Ask HN: Balancing privacy, openness and usability in personal computing?
For context, I have used a variety of operating systems in the past (Android, iOS, Windows, Mac OS X, and various flavors of Linux). I'm currently using Android, iPadOS and Windows.
The way I see it, there are today three OS combinations/ecosystems in personal computing:
- Google (Android) + Microsoft (Windows). This ecosystem is terrible for privacy; I find myself constantly looking for ways to reduce my dependence on Google's services.
- Apple (iOS + macOS). This ecosystem is still not very private, but it's an order of magnitude better than Google's [1]. However, the walls of the walled garden are very high (no ability to sideload apps, no browser extensions in non-Safari browsers).
- FLOSS (Linux + Google-less Android distribution). This is the golden standard for both privacy and openness, far outstripping Google and Apple. However, installing software such as paid smartphone apps is impossible, and there is no good alternative to Chromecast/AirPlay.
In other words, Google's ecosystem is lacking privacy, Apple's is lacking openness, and the FLOSS ecosystem is lacking usability. This has caused me quite a bit of distress as I find myself lacking a good direction to take my personal computing in.
How is everyone on HN dealing with this dilemma?
[1] Leith, D. J. (2021, September). Mobile Handset Privacy: Measuring The Data iOS and Android Send to Apple And Google. URL: https://www.scss.tcd.ie/doug.leith/apple_google.pdf