Getting off US tech: a guide

3 saubeidl 1 7/19/2025, 8:12:09 AM disconnect.blog ↗

Comments (1)

palata · 7h ago
Nice article, great list! I just would like to mention a few things:

* Regarding email, when someone is ready to change their address (e.g. from "@gmail.com" to something else), really the first step is to get their own domain. Then it completely removes the lock-in: in the last 4 years I changed provider 3 times, but my address stayed the same. I landed on Migadu and am very very happy with it.

* I really like that Cloud providers like Hetzner or Infomaniak are starting to offer "managed self-hosted solutions". Not everybody can set up their own server with e.g. Nextcloud, but paying 5$ per month to have a managed instance on those providers is actually powerful. Not sure how the Nextcloud export situation is, but if it was easy to migrate to another provider, it would make it even more appealing (avoiding lock-ins again).

* For the password manager, I would mention Bitwarden.

* I am a bit surprised by the mapping advice: OpenStreetMap is everywhere. Ever used Uber or Lyft? Chances are that your public transportation app uses it too. It is great and it is open source. The first step into OpenStreetMap, IMO, is to install Organic Maps. Then slowly understand what OpenStreetMap is and enjoy the plenty of apps using it.