So it’s over. My 30 days+ of switching to free and open-source software comes to an end. The truth is that I’m late. Tying up loose ends has taken me a few days into May, but I thought it better to do that than simply crash out.
The final week-and-a-bit
In my last blogpost I set out a few final aims. Here’s how I got on, with scores on how much progress I made marked out of 5.
- Set up NetNewsWire on desktop and set up syncing via iCloud
This has gone well.
NetNewsWire, as previously covered, is an open source RSS reader. Put more simply, it’s an app to follow the news and blogs etc from difference sources. I chose it over my usual app, Feedly.
The missing part of switching to NetNewsWire is finding a way for my feeds, favourites etc to be synchronised between my phone app and my desktop computer. We take this sort of thing for granted with mainstream apps, but of course this is a free (as in not paid-for) and locally installed software, so we need to find somewhere to store this data in the cloud, or sync it in some other way.
I know that iCloud isn’t open source, but I’m taking this journey one step at a time. Ideally I’d be leaving Apple behind in a cloud (no pun intended) of dust, and setting up an open source self-hosted solution.
Setting this up was pretty easy and it seems to work very smoothly so far.
SCORE: 5/5
2. Move my Apple Notes to Joplin and set up cloud sync
Some progress here but not quite all done.
First, moving Apple Notes data to the open source app Joplin isn’t easy. The best solution I found was to request data from Apple, which can take several days. At the time of writing, I’m still waiting!
There are potentially quicker solutions but this seemed like the easiest for me to move over 100 notes en masse.
As for cloud sync, it’s a similar scenario to NetNewsWire. In this case I chose Dropbox as my cloud provider. It’s working OK now after what felt like a slow start.
SCORE:4/5
3. Try some FOSS games
It’s been a busy week, so I’ve only had time to install and play one game, Open TTD.
According to Wikipedia:
OpenTTD is a business simulation game in which players try to earn money by transporting passengers, minerals and goods via road, rail, water and air. It is an open-source[5] remake and expansion of the 1995 Chris Sawyer video game Transport Tycoon Deluxe.
Downloading and installing this game was fairly easy, but I haven’t got sound working yet. It was nice to see that the game can be played in many languages, including Welsh/Cymraeg.
So far it reminds me a lot of Sim City and that sort of game, which I like. But truthfully, I can’t really review it properly as I’ve only had time to play it for about 10 minutes.
SCORE 2/5
Summary of the month
It’s been a fun challenge and I’ve learnt quite a bit. I’m glad I kept my ambitions modest, as switching to open source takes time.
My overall impressions:
- The central moral and ethical case for FOSS is strong. It’s about privacy, community and fairness. This experiment has reaffirmed my belief that it’s the way to go.
- FOSS software can be really good for everyday use, and sometimes better than commercial rivals. For example, Organic Maps’ offline speed and detail is better, in my view, than Google Maps.
- FOSS software can also lack features of commercial equivalents and be more complicated to set up and use. I think this mainly stems from the sheer scale and budgets of big tech (e.g. Google can afford to do Street View and offer ‘free’ hosting on Youtube).
- Cloud hosting – or lack of it – was an obstacle of sorts, but it also got me thinking. We take ‘free’ cloud hosting for granted with mainstream (ad supported/paid) software and online services. I’m not yet confident enough in my knowledge, or from a security perspective, to set up self-hosting. Also the cloud comes at a cost – if I don’t want ads or to let big tech use my data, then I need to pay for severs whether I run them myself or rent space from others. This challenge has also made me question whether cloud services are always necessary or desirable – how much is the cloud driven by commercial interests rather than our own? What about the energy use and environmental impact? Maybe this is about embracing a low-tech, offline lifestyle too e.g. paper notebooks, board games, dumbwatches, turning off your computer and going outside.
- Getting your friends onboard is another challenge, but not insurmountable. A small proportion of my real-life acquaintances are on Mastodon or Signal. Even those that are there in name aren’t always active users. On Mastodon it feels like it doesn’t matter so much because I like engaging with interesting people and topics regardless of whether they’re people I know. But I must admit I would love to see FOSS social media becoming more popular.
What next?
The 30 day challenge is over, but I’ll definitely keep going with FOSS.
Signal, Organic Maps, Firefox and Mastodon are now firmly embedded in my life. I’m pretty confident I’ll stick with NetNewsWire too. The jury’s still out on Joplin.
I’m thinking of making some donations to FOSS projects as I realise servers etc cost money, and it feels like a nice gesture at the end of this month.
Some stuff I’m thinking of doing in the coming months:
- Getting my Raspberry Pi Zero W up and running with Linux
- Trying out local syncing with Syncthing
- Trying out open source email and cloud storage services (are Fastmail and Proton good options?)
- Testing LibreOffice in place of Microsoft Office for work projects
- Trying Meshtastic for local communications via LoRa
Shifting to FOSS takes time. I think I’ll continue this journey at a slower pace, hopefully sharing my progress on this blog. Blogging has been helpful as a reference point and to help keep on track, as well as talking to others in the FOSS community.
Lastly, a big thank you to all who’ve offered ideas and support, notably Nix and Dave Clubb.
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