sitting under my TV as a webserver (if that hasn't crashed by now), maybe it can also serve my photos/data. Yes it was really how nice google docs etc just works. Say what you want about google, they know how to make web apps that aren't confusing.
@chmod700
There's no shame on using google, in fact everyone uses google except some small number of people. The fact that you have knowledge about privacy/FOSS is all that matters. I don't care if anyone use FOSS or not, at the end of the day, its their choice. But i think its important to let them know about the threats, cause then they won't have that false sense of protection. And it lets them take care of it if and when they feel like they need it.
@futureisfoss @chmod700 Speaking of de-googling, there are also ways to use Google without "Google using you". An example would be using StartPage.com because it uses Google search backend but fully annoymises it. Another would be backup all your files to Google Drive with private key encryption, via tools like Duplicacy. Use YouTube via anonymised 3rd party apps like NewPipe.
@teatime
One small thing, newpipe doesn't make you anonymous nor does it proxies your connection. It directly connects to google for getting all the data and the videos. But sure, its way better than using the official app and is surely a good recommendation.
For more privacy/anonymity, try out an instance from https://instances.invidio.us whichever works for you. Make sure that the proxy videos option is enabled in preferences and you're good to go. Use tor instances for max anonymity 😁
@chmod700
@teatime @futureisfoss Thanks! Newpipe looks great.