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Ethical Alternatives to Mainstream Stuff

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posted on Apr, 9 2019 @ 09:19 AM
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Came across this and thought i'd share.

ethical.net...

It's a collection of software, resources and stuff that are focused on user empowerment and privacy that can replace a lot of the ad happy, government and corporation friendly spyware and devices most people are stuck with.

Some of the choices on the list are questionable, but with more and more coming out about data leaks and straight up violations of privacy that have been going on. It's a good place to start for anyone seeking alternatives.
edit on 9/4/2019 by dug88 because: (no reason given)



posted on Apr, 9 2019 @ 10:45 AM
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Generally, when it comes to that sort of thing, it isn't very user-friendly (an understatement in many cases, BTW). And the people who maintain it are only going to be reliable as long as their patience and determination to run themselves into the ground for nothing holds out.

This is the main reason why anything that depends on charity almost always fails. You have the combination of people who have a relatively rare skill and the fact that those people need to eat and pay bills. If they don't have a job, they're going to have to get money from someplace. If they get a job, they have less time and energy to spend doing side projects for "the greater good".

Even most things that start out as freeware don't stay free for long. I can't think of too many freewares I have used for more than a couple of years before they went commercial or disappeared.


edit on 9-4-2019 by BrianFlanders because: (no reason given)


EDIT - Linux/Ubuntu looks user friendly but really isn't for newbies (Many people who are looking to ditch Windows because of MS's proclivity for creepy are not interested in an OS that needs a college course to teach them how to use it)
edit on 9-4-2019 by BrianFlanders because: (no reason given)



posted on Apr, 9 2019 @ 11:37 AM
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a reply to: BrianFlanders

I’m not so sure I’ve used Firefox for ages, never had any issues and it’s still going strong. There are all kinds of free tools and apps that work really well, sometimes better and more innovative than commercial ones. But yeah everybody needs to make living which is why value for value models and patreon have sprung up.



posted on Apr, 9 2019 @ 01:01 PM
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a reply to: BrianFlanders

Many of the projects on that page have existed for years now and not all of them are free. The email providers I believe are paid. But you're paying for privacy and more control over your email.

The point of the list is to be an alternative to things you pay for with your personal data and privacy. Whether open source projects, as many of them are, or closed paid projects. Most things on there are about giving you more control over your devices, data, whatever.

I'm not sure why linux has the reputation of not being newbie friendly. The file hierarchy is far more straightforward, just about everything you need to configure is stored in plain text, most desktop environments ship with GUI tools to configure them or you can use a text editor, there's no registry, many distros offer a convenient package management system with thousands of different software packages available for download and install at the click of a button, you have to explicitly give yourself root privileges in order to actually # anything up, at any given moment in time I can find out exactly what's running on my computer and close and start any process I want without hassle, every single thing I do on my computer isn't being tracked, sent back to Microsoft, linked to an advertising ID and sold to 3rd party companies and all of this from a fully configurable, stable, modern, desktop environment that offers features no version of windows has ever had(such as a full session manager that can restore your system to it's last state after powerdowm), a nice easy to use(and find) system settings menu, and runs snappier than windows ever has.

I've got my full library of steam games available, a full suite of music production software that's far more flexible than anything I used to use on windows. Jack2 is awesome, it lets you route audio and midi inputs and outputs from anything to anything, with a nice easy to use ui that resembles physically wiring things in a studio, more programming tools and IDEs than i'll probably ever use, professional level graphics, cad and modelling tools.

Basically everything I need. It's been about ten years now and i've been using the same desktop setup, with mostly the same set of tools and applications(other than some additions and removals) for the entirety of that time. I could probably count the problems i've had over those years on one hand and none of those were unfixable.



posted on Apr, 9 2019 @ 06:41 PM
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originally posted by: dug88
a reply to: BrianFlanders

I'm not sure why linux has the reputation of not being newbie friendly.


Because it isn't. There's a reason it hasn't overtaken Windows. People have been complaining about all the issues they have with Linux for ages and the people who know how to fix it are completely unresponsive to that. And often become rude and abrasive when a confused newbie shows up somewhere and complains about something. So they go back to Windows because Windows is what they know. It's not free but it's intuitive. If you have a problem with Linux, the first thing they will tell you to do is open that stupid text box and start entering gibberish. People who just want to be able to use their computer without hassle do not want to mess around with that crap. They just want stuff to work.

As far as Firefox goes? I used to swear by Firefox. And that was because of the massive library of add-ons that one had to choose from and I had been using for many years. One fine day they just decided to go errantly in another direction and suddenly none of those add-ons worked anymore. I didn't want to go to Chrome but that pissed me off and now I hardly use Firefox anymore.

The Firefox people do not listen to the people who use Firefox. And like the Linux people, will usually become rude and abrasive if you complain about it. If people are complaining, you're doing something they don't like. That's the bottom line. That's the reason people would stray from MS in the first place. Windows is (or used to be) exceedingly easy to use and trouble free. People did not like the whole Windows 10 thing. They didn't like how MS became aggressive and pushy and blatantly creepy. But even with all that, Windows is still what people know and are used to and just about everything is compatible with it out of the box with no fussing around.

So, people pay the steep prices and they let MS bully them and snoop and install garbage on their computer without their permission (and/or force them to give their permission for that in order to be allowed to use their computer). They do this because when they try alternatives and they don't like the way something works and they complain, the first thing they hear is "# you! Nobody else is complaining! You're irrelevant! Go way! It's not anyone else's fault you're too stupid to use it". They tried to switch to get away from that and just got more of it. So what's the point?

Back to Firefox. Before I switched to Chrome, I had been getting irritated with the Firefox people for a number of years as they increasingly became more obstinate in their determination to change everything people loved about Firefox to something completely different. And not just that but do it on a regular basis so every time you got an update you would have to go looking for an add-on to put something they removed BACK in and/or make it work the way it did before the "update". It was a complete mess and probably still is. I have also been hearing complaints from people who have tried to stick it out with Firefox about Firefox not doing what it's supposed to and the fact that their issues mostly started with that Quantum garbage and have just gotten worse.



posted on Apr, 9 2019 @ 08:20 PM
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a reply to: BrianFlanders

Ah...so...you expect free tech support for a free product without putting effort in and it's other people's fault.

Personally, i could care less who uses what operating system on their computer.

If you wish to have the type of support microsoft gives you, maybe consider paying for it from one of the companies that offer paid support with their distro instead of demanding people on the internet give you their time and effort.

The kind of people that can't make linux work without having someone do it for them are the same people that call up computer techs every couple weeks for their windows computer anyway.

It's kind of like the difference between driving say a honda civic with an automatic transmission and a 4x4 diesel truck with a standard transmission. There's nothing wrong with sticking to the honda if you don't mind being limited and driving the vehicle with some of the highest number of break ins and you don't want to learn to drive a standard. Just don't complain about it being the truck's fault when you # your transmission because you can't switch gears properly because you can't be bothered to learn that gibberish.

But, you can take that truck some pretty cool places, every random electronic lock opener won't unlock your car and you can be damn sure it doesn't have any gps tracking bull#. You just learn about the difference between glowplugs and spark plugs, make sure you fill the tank with diesel instead of gas and learn how to work a clutch properly. Just like with driving, if you can't learn this on your own and don't have someone patient enough to teach you, you can pay for lessons.

I completely agree with you about firefox though. I switched to palemoon way back when they stopped allowing unsigned plugins.



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