Migrating

This is a follow-up to my article about digital independence.

Quick recap: my ultimate goal is to fully switch from macOS to Linux, from proprietary software to open-source, from companies that don’t share my values to ones that do. All while trying to keep compromises to a minimum because I’m spoiled.

So I was preparing my escape from Apple’s walled garden. First step: switching to tools that run on both macOS and Linux.

iCloud Photos → Immich

I really thought this one was going to be difficult. To my surprise, it was super easy and I couldn’t be happier about Immich’s look and feel. I’m running it on a Hetzner CAX31 VPS with a BX11 storage box and it runs faster than iCloud Photos ever did, with a UI that easily passed the “mum and dad” test, surpassing whatever “liquid glass” did to Apple Photos ^❶ . As a family we now use so many more features than we ever did using Apple’s software!

If I have to criticise one thing, it would be that the UI looks more like Google’s Material design, even on the native iOS app. But that’s really a tiny nitpick and a problem that will solve itself for me in the long run ^❷ .

I’m also super impressed with Immich’s development speed (look at their roadmap) and their transparency. Every company should have a public cursed knowledge page!

FaceTime/Zoom/Teams → Nextcloud Talk

This one was a bit more involved but it was so worth it. ^❸ The Nextcloud GmbH employs a few very talented software engineers for the open source software and so far they have been very quick at fixing issues I couldn’t fix myself.

What makes this switch so great is that it completely changed my workflow. No, really. Mind you I didn’t switch from a Microsoft Teams instance with tons of features (and horrible UX), I mostly relied on clients providing their infrastructure for video calls (and hated the experience as a guest in their Microsoft Teams instance).

What I like most about having my own “communication platform” are the persistent conversations. Clients/partners/projects get their own, persistent room, even with their own logo ^❹ :

While I still use my purpose-built platform for content exchange, these rooms are amazing because the client/partner gets one secret link (that I can easily add to calendar events) and any messages dropped in there remain available in the next call. I love it!

I’m not 100% happy with workflow on the macOS app, so I built a simple Raycast extension ^❺ that lets me create rooms and copy their link in seconds:

Nextcloud is much more than Nextcloud Talk of course, have a look at the Nextcloud App Store. I could even have collaboration on documents with my clients and so much more. To be honest, not every app has the same high standard of the apps maintained by the Nextcloud GmbH, but that’s to be expected. Apart from Nextcloud Talk, I’m only using the built-in tools for file storage/sharing and calendar. The latter being neatly integrated with Talk.

macOS → Omarchy

Going pretty well so far! Maybe I can reward myself by looking at some Linux desktops, seeing what awaits me once I’m finally breaking free of the walled garden.

This collection of dotfiles with a shitty name seems to be super popular right now. GitHub for one is pretty certain I am part of the target group and keeps recommending it. Let’s check it out!

Hmm, not sure about them pre-installing a ton of apps and web-app shortcuts to Google Messages/Photos/Maps, X, Grok. No thanks, the purpose of my whole journey is getting away from such companies. Seems like there are “debloaters” and “cleaners” for that purpose. Interesting.

Oh wait, this DHH guy seems to be pretty racist anyways. Holy shitHoly shit, he openly talks about “remigration” and “demographic replacement”. Well, I sure hope I don’t have to read that name ever again. Or anything about “remigration” for that matter.

iCloud → Proton

With this knowledge, let’s migrate our files somewhere safe first. Proton also has a password manager, email, VPN and so much more. Let’s use all of it!

Oh wait, Proton is paying for ads in videos by Vincent Lapierre, a french far-right influencer whose videos mostly consist of nodding along while people explain their plans for “remigration”. Not this shitshit again.

Proton stops the sponsorship after the outrage and their CEO posts a comment on reddit: “Honestly, I feel some people here are insane. (…) Nevertheless, I engaged and had a conversation with him on X (…)”.

Sure, let’s “engage” with the people at the Nazi bar instead. That’s it for me and Proton.

Proton → Mullvad VPN

I quickly got used to Proton’s VPN for my niche interest in Japanese hip hop, allowing me to watch my favourite おじさん talk about hip hop on ABEMA. I really don’t want to give that up!

Let’s switch to Mullvad.

Oh wait, Co-founder Daniel Berntsson donates millions to a Swedish far-right party advocating “remigration”. I don’t want to read this word anymore, not in French, not in Swedish, not in any language.

MacBook → Framework Laptop 13 Pro

I think I’ve had enough of software for now. Let’s look at some hardware options for a change. This new one is literally called the “MacBook for Linux”. Sounds great!

Oh wait, Framework promotes Omarchy by DHH. Their CEO says: “We deliberately create a big tent, because we want open source software to win. We don’t partner based on individuals’ or organizations’ beliefs, values, or political stances outside of their alignment with us on increasing the adoption of open source software.”.

Fuck offFuck off. Sure, a big tent with the far right. This is not negotiable for me.

Proton → 1Password

Maybe let’s take our passwords somewhere else now. Migrating the passwords of my whole family again is not part of my definition of fun. I’ve postponed this for some time now but it’s necessary.

The UI is much better than Proton’s, too, across all platforms. Happy I switched again!

Oh wait, 1Password became a patron of DHH’s foundation, too. Three hundred thousand dollars. 1Password co-founder Karimov reportedly telling his staff that “(…) people have different personal opinions (…)” doesn’t help.

Not with my money! At least they immediately gave me a refund to my 1 month old, yearly family subscription after I successfully pissed offpissed off their AI chatbot enough.

Hate is not an opinion

The CEOs of Shopify, Stripe, Dell, Cloudflare and Dropbox are all founding patrons of DHH’s Omacom foundation. Dell having been another good hardware option for Linux laptops, Shopify being something I previously recommended to clients who asked me about e-commerce. I don’t understand how there’s no consequence for companies supporting DHH and his hateful agenda.

Still in the garden

I wanted to leave Apple’s walled garden. So far, I’ve only managed to find a few doors out and currently I’m too exhausted to continue searching.