Open Source, Privacy, and Sanity: Learning from My Mistakes
Back in 2021, I declared that I was breaking up with Apple. I then spent a couple years trying real hard to decouple big tech from my life. I went too hard though and I was too much of a purist. Ultimately, I crashed and burned and gave up on trying. I ditched the Pixel running Calyxos and bought the latest version of the iPhone. I switched out Syncthing for Dropbox, KeePass for 1Password and I started using Apple Music instead of listening to MP3s.
At the time, I remember feeling really tired of everything being harder when using software that is open source, privacy minded or self hosted. Using Dropbox is easier than using Syncthing. 1Password is more feature rich and convenient than KeePass. Downloading a random parking app to pay for parking in the city is easier with an iPhone compared to a Pixel running Calyxos.
During this burn out period, I continued to use Firefox on Linux as my daily driver. It allowed me to feel I wasn't fully abandoning all my principles in regards to the big tech companies, software use, privacy and self hosting. I still felt connected and it made me feel like I could find my way back when I was ready.
I'm ready to try again.
My goal is to switch to using software and technology that allows me to use and interact with my devices with the fewest restrictions. But I want to balance that with my ability to actually use technology. I'm willing to adjust my workflows and find different solutions that work but I don't want to handicap myself or feel like a second class citizen as I navigate the modern world.
I have come up with a few guiding principles to help me make decisions:
- Resist vendor lock-in and walled gardens.
- Prefer local devices/services to cloud based ones.
- Prefer open source software to proprietary, closed source software.
- Prefer individuals/small teams to large technology companies.
- Accept I will not be perfect in these endeavors.
So that's it friends. Wish me luck.