Like I said, being an asian, oddly we rely a lot on centralize service.
I used to use Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Meet, Google Keep, Play Store Android phone, Google Chrome, Google Calendar, Gmail, Google Maps.
My previous computer run on windows, Microsoft Office, my previous company uses Teams.
For communication I used Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram.
I took a step back and ask myself, How do I reduce dependency on such services?
So I ever since I moved from my lecturing role, I was in need of new phone and laptop. So that was my start of change. I need to balance between decentralization, efficiency and of course, money.
First I started with a new device. I decided to buy a Xiaomi phone. The main factor was cost, obviously, but beyond that is efficiency and quality. I consider it was the better option to Samsung or Pixel phone or iphone with a little trade off on privacy (after all, all phone spy on us anyway). Of course I did consider other open source options. But it is either not available in my country or just too expensive.
Second was laptop. Initially I bought a used device, swap the OS for Mint Linux. within months, it just got damaged. So that is where I am facing conflict. I cant buy a new barebone unit because most of the time, barebone new unit laptops are very underspec. If I buy an old unit, the quality cant be assurred. if i buy a new unit with high quality and swap the OS, I lose warranty.
In the end, I bought again a relatively high end chromebook. of course at the name suggest, it is a google device, but it has a debian OS and Android OS inside. if we use our app within these two ecosystem, we have better degree of controlling our freedom that using a microsoft system which is lately becoming more of a spyware.
Alhamdulillah, the built was good, the warranty is intact and the OS is suprisingly good.
What is more important is under the hood.
For office suite, I decided to ditch Microsoft for Onlyoffice. The latest version of Onlyoffice turns out very good! and because it works well with nextcloud, it allow me to reduce further dependency from Microsoft or Google.
Better, I was able to convince my wife to convert to Onlyoffice!!! And she loves it more that Microsoft Office. My wife is a lawyer and she handles a large amount of documents. Sometimes, she need to send the document for review by her lawyer partner and client, so compatibility is an important factor. After the recent issue she faced with MS 365, she gave only office a try.
Now we use it on my ChromeOS, my wife microsoft laptop, my android device and her iphone. Talking about cross compatibility. hehe
my wife is doing her master, so she has to do a lot of research. Unlike my previous university which forces us to use Endnote, she has the choice to select her referencing manager.
So I persuade her to use Zotero. TBH it is better than endnote, and free. and it has one click referencing support. obviously we have no problem to use it.
For note taking app, I move from Google Keep to Obsidian.
its good, its cross compatible. me like.
You may ask, how do i keep my notes in sync. Well for that we have alternative to the obsidian cloud.
For cloud, I opt for nextcloud. it is quite easy to use.
I keen to run my own barebone server, but many factor now make it unfeasible (the higher electric cost in my country now, the upfront cost to buy bare bone device).
So i opt to use free ones from https://oto.lv.tab.digital
They give me free 8gb of cloud, which is fine for my real important use, for now.
To sync between devices, I use foldersync app. it is more reliable than nextcloud vanilla app for android.
But to be fair, 8gb is still not enough for my overall storage. I figure out a way to store files on telegram. I built a software using python that able to use telegram as a cloud with autosync option. hehe. that was a huge win!
Beyond that, i realised that most of the time, i dont actually need a server. All I need was my files to always present in my work PC, my personal laptop and my phone.
I found out about syncthing. basically it is a serverless solution to get my files sync between my devices. This was the epic alternative to cloud solution. In this way, I have zero need for dependence to people's cloud
Because I am using Nextcloud, So I get Nextcloud Calendar. Which is pretty cool.
For app, I used Onecalendar which is even better than google Calendar.
Oh and note, Obsidian also sync well with Nextcloud.
For conferencing, I use Jitsi meet. Of course, I can run my own server, but due to personal challenges, I just use their free server.
For messaging, I use session. It is good. it is fast. I think it is not hard to learn too
For social media, obviously, Nostr. my go to client now is primal.
For email. well this is tricky. because gmail is generally good and fast. I tried proton. didnt like it. tried skiff. got sunset. tried zoho. lock in email.
in the ned, i opt for https://inbox.lv and https://mail.ee (same company different domain). they gave generous 20gb of storage, with IMAP and SMTP. very reliable.
For apps I use edison mail (android) and geary (linux) . no complains tbh. I am using it for my professional use.
