this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2025
255 points (93.2% liked)

BuyFromEU

2286 readers
557 users here now

Welcome to BuyFromEU - A community dedicated to supporting European-made goods and services!

We also invite you to subscribe to:

Logo generated with mistral le chat Banner by Christian Lue on unsplash.com

founded 3 weeks ago
MODERATORS
 

I've decided to make some significant changes in my digital life. I've taken the plunge and am rooting out most US-based services from my usage list. This includes canceling all my streaming subscriptions, putting my Reddit account in cold storage, and deleting my Twitter accounts. Additionally, I'm in the process of removing my presence from Meta platforms. This shift is part of my effort to simplify and re-evaluate my online habits and dependencies.

One of the primary reasons for this change is the importance of bolstering the EU economy. By supporting European companies and services, I believe we can foster innovation and growth within our own region. This not only strengthens our economic independence but also encourages the development of solutions tailored to our specific needs and values.

In my exploration of EU-based alternatives, I've found that while they may be slightly more expensive, they often offer superior technology and usability. The focus on quality, privacy, and user experience in many European products aligns with my personal values and expectations. By investing in these solutions, I'm not only supporting local businesses but also benefiting from advanced and reliable services.

This transition is about more than just personal preference; it's about contributing to a stronger, more self-sufficient European digital landscape. I'm excited to continue discovering and integrating more EU-based services into my daily life.

Despite the costs and effort needed to make this change, I would like to encourage and motivate everyone else considering doing the same. It will undoubtedly be tough for a while, but if we push forward together, it will be better for all of us in the end. Let's support each other in this journey towards a more independent and innovative digital future.

all 42 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

I'm taking a more relaxed approach. As long as its not owned by a US tech giant I'm fine with it.

E.g. Signal is US but is nonprofit and open source, GrapheneOS is Canadian.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

Well, I have some pieces of hardware that, unfortunately, simply don't work/aren't developed yet on Linux.

Don't get me wrong, I tried.

A couple days back I spun up a fresh install on both machines and methodicly tried to install every system step by step, but some of the solutions available simply don't fit my setup or are still way too cumbersome to be effectively used.

I will, most probably, migrate all my other "simpler" options gradually though.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

It's American as an orange faced apple pie in a diaper.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It’s not European, it’s VC funded, they haven’t delivered on any of their federation promises. It’s currently X without Musk and some empty promises.

Until they actually keep their word and implement federation, allowing users to gracefully migrate to other platforms, they shouldn’t be trusted.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

I mean, these things are correct, but at this point in time, I think draining the X-axis is more important than going full fediverse, and right now BlueSky has a far better shot at that than Mastodon.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Depends on what you look for and where you are from. In Germany Mastodon feels way more established.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I'm actually enjoying mastodon more than bsky...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

@Gigameister @Novocirab I am on both but have basically left Bluesky for here. It was too stressful there... And I can follow Lemmy conversations

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago

No bluesky. It still needs centralised relay server...

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Stop reposting this unless you improve it with recommendations from previous threads. Come on, have some pride in your work.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

Woop! The first of this graphics I see that mentions Element/Matrix!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago

I'm still using it so no

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Theres a Fork still being worked on.

I thought so to, until i was sent this.

Revanced Extended

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

revanced.app is being actively developed, rvx is separate

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 days ago

nebula.tv is also a pretty good alternative to watching streaming services or YouTube.

[–] [email protected] 48 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Opinion:

Bluesky is American with the vast majority of users on one single instance based in Seattle, so I wouldn't recommend it over mastodon which truly is decentralized.

Also revanced is old and overly complicated in comparison to freetube and Grayjay. While Grayjay is American, it is ran by Louis Rossman, and is consumer rights friendly on a level higher than many European alternatives.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago

I have to say, i am quite impressed with mastodon already, hopefully they add some QOL like native GIF usage etc.

Bluesky i'm a little bit on the fence about, but i got to say i'm inclined to give it a try

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

Thank you!!!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Your journey and motivation is looking a lot like mine. I deleted my twitter account, frozen my meta accounts and canceled most of the streaming subscriptions. Currently looking into the email problem of leaving Gmail behind... Probably it will be tuta + a NAS for file storage to replace gdrive. I used Arc for the browser, I really love it's UX so I have been trying to move to Zen Browser, however they have issues with 1password (not sure if I'll move from this service) and it doesn't sync like Arc does (for now).

I'm curious I still don't really understand element/matrix.... Does it communicate with the other messaging services? I'm trying to push more people around me to use Signal (but yeah... It's the same old story of no one using it so people to use it)

Did you went for freeNAS for the Google photos replacement? Do you have a way to auto sync your photos on the phone to your photos in your server?

Good luck 🫡

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I went for the Proton Suite for email/cloud/password management solutions!

Got a 25% off the 2 year plan (might still be available) and i CANNOT recommend it enough.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago (1 children)

The day I was about to go for proton was the same day the news about the CEO comments came out... It's that strange balance... It has a lot of the features I want to replace from Gmail but... Now I'm not sure if it would be much better than Google if the government decided they wanted to look at my emails. That said it's still better for my money to go to a EU company.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

like i said in my post, EU solutions are somewhat behind on its development, but the core tennants seem to be much better than their EU counterparts.

There will be limitations and cumbersome situations, but i was there when gmail started and it was absolute garbage... People using it, commiting to it, gave them the userbase and funds to develop their solutions.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

my issue is not the development, I think in terms of features it has mostly what I want. The issue is their CEO. But then again, it is controlled by a foundation ... so yeah... just some blurry waters there

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

I see...

Well, opting for a solution rather than other is mostly a personal decisison.

You need to weight the pros and cons for yourself.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Does stremio really stream a lot of films? I only get recommendations for netflix, amazon,... in there

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

I have my problems with the recommendation for stremio. It obviously includes features that are most likely illegal in your country of residence. While you can use it to watch the usual TV stream, you can use it to instantly watch torrented content.

Instead of recommending stremio, the post could recommend putting your pirate hat back on and sailing the seven seas.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

with the addons available it works really really well.

Even on my android box i have fouund myself using it more than the subscriptions i had ( wich were most of them )

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

you can install an addon like torrentio that finds torrents and streams them

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (2 children)

google chrome to brave or firefox is no longer good advice

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago

Am trying out @Vivaldisocial.vivaldi.net right now. Like it. Sadly it's not open source.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 days ago

The image is a bit outdated.

I went to firefox and will very likely be moving on to librewolf soon.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Thank you for the info! I am right now thinking of switching to linux on my PC - I am using like a 7 year old Windows 10 system so I need to clean up anyway and no way in hell am I moving to Windows 11 :D

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 days ago

I can recommend Fedora, it's very polished, but it's the community distro of the American Red Hat Enterprise Linux

If you insist on a European Distro, try OpenSuse

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago

If you have a 7 yo system on Win10 you will very likely not have any issues moving to Linux.

Unfortunatly, as i have done the plunge on most of the solutions out there, i run a couple of integrated systems on my dual-pc setup that, unfortunatly, just don't have linux ports yet.

Currently i am battling the AndroidOS and Social networks problem. I have to admit, Proton has been a godsent, even though i do feel like they're a bit on the pricey side.

Windows (and the peripherals) and Steam are going to be tough for me though...

But i'll keep looking and trying new things, i'm sure we are on the verge of a massive direction shift, one that will push more EU/Open Source solutions to the forefront.

It is, i hope, just a matter of time now.