i am not looking to manipulate or convince anybody, just something informative in general, like “this is the bigtech world, this is the open source / selfhosted world.” any good knowledge bases, blogs, youtube channels and alike that you would recommend? the less technical, the better. it’s not about “how to install this and that” but rather “what do i need this and that for, what are the advantes and what are the downsides”. also, are there resources like that in your language (if you or your people are not english native speakers)?
also very interested in anything else you have to share regarding your personal selfhosting experience and how it may or may not affect those around you.
i’ll start: in my own experience, there are so many other things going on in people’s life, that i understand are far more important than whether their todo list is stored on their own disk or in some other part of the world. especially in the beginning, going open source / selfhosted does often feel like losing comfort, only to be left with more to take care about in return. so getting started as a non-technical person seems incredibly difficult. another thing that comes to mind is, yes i could do the selfhosting for related people and friends, and yes they would trust me with some of their data – but no i don’t want that. not because i am not willing to help, but i honestly don’t want to have access to their data, it just doesn’t feel correct.
thanks for your inputs and have a nice weekend!
You know [Burger chain]? Self hosting is making your own burger. Kinda similar ingredients, kinda looking product overall, it’s still a burger.
But you’re in control.
And the one you make at home is always better anyway. Just requires more labor.
“You pay for how many streaming services??? You could start building a decent DVD/BRD collection that you own forever.”
“Yea but I hate swapping disks and I watch on my phone.”
“Gather around, let me tell you the story of a fin made of jelly.”
I just tell people “It’s free and I don’t get twenty thousand ‘license term updates’ in my email every month”
You know Google drive? You know how it doesn’t work when the internet is out? You know how we live in rural USA so the internet is out every other day?
Yeah that computer in the corner is my own Google drive that still works when the internet is out.
Long ago I learned to stop convincing people to stop shooting themselves in the foot.
Coward. I always convince them to shoot themselves in the foot.
More seriously, I don’t think I will ever stop. It may not change their life significantly and immediately, but that’s not necessary. Even if it makes them just be aware, that’s enough sometimes to make a positive change. I’m all about that. The least we should do i lose hope. It’s not that black and white.
Just link them the story of a Dad getting locked out of his Google account after sending a picture of his child to the Doctor as part of remote care.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/aug/22/google-csam-account-blocked
The point being they can fuck up your life on a whim and don’t care about the harm they will cause because your one out of millions.
I say, I don’t pay for Netflix, but I’m able to stream whatever I want. I do the same with books. And audiobooks.
I don’t.
I think selfhosting should be as normal as owning a car and as easy as using a phone. It’s because I think people should run the internet, not billionaires.
I just tell them I run a private cloud. It’s so much easier because they understand in general “cloud equals internet”
Like a cab, but it’s your car and you take care of everything.
If you need a car only once a year when going to the airport, a cab will be cheaper. If you need to go somewhere at least once a week, driving your own car will be cheaper. Likewise, if you need only a little bit of cloud storage for your photos, free iCloud or Google Drive might be fine. If you need a whole lot of storage, self-hosting becomes cheaper.
When you take a cab, do you need to worry about maintenance, gasoline, insurance, or other things? No. The same goes for cloud storage. When you throw your photos on Google Drive, you don’t need to worry about electricity bills, security updates, or hardware maintenance.
When you drive your own car, you need to be a responsible driver and a car owner. Maintenance is your responsibility. Likewise, self-hosting means you need to be a responsible server admin.
-
I like to own the stuff I buy.
-
I don’t want to pay a corporation a monthly fee to access my own data.
-
I don’t want a corporation or government to have unlimited access to my stuff.
-
I just explain how when you watch Netflix, you use their computers, that’s why it costs money. You could just use your own computer at home but it takes some setup.
I don’t have to worry about price increases or media being removed unannounced because a license expired.
I have the physical media here or at my parents place.
I have my own server, at home.
