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Discussion on: What I Use Now Instead Of Google

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shehata profile image
Solly

Kira, I wanted to take the same step for so long! you encouraged me to do the same, I just created a protonmail account (bought for 3 years) and now connecting my domain to it. Will migrate all my important accounts to use the new email (custom domain). The only challenge is my youtube channel.

The only thing I am worried about is maintaining my own cloud storage/photos. Would apple cloud would be an alternative, or is it still, same as google?

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kiraemclean profile image
Kira McLean

That's so cool! I'm so excited you switched 😄 Honestly I think Apple's a reasonable replacement for Google Photos, but it's up to everyone to decide for themselves. With an iPhone and a mac it's a super pleasant experience. There are a lot of people who say Apple is no better than Google, and they're not wrong, but I'm also a "better done than perfect" kind of person. It's really hard to be an ethical consumer these days, so a lot of the time we're making trade offs and it comes down to which service is the "least evil". Anyway.. I think de-googling is a long and slow process regardless, and there are no perfect solutions!

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paramo profile image
Paramo

Isnt Apple just the same as Google but with another name and logo? Honest question, I really don't know 🤔

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magnuslassi profile image
Magnus Lassi

Apple doesn't depend on ads to fund their business unlike Google and Facebook. I'm no big fan of big tech but at least Apple is taking steps to improve privacy on their platform.

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paramo profile image
Paramo

Thank you very much!

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kiraemclean profile image
Kira McLean • Edited

yeah a lot of people have pointed out that Apple isn't that much better than Google, and they're not wrong. I do think one notable difference is that Apple primarily earns money by selling actual technology -- they no doubt have many dubious business practices as well, but at the end of the day they do manufacture and sell actual technology. Google primarily makes money off of selling advertisements, which is only so profitable for them because they can target very specific users, which they can only do because they (unethically, imo) collect loads of information on people without their consent.

So I'm definitely not saying Apple is some sort of great alternative to Google, but I do see a fundamental difference between the two companies in their underlying business model and how they make money. If everybody stopped buying ads on the internet tomorrow, Apple would still thrive. Google would be finished.

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paramo profile image
Paramo

Thank you for your response and I do share your point of view, since a couple of week ive been more freaky about my privacy but google is now so deep into people day to day that it take a big step to start emancipating from this environment! Congrats on the post and good luck with your google free journey! :)

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thebrandolorian profile image
TheBrandolorian

Are they really doing this without people's consent? Doesn't seem like it to me... interested to hear if there's more than what is widely known and made clear in their terms.