Re: [PLUG] FOSS Google App/etc Alternatives

[Chad Waters via plug <plug@lists.phillylinux.org>]

I promise I don't intend to make this an android/iphone war.

I was a long time Android user (when they first came it was the Linux Phone). About 5-6 years I switched to iphone, mostly because I was traveling for work a lot and the kids wanted to facetime me from their Ipads.

I de-googled myself few years ago. I had my email hosted by a grandfathered free g-Suite account. Eventually I moved to Proton.

Mail: labelling works great. I have plenty. I've never tried shortcuts if it does?

There is a calendar, but I dont use it. My wife and I have a shared apple calendar for all the things we do. I'm sure its fine, I just don't feel the need to accept invites in a personal mail suite. 

I actually use duckduckgo as my primary search and dont miss the sponsored links.

I mostly use Safari, because it integrates well, but I do have firefox installed ( and use it as my primary on the desktop)

I still have google maps, but its mostly to search for potential restaurants, never for navigation and it can only get my location we i have it open. I've taken to Apple Maps. I like the aesthetics and the 3d modelled buildings, green fields, trees, names of creeks as you pass by. Google maps is ok, Waze looks like it was designed by someone on LSD.

But overall isn't it hard to de-google oneself if you're on an android? You still need a gmail account and you're giving google you location right. Is there anything like Cyanogenmod anymore? I used to load that up on older android phones and install angry birds etc on it for my kids when they were little and in that stage of always asking to play games on your phone.

-C

> I've been contemplating reducing my Google dependence. As a start
> I've deployed NextCloud, though I have found it a bit buggy (doesn't
> always offer to open docs, and copy/paste in Chrome often doesn't work
> - might be a browser thing).
> 
> If I wanted to take this further I'd need a couple of other
> alternatives. Any suggestions for each of the below, with an emphasis
> on self-hosting (k8s) and having a web-based and Android client where
> appropriate? Things I would need include:
> 
> Gmail alternative that is label-based (ie not folder-based in the
> sense that an email is only in one folder) with keyboard shortcuts (ie
> similar to hitting j/k/u to navigate, and e to remove the inbox label
> - and yes, I want inbox to be a label and not a traditional folder).
> The android client needs offline capability and needs to be able to
> also manage labels easily to archive mail/etc.
> 
> Bookmark manager that can sync to browsers and have a web front-end.
> 
> Contact manager that can sync to android and be accessed from web.
> 
> Calendar that can do android reminders/offline/etc but also has web front-end.
> 
> Browser.
> 
> Offhand I think that is most of what I'm still using Google for (aside
> from Voice, which I'm guessing would be REALLY hard to replace).
> 
> I'm sure not all of this is going to be a perfect fit but I'm looking
> for my best options. All-in-one solutions are fine if they make sense
> and are easy enough to self-host on k8s.
> 
> --
> Rich
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