There are still a few Google services I use occasionally, mostly forced by circumstances.

Youtube because sometimes this is the only place hosting some content of interest (recordings of conference talks, some live music, etc.). But only in a browser with tab isolation and adblocker, otherwise it's completely insufferable (it mostly tries to feed you ads as much as it can).

Google Scholar for the citation alerts. It is useful to know which papers cite mine, it helps keeping up with scientific literature relevant to my work. But I hate that it's impossible to have these alerts without having a public profile. The citation counts are sometimes necessary: academia being what it is, its bureaucracy sometimes asks for these numbers. But we really shouldn't put them on display like Google Scholar does (per Goodhart's law).

Since the first posts in this thread, the US has been quickly descending into fascism. Every day brings crazier news than the previous one, with no sign of it calming down any time soon. American big tech companies are all either totally cool with it or actively supporting...

This is a much bigger reason to adopt alternatives than end of software updates. This makes two strong reasons to seek alternatives.

Luckily, my emails have been hosted in the EU since 2017 when I got a domain name. Almost everyone I write to uses Gmail, so Google still sees everything (email is like postcards anyway). But at least I don't depend on it for something this important (can't live without an email address in this world).

Google Search has been bad for a long time, haven't used it in years. Several decent alternatives exist.

Google's recent nonsense with the Gulf of Mexico on Maps finally nudged me to abandon the services I was still using. No more Google apps on the phone. For real, since it's an iPhone (for now I plan to use it until it fails, since Apple has been less terrible than other US tech companies, and since changing smartphones more often than absolutely necessary is an environmental disaster).

Maps is easily replaced by:
- Organic Maps: https://organicmaps.app
- Magic Earth: https://www.magicearth.com
They are good at different things and complementary.

Translate (very useful for an expat) can be abandoned if DeepL has the languages you need.

@ct_Magazin
Sieht so aus, als müsse ich demnächst doch mal einen ständig laufenden Raspberry Pi ins Haus holen, um von Google Photos wegzukommen.
#ungoogle #immich

@GottaLaff

It's probably worth mentioning, I just reminded myself of this website to #unGoogle myself.

https://switching.software/

@mason Do nawigacji używam Magic Earth - domyślnej nawigacji w systemie /e/. Też jest oparta na OSM i działa świetnie.

@mason MIło się czyta o Twoich dokonaniach. Życie bez produktów korporacji internetowych nie jest łatwe - szczególnie, że inni ludzie nie wyobrażają sobie życia bez nich. Ale się da i fajnie, że się tym z nami podzieliłeś.

Ja na co dzień używam OpenStreetMap. Organic Maps do tej pory nie znałem, ale sprawdzę, skoro piszesz, że używasz.

#noGoogle #unGoogle #bezGoogle #bezFacebooka @noFacebook

@pallenberg Ich habe mich gefreut, dass Mastodon bei den Social-Media-Links als erstes steht und als ich #Matomo las, dachte ich erst "cool", aber dann sind mir eine Sache aufgefallen, die ihr vielleicht anpassen könntet:
Ihr habt ein sehr gefülltes #CookieBanner, das ich aus #Datenschutz-Sicht bedenklich finde

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