I've recently moved from Gmail to Fastmail (which also has a calendar), and to MicroG + Yalp instead of Google Apps on my phone. Both have worked very well for me as privacy-conscious alternatives, with minimal hassle after the initial setup. I'm still using Google search, YouTube, and Chrome on the desktop, for lack of alternatives I've gotten along with, but that's about it. I'm very happy how much less of my data that exposes to Google, but at the same time, it does still feel like a bit of a pyrrhic victory.
I've been mostly Google free for a while now, other than for some work stuff where I have to access some Google Apps docs. I also still use YouTube because that's where lot of the content still is sadly. What I'm using instead:<p>- Search: DuckDuckGo, occasionally Bing<p>- Phone: Windows Phone, pre ordered a Purism Librem 5<p>- Browser: mostly Firefox and Brave, Edge on mobile and occasionally on desktop<p>- Maps: Bing Maps (occasionally resort to Google Maps tho)<p>- Email: ProtonMail<p>- Calendar: Outlook.com, but I still use Google Calendar for some things<p>- Cloud storage and backup: Dropbox and OneDrive
YouTube is the most difficult service to break away from, simply because it has all the content - and more and more of my entertainment time is spent watching YouTube. I'm thinking YouTube was Google's most ingenious purchase.
What's with all the tinfoil hats? Google != Facebook.<p>Unpopular opinion perhaps, but I believe they use the information I share to enrich my user experience. It seems less about monetization and more about providing customized services.<p>What am I missing?
There are pretty complete alternatives to all Google services in mainland China, well, because the Great Firewall blocks Google. I doubt if anyone really want to move from Google to those Chinese alternatives though because privacy is even worse.
Does it sound odd that I've always been Google-free anyway? By virtue of being a Mac user. Search? Switched to DDG or Bing. I gave up Google Maps ages ago, using Bing/MS's map offering, and when Apple Maps came out I went to that. Email, has always been IMAP on servers I host myself.<p>I never even went down the Google rabbit hole like many of my friends did. It's curious how they claim Apple is so proprietary when they're using Android, Google Photos, Gmail, Google Maps, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Chat (or whatever it's called this week,) Google Music, Google Play, and maybe youTube, I mean Google TV.<p>The Apple ecosystem has been pretty good for me.