A large amount of FOSS development is influenced and/or controlled by large corporations.
To try and change this, we are fighting back. We have decided to create our own website, giving developers alternatives to privacy-invasive technologies: ReverseEagle Developers.
Our collaboration with the switching.software team led to the idea of providing developers with FOSS and ethical tooling. As the switching.software team have publically stated, their website is not solely designed for developers, but the end user.
Developers are the masterminds behind the software we use. Unfortunately, a lot of developers, sometimes unknowingly, rely on Google, Amazon or Microsoft services for their FOSS projects.
Why?
In many cases, proprietary software is more established. This could be because of financial support, historical relevance, or advertising.
One example that proves otherwise is Element (Riot), a FOSS Matrix client which outperforms Slack, a proprietary chat platform, with its privacy and security. So much so that the military trusts Element’s security for top-secret communications.
Another example is Plausible. A free, open-source analytics platform: ‘100% self-funded and independent’; privacy-friendly; lightweight. Plausible has outperformed the Google alternative, with its speed, simplicity and ease of use.
Element and Plausible are marvelous examples of how FOSS alternatives can outrun proprietary alternatives, with enough support from people like you.
We have a public task on our open project management board, which focuses on the development of ReverseEagle Developers and the contribution guideline to this project.
Anyone can get involved, including you!
The main repository for ReverseEagle Developers is on Framagit (a GitLab host).
So here is how you can help! We have written some info about contributing here. Anyone can view this and add their thoughts; everyone’s opinions are welcomed.
To get involved, you can create a Framagit account, and suggest alternatives in the issue above. If you are a developer, feel free to suggest your alternative!
Hopefully, with the support of you, we can improve the privacy of millions of FOSS projects, worldwide.