Technology Shifts

Since last year I've been on a slow roll to moving my family off of the free services (Gmail, etc.) and on to more private options.

Additionally, I've killed off my ten-year-old Facebook account, my Instagram account, and my LinkedIn account.

Feels pretty good, y'all.

A year ago, I got rid of my Mac and moved over to a Linux laptop, a Darter Pro, from System 76 running Pop_Os (their flavor of Ubuntu). It's been amazing to me how much more focus that move has given me. It's now my preferred setup.

Some of the services we are using now:

• NextCloud - for files, calendar, contacts, and trello-like functions
• Protonmail - for email. (I've been using them for three years now, and I love them.)
• Standard Notes - for all of my notes and writing, including blog posts and journals
• Firefox - instead of Chrome
• Signal - Instead of Messages or other chat clients
• Pop_os - A highly focused distro, love it
• Mastodon - Really enjoying the folks I'm meeting here. It really takes me back to when the web was young, before the masses invaded Twitter, and before profit was the driving force for everything that takes place online. I've joined the community at https://social.chinwag.org, and the fact that it is operated out of Australia and has such an international membership is a bonus for me. The United States makes my brain hurt.
• Listed - this blog, to which I can post directly from Standard Notes.

There are some more changes I'd like to make, but I'm still exploring. That's been the great part about diving back into investigating these things: everything has evolved tremendously since I last checked (about 7 years ago). I'm truly enjoying the discovery.