After the US government (basically Trump & Co) screwed over the rest of the world with its trade tariffs, many people had had enough of the US trying to impose its will on others. Especially since the underlying reasons are completely unfounded and have been strongly criticised by real experts in the field of trade and economics.
A fairly large group of people have therefore decided to avoid using US-related products wherever possible and use European brands if available. I am one of them.
And I know only too well that this will not always be possible. But where it is, I will certainly do it.
Of course the impact by me doing this will be very limited, but as it show quite some people are doing the same and this may give a very clear message. And it gives me myself also a positive feeling, which is also important.
So instead of using GMail (Google), I will start using the email service on this website.
The first thing I did was go through my password manager. I updated all my important websites with the necessary information.
I will critically review all emails that arrive at my old Gmail address. Is there a mailing list I want to continue following? No, then I will unsubscribe. Yes, then the address used will be changed.
Google Translate has been replaced by Deepl Pro. And yes, that’s a subscription I pay for. But the translations are much better. The same goes for the grammar checks.
Deepl also has a text rewriting feature (which works very well). This allowed me to say goodbye to Ginger (another US product I was paying for).
If there is no suitable none US alternative available, I will look for an Open Source replacement.
I had been using Firefox as my browser for a long time, but I no longer use Google as my search engine. I switched to Ecosia. And yes, they still use the Google index, but no longer uses Google algorithms. They are currently building their own index.
I have been using Thunderbird for my email for a long time and I am still very happy with it.
My Adobe subscription has been cancelled. Apart from the fact that it is a US company, I no longer need all the features of Paintshop. Gimp (Open Source) more than meets my needs.
For PDF documents I have switched to Sumatra PDF.
I have an official Microsoft Office licence, but I have uninstalled the package. I am now using LibreOffice and so far I don’t miss it at all.
To replace Google Maps, I am looking at OsmAnd and it looks pretty good.
But I’ll be honest, I have not found an alternative for one feature Google Maps…. StreetView. And that is something that is pretty much used.
My Instagram account has been set to be deleted, but the app has already been removed.
Facebook will follow soon, but I want to save certain information from there before I delete it.
I left X/Twitter already behind a while ago (BlueSky is so much more friendly and useful)
Below an overview of the (new) software/services I am using now:
- Webreus -> Dutch
- Deepl -> German
- Firefox -> Open Source
- Thunderbird -> Open Source
- Gimp -> Open Source
- Ecosia -> German
- Sumatra PDF – Polish
- OsmAnd -> Dutch
- LibreOffice -> Open Source
And suddenly there was the notification of a new entry on the weblog :-). Very happy to see it.
Interesting article. For my daily groceries I am already doing this. But for the things you mentioned I don’t have the knowledge. Maybe you can help me there?
Are we also welcome to post here again?
You still had the notifications active? Cool! 🙂
Of course you (and the others) are more than welcome to post here again.
And of course I’m willing to help you where needed,
Marissa just sent me a message about this post. But I too have still the notifications on :-).
I totally agree with you Rob. I am so glad that my employer has moved the annual 3-week meeting in the US to Canada, at the request of many.
I know many great people from the US, but what is happening now is just scary.
Privately, I still have an Gmail address, but I would like to change that too and I may have to change even more. Let’s talk about that over the weekend, shall we?
Sure, Marion. Lets have a look at it tomorrow.