These are wild times indeed. Everyone knew that 2025 would be a demanding year. But did anyone order such a wild ride? There is something almost masochistic about my morning routine,
setting myself up in front of the PC with a cup of breakfast coffee to work through the news. Currently, Spiegel is reporting that Vance is visiting Greenland as a friend. American sources, on the other hand, suggest that the trip is on the verge of cancellation because the population is not ready to welcome the "horror couple." After all, which hotel would want to host a representative of a foreign country when the management knows the guest is threatening the Prime Minister while MAGA cap photos are being staged in-house? In recent days, even grimmer news has been rolling in. Signal-Gate was one of those stories.
As Europeans, however, we should once again be grateful. Putin was able to feign friendship for many years. The new US administration doesn't even try. These people truly seem to hate us. If you put yourself in their position, their resentment is almost understandable. The USA holds the military power, but the EU writes the rules for the global market by setting standards that benefit consumers. For the self-image of fascists, this is an untenable situation. Furthermore, for many Republicans, anyone in Europe to the left of the AfD is a communist. Their criticism of our freedom of speech and the press is pure mockery, considering that Trump labeled criticism of Tesla as treason. There are currently fears that Trump intends to declare martial law on Hitler's birthday (April 20th) to counteract the fentanyl epidemic—officially, at least. Free elections and freedom of the press would then be history in the US. We could all become victims of the CLOUD Act (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act), if we aren't already. The CLOUD Act allows US authorities to access data stored on servers regardless of whether those servers are located in the US or abroad. Passed in 2018, it expands the powers of US intelligence agencies to access communication data of non-US citizens, standing in connection with mass surveillance and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
This should change our attitude toward many US-based providers. Our surfing habits, hobbies, location, Wi-Fi access, bank accounts, and passwords are none of the US intelligence services' business. The data, images, and texts on my hard drive belong to me, and I do not want to grant Microsoft access to feed their AI. It is therefore time to look for alternatives that are currently more secure and meet European data protection standards.
Windows
Microsoft will end support for Windows 10 in October 2025. Security updates will then only be available for companies willing to pay extra. Everyone else, for whom an upgrade to Windows 11 is not possible, will be forced to purchase a new PC.
Alternatives:
Most devices that communicate with the internet have been running on Linux for decades—be it servers, modems, printers, or an increasing number of PCs. Linux is not inherently more secure than Windows; security vulnerabilities appear here regularly as well. However, due to the massive community, these are usually found and patched quickly. Nevertheless, caution is advised when opening unknown files, even though most viruses are written for Windows and have no effect on a Linux PC.
Willing switchers don't have to give up much. Microsoft Office definitely does not run on Linux. If you are dependent on this specific software, Linux might not be for you. Lexware, for example, also does not offer its software for Linux. Hardcore gamers might also find Linux isn't their first choice yet, although the selection via the Steam platform is constantly growing. Driver support for graphics cards, especially the latest generation, isn't perfect under Linux, and Wi-Fi USB sticks are often not plug-and-play. Those are the main disadvantages. Generally, there is a mostly free alternative for every Windows program that can be tested on Windows before making the switch: Photoshop – Gimp, Microsoft Office – LibreOffice. Regarding browsers, every major browser is available except for Microsoft Edge or Safari. I enjoy using the Brave browser, which is based on Chrome. Vivaldi and Firefox are also available. For emails, there is the established Thunderbird, though I prefer Evolution. In the past, installing and setting up Linux was a major hurdle. Today, the installation menu is self-explanatory. Network devices like printers and scanners are detected automatically and don't require manual installation. My wife was recently surprised when I told her that her PC has been running Linux; she hadn't noticed the difference since 2020.
For those looking to switch, Linux Mint is a great option. Like all Linux distributions, you can safely try it out on your PC without having to install it.
Your Phone
Going to an anti-Tesla protest today and taking your phone along? Then Google or Apple will know! Turning off data while you're at the demo as a precaution? Your device can still receive GPS data and send it at the next opportunity. And no one can guarantee that this function is truly deactivated even when you turn the device off. If you want to ensure that no one in America finds out about your engagement against Musk, leave your phone at home. Our constant companion knows everything about us—our habits, passwords, and bank details—and our dependency continues to grow as new features are added.
Alternatives
They exist, but they aren't suitable for everyone. Fairphones have been on the market for a while and can run on Linux-based operating systems. Unfortunately, these operating systems cannot be installed on all phones, and Fairphones are more expensive than most standard devices.
Search Engines
For many years, Google delivered the best search results. With increasing success and the pressure to generate massive profits, results became less accurate because advertisers are prioritized at the top. Google analyzes search queries and assigns them to a user profile. After a while, Google knows our preferences and political leanings. The sum of all queries—even those that seem insignificant—creates a complete picture, so the company now knows us better than we know ourselves.
Alternatives:
... are now a dime a dozen, and some deliver truly good results. It's worth taking a look, especially at those based in Europe.
-
Ecosia: https://www.ecosia.org -
Qwant: https://www.qwant.com
-
Startpage: https://www.startpage.com
-
Good Search: https://www.good-search.org
Qwant also offers a search engine for children, which I have set up as the default search engine for the children here at our school: https://www.qwantjunior.com/
If you own a server, you can install SearXNG. SearXNG is a free and open-source metasearch engine derived from Searx. SearXNG supports over 70 different search engines and, like Searx, does not collect information about users.
Videos
Unfortunately, there is currently no significant alternative to the industry leader YouTube—unless you only want to watch adult content. Technically, those portals achieve the same as YouTube, which makes me wonder why there is no European counterpart yet. PeerTube could be mentioned here, but the selection is still very limited. None of the services I know can match the functional scope of YouTube. However, I have learned that the EU is working on an alternative based on Peer-to-Peer technology. While this reduces costs, it brings several disadvantages. Here, European public broadcasters would be called upon to set up a European server. To finance this, various local and niche channels could be consolidated. Furthermore, I have found out that the EU is working on a Facebook replacement. (Thanks Maria). We shall see.
Social Media
I had Facebook between 2008 and 2009. After that, the platform became too annoying for me. Alternatives exist, but they don't come close to Facebook's reach.
-
Xing: https://www.xing.com -
Mastodon: https://joinmastodon.org
-
Pixelfed: https://pixelfed.org
-
BeReal: https://bere.al
Office
This is where Microsoft makes a fortune. Unfortunately, even I must admit that Microsoft Office remains unsurpassed in its scope. For me, LibreOffice is perfectly sufficient. Students are often required to use Microsoft Office 365 Copilot, which automatically generates new generations of customers who get used to this software and are thus further tied to Windows. However, if you want to maintain data sovereignty while still needing to work on documents with Teams, you should look into Nextcloud and its extension OnlyOffice. Nextcloud is free for up to 15 accounts and is therefore suitable not only for families but also for small businesses looking to benefit from this great server solution "Made in Germany."
If you want to go searching for European alternatives yourself to free yourself from the grip of US data krakens, you can find information at https://european-alternatives.eu/ . It's worth it.
