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--- degoogling [2025/10/05 22:45] – [Keep] link to note-taking programs page qlyoung
+++ degoogling [2026/05/19 03:49] (current) – [Google Drive] qlyoung
@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 Sometime around 2021 I began to feel that use of Google services constituted a grave threat to my digital sovereignty, and began slowly moving off of them.
-Here in 2024 I still have a Google account and probably will for the foreseeable future, because Google Fi and Google Fiber remain the best cell service and internet service providers, and you need a Google account to pay for them.
+Here in 2026 I still have a Google account and probably will for the foreseeable future, because Google Fi and Google Fiber remain the best cell service and internet service providers, and you need a Google account to pay for them.
 Today I use my Google account for five things:
   * As an OAuth identity for services that require one - literally just Tailscale, I have replaced everything else with email-based accounts
-  * Filling out Google Forms - please stop using these folks, they often require a Google account
+  * Filling out Google Forms
+    * If you use these, please set them so they don't require a Google account
   * Access to shared Google Photos albums
   * Google Fi (cell service)
   * Google Fiber (internet)
-Despite these limited use cases, which are all provided for free with a personal-tier Google account, I still have to pay for Google Suite ($8/month). Why? Because years ago when I wanted to use a custom domain on my Gmail account, I started paying for Google Suite to enable this functionality. When you do this, your Google account is converted from a "Personal" to a "Business" account. This is a one way transition. Once this happens, if you stop paying for it, your level of services drops *below* that offered to a free personal Google account. So unless I want to completely disable my Google account (spoilers: I do, but not yet) I have to continue to pay Google, because they don't offer a downgrade path.
+Despite these limited use cases, which are all provided for free with a personal-tier Google account, I still have to pay for Google Suite ($8/month). Why? Because years ago when I wanted to use a custom domain on my Gmail account, I started paying for Google Suite to enable this functionality. When you do this, your Google account is converted from a "Personal" to a "Business" account. This is a one way transition. Once this happens, if you stop paying for it, your level of services drops *below* that offered to a free personal Google account. So until I am ready to completely disable my Google account, I have to pay Google because they don't offer a downgrade path.
 Below I share what I have replaced various Google services with.
 ----
+===== Replacements =====
 ==== Gmail ====
@@ Line 25: / Line 28: @@
 ==== Search ====
-I now pay for [[https://kagi.com/|Kagi]].
+I pay for [[https://kagi.com/|Kagi]].
 ==== Google Drive ====
-This is a tough one. I have replaced Google Drive with a combination of the following
+Gdrive has many uses. Replacing it means replacing each function.
+=== File sharing ===
+Tried and rejected:
+  * [[https://www.filestash.app/|Filestash]] - kept running out of space on cloud VMs, S3 integration setup is a little scary, software buggy
+  * [[https://nextcloud.com/|Nextcloud]] - I use this on my intranet, but it's too heavy to host a separate public instance just for filesharing
+  * [[https://github.com/magic-wormhole/magic-wormhole|magic wormhole]] - works, but people don't want to install programs to receive files and the mobile story is bad. shout out [[https://rymdport.github.io/|rymdport]] for favorite client.
+  * [[https://syncthing.net/|Syncthing]] - Sync programs are not designed for unidirectional file transfer and don't work well for that purpose
+I now pay for Dropbox. Upload to folder, share link. Sometimes you just gotta pay and move on.
+=== Cloud storage ===
+Okay, "cloud storage" is not really a function. There's two main reasons we use personal cloud storage:
+  - So that we can store files in one logical "place" and then access them from any device
+  - To save space on our devices
-  * For files shared only among my own devices, I use a [[personal_infrastructure#storage|storage array]] on my home server mounted on all my devices (yes, even iPhone) via Samba
+There's other reasons, mostly to do with reliability engineering, but those are the main two.
-  * For files shared to others, I self host Filestash on my [[personal_infrastructure#public|cloud VM]], but this isn't ideal because of space limitations on the VM disk. Similar issue with Nextcloud. Recently (yesterday) I started using [[https://github.com/magic-wormhole/magic-wormhole|magic wormhole]] for p2p transfers and really like it. I have tried Syncthing but it's too hard to use for most people and is geared towards syncing and not transfers. Wormhole has [[https://rymdport.github.io/|GUI clients]] that are usable by plebeians.
+TL;DR I now use [[tiered storage]]; what little need I have for internet-attached storage is now met by my home server, which has a lot of storage and is always accessible via tailscale. More on that in [[personal infrastructure]].
 ==== Google Photos ====

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