After MUCH trial and error I’ve found a way that works for me to degoogle any phone without root or a custom ROM.
I use the universal android debloater to uninstall all Google apps including play services, play store, default dialer, SMS app, files, camera, launcher, etc. If it’s from Google, I don’t trust it.
Basically I search for “Google” in the tool and remove everything that shows up, except for apps in the Unsafe category (those are core parts of Android like package installer, network stack, permissions system, etc).

The removed apps are replaced with alternatives from F-Droid. I use the entire Simple Mobile Tools suite, Fennec, Organic Maps, and K-9 Mail.
All my messenger apps (Signal, Telegram, Threema) receive push notifications without Play Services if you install them AFTER degoogling.
Location fix is slower than with Google, but good enough for using it as a GPS while driving.
Many apps that require Play Services can be replaced by Fennec web apps.
All in all, functionality is more basic than with Google, but I actually like it that way.
The only thing I’m genuinely missing is Gboard.

I use an unrooted Android phone without a Google account, any Google apps, Google Play Services or the Play Store.
And it works perfectly fine.
The userland is there, it’s just generally less convenient and feature-rich than what Google offers, and disabling the Google stuff is an extra step that is far beyond what normal people want to deal with.

Are you losing a race if you sit at home and ignore it?

Wait, I thought all countries followed US laws???

If you don’t notice an issue, there is no reason to replace the battery.
But if Google now puts a fat “your battery needs to be replaced” notification, those users who didn’t even notice an issue are driven to buy a new phone out of fear their phone will explode.

If you give users the choice to opt out, all the privacy-focussing communities won’t be searchable.
What if someone who opts out posts a comment and someone who opts in answers?
The Fediverse is public, a search engine doesn’t show anything that isn’t already open for anyone to see.

Everything you post on the Fediverse is public.
If you don’t want to show up in an internet search, post your stuff on your private server and only give access to the people you want to invite.

Counterpoint: Their code just wasn’t salient enough.

In the 20s or the 60s you wouldn’t have been able to afford a flight at all.
And if you’re rich enough that you could, then you can book an “adventurous” flight today, too.

The network admins didn’t write enough lines of code and were all fired.

They don’t think it’s worthwhile to devote manpower to testing whether the anticheat engine works reliably on Linux. If Linux users can circumvent it, it ruins the fun for the majority of users. The safer option is to cut out 2% of the market.

not something a single dev would be able to easily do.

More importantly, not something a Linux dev can do. At this point it’s a decision by the game publishers to actively block the game from running on Linux

Vendor support, which is something you can’t fix. I’m sick of having to use a Windows VM to connect a device running Linux to my PC running Linux.

In all other aspects, Windows is so much worse, which I’ve just recently noticed again while installing Windows 11 inside a VM without creating a Microsoft account. It gets harder with each update. Now you have to add a custom key with 3 Dwords to the registry of the installer, manually launch an exe from a subfolder of system32 and cut off internet access to do it.

No. The story would revolve around an intergalactic war started over a teenage girl’s feet.

But it’s a good yardstick to measure the news you’re reading. Always ask yourself:
“Are they reporting on something that happened? If yes, do they say who’s seen it happen?”

Way too many “news stories” nowadays boil down to “some no-one posted something on X about something they haven’t themselves witnessed”.

They can only keep spending 1000x as much as their opponent for so long.

We’re talking about Houthi rebels vs. the USA, so that statement might be wrong.

I want a phone with vanilla Android, no OEM crapware, and a 4" screen.
The first 2 points I can do myself with ADB (I just hope it stays that way) but small screens are probably forever gone. The only option left is Unihertz, but the only phone I ever bought from them didn’t work that well.

Every Alien has a plan until Will Smith punches them in the face

• Roland Emmerich

Since whisky is always made of grain, it would be any whisky made in Scotland.

You’re completely wrong, but at least you’re confident.

There’s quite a few regulations to be met if you want to legally sell your whisky as Scotch, including the type and shape of your still, which grains you can use, the wood for your casks, the aging process, and who owns the business.

Why isn’t the fork on F-Droid instead of the “original”?