Comment by bpye | Hacker News Reader

Comment by bpye | Hacker News Reader

I keep coming close to trying to divorce myself from Google but it always seems to be too hard to complete. I have tried Fastmail and I like it, but my recipient likely uses Google. I never used Google Docs so that doesn't really matter. I use Google Photos, I could drop that but I don't know of a comparable alternative, I do keep a copy of everything on my NAS too with Lightroom but that falls behind. I am trying to use NewPipe on my phone for YouTube. I try and remember to use OsmAnd but a lack of transit instructions means I can't completely convert. I should be using DDG and Firefox but I have issues with U2F on Firefox and DDG normally ends in frustration.

I would like there to be an iPhone I'd be happy owning instead of my Pixel 2 XL however being stuck with Safari and needing a macOS device to do any development doesn't sit well with me, I suspect Mail.app would be an improvement though, even if it doesn't do GPG as K9 does, K9 just has an ancient UI. I have tried LineageOS on my old Nexus 4 with microg and it's completely usable however my Pixel 2 XL isn't actually supported, besides LineageOS disables security features such as verified boot. I am curious to see if RattlesnakeOS (CopperheadOS "successor") continues to be supported, if so maybe that's an option in the future.

If anyone has any suggestions I'd be very happy to hear.

I'm with you.

In my view, Google's services are just straight up better. This makes it exceedingly difficult to switch, because I'm not perceiving the choice as switching to a better product. I feel like I would be switching for non-concrete, emotional reasons. Not to mention, Google's record on security is top-tier.

To your point about iPhone, I feel the same. I would like to use an iPhone, but when I sit down and think about it, I'm certain I would be frustrated with the completely locked down nature of the product. I wish Apple would open up a little more and make it a palatable choice for usability. There are lots of aspects of Android I like just because Google _allows_ it. "OK Google, play xxx from Spotify" launches the app and plays music from Spotify. I use this all the time. Meanwhile, Apple explicitly forbids you from doing this and purposely cripples Siri. You can't even use Spotify on a HomePod. I can use all of Google's services on every machine I have with every OS.

When I go down the list, I feel like I come to the conclusion that nearly every service is just better. This makes it hard to leave, despite how icky one might feel about privacy. I'm not keen on emotional choices.

Siri is getting more powerful with Siri Shortcuts on upcoming iOS 12.

https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2018/211/

I still use Google Photos for my real time uploads/backup but I have been pretty impressed with Synology Moments for photos on my NAS. I use it for my historical library.

I just want something simple that could allow me to browse photos remotely and sync new photos over, even if they weren't organised at that point I could import them into Lightroom later. Unfortunately my NAS is actually an Ubuntu box so I can't use the Synology stuff.

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