I wish this post could do more.
All I’m hoping to do here is this: in six steps, I’ll take you through a process of making the software you use every day less US-centric. When we’re done, your computer will still be able to do almost everything it used to do – but you won’t be using as many tools made in the USA to do it.
Disclaimers
Yes, this post is political. Everything is political.
Yes, this post focuses too much on individual tools; it doesn’t mention collective strategies or the bigger picture at all.
Yes, I’ve tested and used every tool I’m recommending here.
No, you won’t get 100% like-for-like functionality.
No, you don’t have to follow each step.
No, not every feature I’m recommending is 100% free.
Day 1: change your browser to Vivaldi
Staying in the comfort zone of your default browser is easy. Google knows this and wants you to keep using Chrome. Microsoft knows this and wants you to keep using Edge. For as long as you do, you help these two American companies learn more about how you browse and use the web.
Good news, though: switching to Vivaldi is free and easy. Vivaldi is Chromium-based. This probably means that you’re still not 100% free from Google’s surveillance – but Vivaldi is a browser that blocks many ads and trackers out of the box, so the Big Brother effect is diminished a little.
Vivaldi is a European company, and their browser – on every device I’ve used – works just like Chrome (sometimes better and faster). The setup wizard will help you migrate your bookmarks and web history from your old browser, too. If you want to install extensions, then Chrome extensions will work just fine.
This is the simplest, most pain-free way of starting this journey. Search “Vivaldi Browser” and download it, then install it and make it your default browser.
Enjoying it so far? Great. Let’s move on.
Day 2: switch your search engine to Ecosia
Your search engine is still your main tool to make sense of the web. Businesses on the web know this: that’s why you see ads in your search results.
On this one, I’ve got bad news and good news. The bad news is that it’s incredibly hard to break the monopoly of Microsoft and Google on search results and search ads. The good news is that some companies are trying nonetheless. Today, you’re switching to one of them.
Ecosia was founded in Germany, and their main product these days is the Ecosia browser. It works just like Google and Bing – in fact, these are two of its main search result providers. The difference is that the profits that Ecosia gets from your ad clicks go towards planting trees around the world.
When you switch to Ecosia, you will still get tracked, and you will still see ads. And when you click these ads, Microsoft or Google will still benefit. But part of their profit will no longer go to America – it will help plant a tree somewhere. And your internet browsing habits will be a tiny bit more private.
Ecosia is also working behind the scenes to build something called the European Search Index. The ambition here is to rely on Bing and Google even less in the future. Until this happens, here’s what you can do:
Go to Ecosia.org and look for a button that says “Switch to Ecosia”. Follow the instructions on your screen. You will also need to “whitelist” Ecosia if you are using any ad blockers – adverts in search results are how they stay profitable.
There are other good search engines out there, but I find that Ecosia is the sweet spot between getting good results, low learning curve, and a step away from US-centric grip on everything you type into that search box. Plus, you get to plant trees, that’s pretty cool!
Day 3: switch your file backups to Koofr
I was so happy when I found Koofr. On some of my projects, I’ve had to switch from a PC to a Linux and then to an Android tablet, and to an old Android phone… while working with the same set of files. Keeping it all in sync was tricky.
Koofr does everything that Dropbox can – but the company isn’t American, their servers are all in Germany. All the apps work well, and all my files sync in an instant. There’s a free tier and a set of paid plans to choose from. At the time of writing, you get 10GB for free.
So here’s what you can do on day 3 of our “Uninstall America” project: sign up for the free tier and download Koofr on all your devices. Then, start backing up all your important files from your computer. This will come in handy in a day or two.
By doing so, you’re taking your file storage away from the US. You are switching your business to a non-American company. No solution is ever 100% secure, but Koofr is just as safe and just as easy to use as Dropbox, or any similar American clone.
While your files are backing up… let’s get ready for the next day.
Day 4: switch your AI workflow to Mistral AI
If you’re not into AI, you can skip this step. Heck, I would skip this step: I avoid AI like the plague. But I’m very much online when I work, and I build stuff for learners who are very much online, too. This means I need to at least know what AI is / isn’t capable of.
The ambition for Copilot, ChatGPT, Gemini and the like is to replace the search engine (and several other pieces of software). That’s why you see AI pushed everywhere. The endgame for these companies is simple: to keep you in their walled garden, where your attention and habits can be monetized.
For many of these businesses, this is the Next Big Thing. So switching away from an American AI to a non-American AI is more powerful than it sounds. That’s what we’re doing today.
Mistral AI is a French company. It offers several ways to make use of their AI tools – just like the other American counterparts. One of the more recognizable ways to use it is their chatbot – called, of course, Le Chat (vague gesturing with a Gauloise cigarette).
Le Chat has paid and free tiers, and in the time I’ve used it, it did just as well as ChatGPT on the simple tasks I’ve put to it. It can also help you with documents or do some image generation. You will run into a paywall if you use these tools more intensively, though.
So let’s use this day for switching away from American AIs, shall we? Simply go to lechat.mistral.ai to begin. You can set up an account for free, and then – well, do whatever it is you usually use your AI to do!
There are other Mistral products for other uses – there’s a coding engine too, for example – but I’ve never tried these. I hope you enjoy Le Chat enough to stick with it.
Whether the AI stage was for you or not, we’re heading for the last two days of our journey away from American software. Get ready for the hard yards.
Day 5: switch your email, calendar, and docs to Proton
Gmail is how Google learns about you so quickly: your messages are scanned to create an “image” of what you do, where you travel, and how you write. Office and Outlook is how Microsoft wins the business game, and – sure enough – when your files are in the cloud, their Copilot can make itself appear indispensable.
If you’re not comfortable with the fact that American businesses can access your work and your messages to learn about your every day – you’re not alone. The good news is that some solutions exist to help you uninstall American software from that bit of your life.
Proton AG is a Swiss company which has been offering Proton Mail for several years now. Recently, they began rolling out more products. At the time of writing, their data centres are in Switzerland, Germany, and Norway.
Proton Mail is the main player here – but along with it, you will also get access to Proton Calendar and Docs / Sheets (word processing and spreadsheets). There’s more, but I’ll let you discover this for yourself.
There is a free plan to start with. The storage is limited, but you do get access to all the tools you need to start with: mail, calendar, and drive with docs and sheets. You can also download apps for most major operating systems. If there isn’t one for you – it all works just as well in the browser.
So here’s a big task for you today: sign up for Proton’s free account, and start taking a good look around. Maybe don’t rush into migrating everything just yet. Moving your email addresses and workflows away from where they used to be takes time.
Once you do, though, an important thing will happen. Your messages, meetings and documents will no longer be instantly available to American companies. And that means you will start becoming less knowable to them, and less monetizable, too.
If this was worth the effort, take a deep breath, please – the last day is a doozy.
Day 6: switch your operating system to Zorin OS
Suddenly, you’re all yelling at me.
The Windows folks are shouting that they need to stay on Windows to run Program X and Game Y, and that other operating systems are ugly and obscure.
The Linux crowd are spitting out their coffee and screaming something about how Their Linux is better than Zorin because [jargon jargon].
And normally, I’d give up now. Look, we’ve done so well. Your browser is not American. Search engine: ditto. Your files are sat on a non-American server and your emails are Swiss-tier safe while you chat with a French AI. I should take the win and leave it at that, right?
No, listen. The OS is the endgame: the final boss. It’s also the secret level, though: having access to another operating system is the gateway to a new way of thinking about computers. (No time to explain more: read Neal Stephenson’s In the Beginning… Was the Command Line to see what I mean).
Zorin is a flavour of Linux made in Ireland. It is based on Ubuntu, which is a very popular and stable way of making user-friendly Linux distributions.
Zorin can be installed alongside your Windows installation. This means that your computer can be a Windows machine or a Linux machine: you decide each time you start it up.
There is a premium version of Zorin which you get to pay for, and a free tier for personal use. There are also versions for education, and older or “Lite” versions for computers which aren’t that new any more.
And finally – Zorin was made to look and feel just like Windows. It even tries really hard to make your games and Windows apps work – and mostly, does that well.
If you are ready to take that step, search for “Install Zorin OS”. Bookmark that page, or print it out, you will need it later. You will also need a clean USB drive. The website will take you through the installation, step by step.
You will be able to run Zorin from your USB drive to try it out, and then install it the way you want.
Having access to another operating system means you begin to realise there’s more than one way of working with your computer. And this step means you’re moving away from American operating systems towards something more open and free.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed reading through this post, and I really hope you followed through on some steps I’ve listed here. For each step of the way, other solutions exist. I’ve only listed the ones I’ve tried and loved.
Have fun uninstalling America!
(Image credit: Sinem Görücü / https://betterimagesofai.org / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
