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No Nonsense List of Google Alternatives for Linux Users

37 points by kylebenzle 6y ago

kylebenzle 6y ago
Resubmit because last one got [flagged] for an affiliate link. I removed the one affiliate link. This is just a list of "daily drivers" I use on Linux to stay away from Google. The list: Search - DuckDuckGo - An anonymized “wrapper” for Bing. Browser - Brave - Getting flack for this but I still like Chromium over FF. Mail - Fastmail - Protonmail is great too but personally I like FM. Cloud Drive - Mega.nz - Also good, Syncthing.net Desktop OS - Kubuntu - The best OS, change my mind… Mobile OS - Sailfish OS - I’m sorry to say I still use Android :( Maps - OpenStreetMaps - I love being able to add my own data! Phone - Grasshopper - A case where I’m still using Voice but trying to switch. Docs - Bear Writer - I use LibreOffice offline but in a pinch Bear is great. Spreadsheets - AirTable - LibreOffice is best unless you need to be online. Photos - Flickr - An oldie but goodie, especially if you don’t mind paying. Calendar - Calendar.com - It’s… fine, but Apple and Google are still better. Passwords - LastPass - I was slow to adopt to a manager but now love it. Videos - Vimeo - I want to be able to recommend Lbry.com but just can’t, yet. Authentication - Authy - A rare case of having no complaints! Blogging - Medium - I actually hate Medium, but its easy and popular. Meetings - Zoom - Discord is better but grandmas (and bosses) love Zoom. Ads - A-Ads.com - The payouts are low but I love the anonymity they offer. Flights - SkyScanner - Always trying to get you to “upgrade” but still good. Web Analytics - Matomo - But I’d love to set up Umami.is someday. Payments - Venmo - Honestly they ALL suck, use Bitcoin instead! Music - Pandora - I missed out on the switch to Spotify and its too late now. App Store - F-Droid and Aurora Store - An OK alternate to the Play Store.
- sunnytimes 6y ago
  Brave is Chromium which is google so that one is a bit of a no .. i get it that its not the same and they take out all the phone home code etc but your still supporting google at the end of the day. Firefox..
  - lights0123 6y ago
    I agree—if anything, I'd like to give more market share and thus decision-making power to Mozilla over Google.
  - Shared404 6y ago
    Also Brave's been caught doing shady nonsense before. I'd use degoogled chromium before brave, and FF before degoogled chromium.
- folli 6y ago
  Is that true, DuckDuckGo is a wrapper for Bing? I didn't know that.
  - UShouldBWorking 6y ago
    Yep its just uses other search engines. https://amp.reddit.com/r/duckduckgo/comments/bn4mvl/why_does_duckduckgo_need_to_use_bingyahoo_results/ https://amp.reddit.com/r/duckduckgo/comments/bn4mvl/why_does...
  - chadlavi 6y ago
    I don't think it's just a wrapper for bing, I get different results on DDG vs bing. But I think bing is one of the big sources for its results, and there's other stuff mixed in.
- genghizkhan 6y ago
  Try out Goatcounter for Analytics. It’s great if you want to keep things simple. Fairly good for blogs and the like.
- CameronNemo 6y ago
  Instead of Last pass, I would suggest Bitwarden which has open source clients and can be self hosted server side (with an open source server implementation).
  - vi1rus 6y ago
    Actually Keepass and Keepassxc is better. I like having my passwords stores locally and not in the cloud.
- lazylizard 6y ago
  libreoffice can be online. owncloud n nextcloud have it. seriously why so much 3rd party hosted stuff? why lastpass not keepass? why medium not ghost or some static generator or even wordpress? why pandora not airsonic or funkwhale? why fastmail not miab or plain postfix/dovecot/roundcube? i can't help but feel you're exchanging one leash for another.
- raffraffraff 6y ago
  Can't use duckduckgo. It's just dreadful. If it's a wrapper for bing, then it's a shit wrapper because they're actually worse than bing. I get different results for the same search and ddg is by far the worst. Right now I'm using a searx endpoint. Waaaaay better.
rakoo 6y ago
> Cloud Drive - Mega.nz - Also good, Syncthing.net I would have expected something like rsync.net for Linux Users, with its true ssh access, zfs storage and clear knowledge of its users' use cases.
pasttense01 6y ago
Cloud Drive - Mega.nz No. This originated with Kim Dotcom (the notorious file sharing pirate) and while he says he is no longer associated with the site I would worry about the possibility of it getting taken down as it still has lots of warez posted on the site: https://www.voxindie.org/kim-dotcom-may-be-going-to-jail-but-mega-piracy-still-going-strong/ https://www.voxindie.org/kim-dotcom-may-be-going-to-jail-but... Remember what happened with Kim's previous site, Megaupload where lots of users used it for legitimate cloud storage--and lost their data: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seizure_of_Megaupload#Loss_of_data https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seizure_of_Megaupload#Loss_of_...
- ffpip 6y ago
  > where lots of users used it for legitimate cloud storage Lots of people use the bittorrent protocol for legally downloading stuff too. But we know what it is mainly used/throttled for.
  - viraptor 6y ago
    There's no service behind BitTorrent storage though. No company can get closed and kill your existing seed with it. The problem with mega was just that - they go down, your data disappears too.
marianov 6y ago
Anything to replace Google photos and local business maps?
- mceachen 6y ago
  It's a young product, and still in beta (free during the betas in exchange for your feedback): https://photostructure.com/faq/why-photostructure/ https://photostructure.com/faq/why-photostructure/ (I'm the author)
- viraptor 6y ago
  For photos you could use a static gallery generator with any cloud backend you want. For example https://thumbsup.github.io/ https://thumbsup.github.io/
- rakoo 6y ago
  For Google Photos and Google Drive I'm using filestash (https://www.filestash.app/ https://www.filestash.app/) pointing to my SFTP server: I can browse my files like any cloud provider, and it generates thumbnails and smaller-size photos and videos for an "album-like" experience. It also contains a very important feature to me, which is sharing. The one thing I like the most is that everything is driven by the filesystem, there is no secondary database that organizes things differently and needs to be kept in sync with the filesystem It's 80% there for me, I just think for photos there is a little bit more work to do, so I'm going to investigate static gallery tools
ajfjrbfbf 6y ago
> Blogging - Medium - I actually hate Medium, but its easy and popular. For a no nonsense list that doesn't make much sense.
- UShouldBWorking 6y ago
  Maybe it leaves a lot to be desired but is still the best for non-technical reasons.
- kylebenzle 6y ago
  I don't care for the UX but no other platform offers the reach. I really prefer to use my own site (and do too) but posting Medium always gets more views and engagement.

37 points by kylebenzle 6y ago

Resubmit because last one got [flagged] for an affiliate link. I removed the one affiliate link. This is just a list of "daily drivers" I use on Linux to stay away from Google. The list: Search - DuckDuckGo - An anonymized “wrapper” for Bing. Browser - Brave - Getting flack for this but I still like Chromium over FF. Mail - Fastmail - Protonmail is great too but personally I like FM. Cloud Drive - Mega.nz - Also good, Syncthing.net Desktop OS - Kubuntu - The best OS, change my mind… Mobile OS - Sailfish OS - I’m sorry to say I still use Android :( Maps - OpenStreetMaps - I love being able to add my own data! Phone - Grasshopper - A case where I’m still using Voice but trying to switch. Docs - Bear Writer - I use LibreOffice offline but in a pinch Bear is great. Spreadsheets - AirTable - LibreOffice is best unless you need to be online. Photos - Flickr - An oldie but goodie, especially if you don’t mind paying. Calendar - Calendar.com - It’s… fine, but Apple and Google are still better. Passwords - LastPass - I was slow to adopt to a manager but now love it. Videos - Vimeo - I want to be able to recommend Lbry.com but just can’t, yet. Authentication - Authy - A rare case of having no complaints! Blogging - Medium - I actually hate Medium, but its easy and popular. Meetings - Zoom - Discord is better but grandmas (and bosses) love Zoom. Ads - A-Ads.com - The payouts are low but I love the anonymity they offer. Flights - SkyScanner - Always trying to get you to “upgrade” but still good. Web Analytics - Matomo - But I’d love to set up Umami.is someday. Payments - Venmo - Honestly they ALL suck, use Bitcoin instead! Music - Pandora - I missed out on the switch to Spotify and its too late now. App Store - F-Droid and Aurora Store - An OK alternate to the Play Store.

sunnytimes 6y ago
Brave is Chromium which is google so that one is a bit of a no .. i get it that its not the same and they take out all the phone home code etc but your still supporting google at the end of the day. Firefox..
- lights0123 6y ago
  I agree—if anything, I'd like to give more market share and thus decision-making power to Mozilla over Google.
- Shared404 6y ago
  Also Brave's been caught doing shady nonsense before. I'd use degoogled chromium before brave, and FF before degoogled chromium.
folli 6y ago
Is that true, DuckDuckGo is a wrapper for Bing? I didn't know that.
- UShouldBWorking 6y ago
  Yep its just uses other search engines. https://amp.reddit.com/r/duckduckgo/comments/bn4mvl/why_does_duckduckgo_need_to_use_bingyahoo_results/ https://amp.reddit.com/r/duckduckgo/comments/bn4mvl/why_does...
- chadlavi 6y ago
  I don't think it's just a wrapper for bing, I get different results on DDG vs bing. But I think bing is one of the big sources for its results, and there's other stuff mixed in.
genghizkhan 6y ago
Try out Goatcounter for Analytics. It’s great if you want to keep things simple. Fairly good for blogs and the like.
CameronNemo 6y ago
Instead of Last pass, I would suggest Bitwarden which has open source clients and can be self hosted server side (with an open source server implementation).
- vi1rus 6y ago
  Actually Keepass and Keepassxc is better. I like having my passwords stores locally and not in the cloud.
lazylizard 6y ago
libreoffice can be online. owncloud n nextcloud have it. seriously why so much 3rd party hosted stuff? why lastpass not keepass? why medium not ghost or some static generator or even wordpress? why pandora not airsonic or funkwhale? why fastmail not miab or plain postfix/dovecot/roundcube? i can't help but feel you're exchanging one leash for another.
raffraffraff 6y ago
Can't use duckduckgo. It's just dreadful. If it's a wrapper for bing, then it's a shit wrapper because they're actually worse than bing. I get different results for the same search and ddg is by far the worst. Right now I'm using a searx endpoint. Waaaaay better.

rakoo 6y ago

> Cloud Drive - Mega.nz - Also good, Syncthing.net I would have expected something like rsync.net for Linux Users, with its true ssh access, zfs storage and clear knowledge of its users' use cases.

pasttense01 6y ago

Cloud Drive - Mega.nz No. This originated with Kim Dotcom (the notorious file sharing pirate) and while he says he is no longer associated with the site I would worry about the possibility of it getting taken down as it still has lots of warez posted on the site: https://www.voxindie.org/kim-dotcom-may-be-going-to-jail-but-mega-piracy-still-going-strong/ https://www.voxindie.org/kim-dotcom-may-be-going-to-jail-but... Remember what happened with Kim's previous site, Megaupload where lots of users used it for legitimate cloud storage--and lost their data: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seizure_of_Megaupload#Loss_of_data https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seizure_of_Megaupload#Loss_of_...

ffpip 6y ago
> where lots of users used it for legitimate cloud storage Lots of people use the bittorrent protocol for legally downloading stuff too. But we know what it is mainly used/throttled for.
- viraptor 6y ago
  There's no service behind BitTorrent storage though. No company can get closed and kill your existing seed with it. The problem with mega was just that - they go down, your data disappears too.

marianov 6y ago

Anything to replace Google photos and local business maps?

mceachen 6y ago
It's a young product, and still in beta (free during the betas in exchange for your feedback): https://photostructure.com/faq/why-photostructure/ https://photostructure.com/faq/why-photostructure/ (I'm the author)
viraptor 6y ago
For photos you could use a static gallery generator with any cloud backend you want. For example https://thumbsup.github.io/ https://thumbsup.github.io/
rakoo 6y ago
For Google Photos and Google Drive I'm using filestash (https://www.filestash.app/ https://www.filestash.app/) pointing to my SFTP server: I can browse my files like any cloud provider, and it generates thumbnails and smaller-size photos and videos for an "album-like" experience. It also contains a very important feature to me, which is sharing. The one thing I like the most is that everything is driven by the filesystem, there is no secondary database that organizes things differently and needs to be kept in sync with the filesystem It's 80% there for me, I just think for photos there is a little bit more work to do, so I'm going to investigate static gallery tools

ajfjrbfbf 6y ago

> Blogging - Medium - I actually hate Medium, but its easy and popular. For a no nonsense list that doesn't make much sense.

UShouldBWorking 6y ago
Maybe it leaves a lot to be desired but is still the best for non-technical reasons.
kylebenzle 6y ago
I don't care for the UX but no other platform offers the reach. I really prefer to use my own site (and do too) but posting Medium always gets more views and engagement.