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These are good if you're seeking to replace a single Google product, but if you're invested in the Google ecosystem it's a real pain in the ass to stitch togeth

These are good if you're seeking to replace a single Google product, but if you're invested in the Google ecosystem it's a real pain in the ass to stitch together 15 individual alternative products. It sucks.

kmclean 6y ago
The list is a bit fragmented. It doesn't really give Nextcloud enough credit. Nextcloud can replace _most_ of google in one shot -- calendar, reminders, contacts, drive, docs, hangouts, maps, photos, and more (https://apps.nextcloud.com/ https://apps.nextcloud.com/). I think it's not as popular because 1. it's not free (as in beer, but it is free as in speech) and 2. it's kind of fiddly to get up and running. You can either host it yourself or sign up with a provider, but either way it's not super intuitive and nowhere near as polished as what we're used to these days. But, if you're looking to get off of Google and don't want to sign up for 10 different things, Nextcloud is worth a look.
- fiddlerwoaroof 6y ago
  Google Photos is a good example of what makes it hard to switch: I can search for text in the images, object categories, etc. and Google does a half-decent job of finding what I’m looking for (e.g. when checking into a Hotel, I’ve searched for “license plate” to get my car’s license plate number or, if I remember a bottle of wine I liked, I can search “wine bottle” to find the label).
  - kmclean 6y ago
    Yeah this is the hardest one to replace for me, too. Nextcloud has a photos integration that has reasonable facial recognition/grouping, but Google photos semantic search is really useful. Part of what makes Google so evil though is that they gave away the photos product for free for long enough to kill off any real competition. There are certainly loads of teams who could do it just as well or better, but not for free. And of course now that there are no viable alternatives, Google will start charging. Typical monopoly behaviour that should in itself constitute a reason to stop using them.

kmclean 6y ago

The list is a bit fragmented. It doesn't really give Nextcloud enough credit. Nextcloud can replace _most_ of google in one shot -- calendar, reminders, contacts, drive, docs, hangouts, maps, photos, and more (https://apps.nextcloud.com/ https://apps.nextcloud.com/). I think it's not as popular because 1. it's not free (as in beer, but it is free as in speech) and 2. it's kind of fiddly to get up and running. You can either host it yourself or sign up with a provider, but either way it's not super intuitive and nowhere near as polished as what we're used to these days. But, if you're looking to get off of Google and don't want to sign up for 10 different things, Nextcloud is worth a look.

fiddlerwoaroof 6y ago
Google Photos is a good example of what makes it hard to switch: I can search for text in the images, object categories, etc. and Google does a half-decent job of finding what I’m looking for (e.g. when checking into a Hotel, I’ve searched for “license plate” to get my car’s license plate number or, if I remember a bottle of wine I liked, I can search “wine bottle” to find the label).
- kmclean 6y ago
  Yeah this is the hardest one to replace for me, too. Nextcloud has a photos integration that has reasonable facial recognition/grouping, but Google photos semantic search is really useful. Part of what makes Google so evil though is that they gave away the photos product for free for long enough to kill off any real competition. There are certainly loads of teams who could do it just as well or better, but not for free. And of course now that there are no viable alternatives, Google will start charging. Typical monopoly behaviour that should in itself constitute a reason to stop using them.