A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.
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Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it.
Richard P. Feynman
I think the same is true for a lot of folks and self hosting. Sure, having data in our own hands is great, and yes avoiding vendor lock-in is nice. But at the end of the day, it's nice to have computers seem "fun" again.
At least, that's my perspective.
99% of people want computers to serve them, not to be fun. My SO couldn't care less how much fun I have setting up home assistant. They just want to turn on the lights.
Well, yes, most people want computers to be unnoticable and boring. I agree, we need more boring tech that just does a job and doesn't bother us. That said, plenty of people find self-hosting to be fun - your SO and mine excepted, of course.
most people want computers to be unnoticable and boring. I agree, we need more boring tech
professional UI designers don't seem to agree. they always feel the urge to come up with the next worst design
My SO watches free tier youtube.
Edit: please stop with the alternative youtube client suggestions. I've tried. She likes the YT app and the ads. This hill is not worth dying on.
Escaping vendor lock-in. It's why people hate the cloud when it used to be the answer for everything. You make a good product that can only be used with your hardware/software, whatever, and people run from that shit because it's abused more often than not.
Apple is the biggest example of this. Synology is getting worse and worse. Plex not far behind either.
I recently discovered that Plex no longer works over local network, if you lose internet service. A) you can't login without internet access. B) even if you're already logged in, apps do not find and recognize your local server without internet access. So, yeah, Plex is already there.
A lot of people that run Plex have a Jellyfin container on standby, or they'll use Plex for friends and family and use JF at home.
even if you're already logged in, apps do not find and recognize your local server without internet access.
You set your server in those app's settings to not use direct connect and thus they are being routed through Plex's servers
When you select your Plex libraries from the drop-down there are usually 2 options, one will be the local IP and say (direct), that's always the best choice if you're able
I just turned off my Internet connection to my Chromecast and tested, no issues with accessing my media
Nice! How are you using a chromecast without internet? Mine screams at me to get a google account.
What!?! Damn. I didn't know it got that enshitty already.
I’d say plex is up there. “Want to use your hardware and bandwidth to view your own files? Pay us!”
Nothing wrong with having to pay for software if the prices are reasonable. It's a product like any other, with real people working on it.
I'm down for paying for a piece of software. I bought a lifetime subscription back in the day I feel like until recently it served me pretty well. And to be fair they are caching the movie database, providing SSL keys, epg, low speed proxy through cgnat for people, there's quite a bit too there cloud operations that they do deserve money for.
What pisses me off is the mining of my watch habits, and the slow and enshitification of features.
14 years of lifetime Plex pass for $75, they don't really owe me anything, But I am moving on.
I'm slowly digging my way out of sights with algorithms, clawing my way out of Google is particularly difficult. I'm considering spinning my own Alexa with whisper