My way of rebelling against techbros and autocrats:
December 2024: quit all Big Tech platforms and start #selfhosting essential services
December 2025: write guides for newbies about how to self-host
I'm also in discussion with a blogger I admire to start a podcast about tech... where we'll focus on solutions (instead of problems)... aiming to inspire others to join in...
It's been a really heavy year but these little acts of rebellion give me hope ✨
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Andy Carolan
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •I would love to move from a lot of the big tech services that I use.
The likes of Adobe CC, Webflow and Intuit are destroying me with the price increases. But they are all essential for my work.
Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Andy Carolan • • •Andy Carolan
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •I have looked into it on a few occasions, and was close to moving to Affinity. But then Canva bought them.
I remember you saying about AE. It's definitely most people's go-to app for that kind of thing.
Even between just Adobe, Webflow and Quickbooks, I'm paying over £100 a month 😩
Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Andy Carolan • • •@andycarolan £100 a month for these three?!?! OMGGGGGGGGG 😱
This is precisely why I switched to Pixelmator Pro for graphics and DaVinci Resolve for video editing.
These prices are extortionate!!!
iloo
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to iloo • • •@Iloo thanks! Most people on the Fediverse will already be familiar with privacy and FOSS tools we'll recommend. But we think the podcast could be great for Fedi people's spouses, parents, siblings, cousins and friends who think that adopting these tools is "too hard" or "too time consuming".
Oh and the cherry on top is that we plan to use @Castopod for it 🤗
Amir Khan
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •I’m doing that for my family, in-laws, parents, friends and neighbours.
Will certainly tune them to such a podcast if I will provide non techies the tool, tips, insights and most importantly the courage to take the first steps themselves or purchase managed services from ethical providers.
Chris 🦑
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •François @Jura
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •EloPup
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Great idea 🙌🏻 !
I think a podcast could reach even more ppl, who rather listen to podcasts than reading longer blogs. Maybe even with guests sometimes 🤷🏻?
With your projects you’re not just giving yourself hope, but also others 😊 🚀
Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to EloPup • • •Dimitar Stoev
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •I hope more and more people embrace open source and self hosting.
Unfortunately, most of the people don't care and bringing awareness is a great way to change minds. Good luck with the podcast. Will check it out.
Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Dimitar Stoev • • •@stoev thank you! and trust me, we all struggle convincing friends and family to adopt FOSS or privacy-focused tools. I struggle daily!
I'm just hoping our podcast could spark conversations and do a gentle push for those who are curious... to take a leap of faith and try these tools 🥲
Ox1de
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Spirit
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •one of my biggest struggles is finding time for patch management. Does Yuno host make patching Mastodon a simple "update" button?
I appreciate your work bringing attention to these projects keep it up 👍
Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Spirit • • •@Spirit they regularly release updates that are super fast and easy to install... at the click of a button. Bonus: they automatically back up apps before running an update, so if anything goes wrong you can restore things.
Disclaimer: smooth updates for me so far this year, I never had to restore anything
doubledealer
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Amir Khan
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •your departure from big tech and embrace of open source and foss mirrors my own personal journey also in timeline!
I’ve been planting the seeds to get my professional livelihood from ethical tech consulting so that’s my primary focus for the 1st quarter of the year. Then alongside I’ll continue with my mission of raising and helping regular people untangle themselves from big tech.
Disisdeguey🔻Pavlichenko🇵🇸
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Epic Null
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Bruce Ayati
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •The Cyberwitch
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •yep the cost and knowledge makes FOSS and self-hosting feel inaccessible to most. In the long run it definitely saves much more, but anything to make it feel like less of a hurdle to friends and family.
I say start with having them practice booting to USB and VMs, dip their toes in and build their confidence.
gnomulf
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to gnomulf • • •gnomulf
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Snake Oil Salesman
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Snake Oil Salesman • • •Heil Seitan
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Heil Seitan (@HielSeitan@mastodon.social)
Heil Seitan (Mastodon)ChookMother 🇦🇺🦘
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to ChookMother 🇦🇺🦘 • • •TarXZ
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •still no simple FTP server that doesn't require 287302723 different config files with 0xDEADBEEF command line options.
Honestly if a ftp server is more complicated than `ftpserver $HOME --write --read` then it is a failed one.
Blort™ 🐀Ⓥ🥋☣️
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Bonus points: Invite people who aren't technically savvy / motivated enough to selfhost, to use your services. You can be the agent of change for more people than just yourself! Maybe it can be your gift to them. Maybe they'd be happy to help you out with something they're good at.
#SelfHosting #MutualAid
justbob
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to justbob • • •alcinnz
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •My way of rebelling: Teach compsci whilst painting a positive vision for computing, to show how narrow-minded these powerful fools are!
And yes, I would check out your podcast.
Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to alcinnz • • •Mountain Mindset
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Mountain Mindset • • •Sylvia
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂ • • •Elena Rossini ⁂
in reply to Sylvia • • •