Comment by jcbrand | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jcbrand | Hacker News Reader

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My 2c.

I host my own mail server, owncloud, RSS reader, bookmarker, blog and a bunch of other stuff.

I don't particularly like sysadmin tasks or having to update stuff and then hope that nothing breaks, but I love the fact that I'm in control of my data and my computing experience.

On my phone I've been using Android without a Google account and I use the F-droid app store.

There are definitely still ways I'm being surveilled. That's just life in the 21st century I guess.

However, what I love about FOSS is that the software is not exploitative or antagonistic. So much closed-sourced software or Saas apps use sleazy, user-hostile tactics.

This is just not a problem with Free software. Yes, the UIs are sometimes bad or lacking and there might be bugs, but the whole spirit behind the software is, for me, so much more positive. I don't feel like I'm constantly fighting against software designed to exploit me.

What I have wanted to do for years is setup additional scripts/packages that act like DigitalOcean's droplets but for XMPP/mail server/ownCloud/MediaGoblin/etc. A one-click package that you can drop onto any host or your own machine and possibly having one-click streaming encrypted backups to wherever you want. So you can basically run a community site without worrying about being taken down. If someone doesn't like storing their data with you they can also just follow 5 steps and have their own setup.

The problem with proprietary is that someone else in some office, usually a middle manager or pointy haired boss or marketer, decides what the priorities are. So even the low hanging bugs aren't fixed and are simply avoided or worked around.

Can you please elaborate a bit on what you're using for your RSS reader and bookmarker? (and the bunch of other stuff :-)

Thanks!

I've been wanting to write a blog post about this transition for ages. Perhaps I should.

Here's a quick list:

* Cloud (files, contacts, photos, calendar): https://owncloud.org

* RSS Reader: http://selfoss.aditu.de/

* Bookmarks (ala pocket): https://www.wallabag.org/

* Email: http://www.iredmail.org/

* Chat/XMPP: http://prosody.im

* Git: http://gitolite.com/gitolite/index.html

* Blog: Blogophile static site generator (but wouldn't recommend anymore, Jekyll is better).

I keep my contacts and calendar on owncloud and sync to my Android with DavDroid https://davdroid.bitfire.at/what-is-davdroid

On my phone I installed CyanogenMod without Google apps but I recently got a one+ phone with CM installed by default (with Google apps). https://oneplus.net/

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