I don’t use Apple and Adobe anymore

This video about my transition from proprietary software and hardware to Open Source software is one of the most viewed ones I have ever posted on the internet.

Switching all of my workflows to Open Source is an long-term, ongoing project. It all started with a broken laptop in 2019 which I have repaired by installing a Linux Operating System called Ubuntu. Since then, I slowly removed the software and hardware of companies I do not trust. And I have learned that there are incredible open source alternatives.

I think that many people sabotage their own opportunities to enter this space by adopting a purist mindset, an all-or-nothing mentality. This frustrated me quite some time myself, but I have learned to approach this project iteratively and remain aware that there is no definitive end to this journey.

My goal is not to show people how to become hermits; I will never move into the forest and live on grapes and mushrooms (I promise). My goal is to encourage people to take action and look at the alternatives that are on the table.

Ultimately, there is so much to gain, especially for us designers: we as creatives underestimate ourselves; the potential of design for a better future can only truly unfold when we courageously engage with the true structures of the technology. That’s also what programming teaches us.

Our anxiety-driven frenzy in the fast lane makes us unable to recognize where we actually are. Open source is an invitation to leave the highway and discover something completely new on side roads and rural paths.

Digital technology is the core driver of history in these times. Now is the time to use the resources of design in the broadest sense to create the kinds of technologies that we want to live with.

I want to act as a scout or explorer here and tell you about what I have discovered beyond the horizon. My upcoming book will be all about that.

Now today, I want to share a list of tools I use to make my work happen.

Tool or Purpose	What I have used before	My Substitute	Mood
Laptop / Workstation	Apple Macbook Pro	Used Laptops for max 1000,- €	❤️ Happy
Operating System	Apple Mac OS	Debian, Ubuntu (both Linux-based)	I love it!
Video Editing	Adobe Premiere, FinalCut	KDEnlive, FFMPEG	😺 happy
Photo Editing	Adobe Photoshop, Affinity	Gimp	😺 happy
Note Taking	Notion	Obsidian, Markdown	✔️ Transitioned
Web Development	Visual Studio Code	/	🤔 Not happy yet
Animation	Adobe After Effects	Processing, p5.js	😺 Very happy
E-Mail	Apple Mail, Outlook	Mozilla Thunderbird	😺 Very happy
Surfing the web	Chrome, Safari, Edge	Firefox	😺 Very happy
Messaging	WhatsApp	Signal	😺 happy, but its slow, many people don’t use Signal
Writing Text	Notion, Google Docs, Word	Obsidian, Markdown, LibreOffice	😺 happy
Social Media / Sharing my Work	Instagram	Mastodon	This is my weakest spot. I feel professionally very dependent to Instagram. Mastodon works well, but too few people use it
Search Engine	Google	DuckDuckGo, Ecosia	😺 Very happy
AI Assistance	ChatGPT	Mistral Le Chat 🇪🇺	😺 happy
Vector Graphics	Adobe Illustrator	/	Not happy yet
Calendar	Google Calendar	Paper calendar	Happy ❤️
Cloud	Dropbox	Small SSD, a solid backup pracitce still Dropbox for shared Files, a NAS	It works fine
Smartphone	iPhone	Fairphone 6 with /e/os	I love it
Navigation	Google Maps	Maps /e/os	It’s sometimes a pain
Video Messaging	Google Meet	Zoom	It’s okay.

To be continued…