*.*.* Software I use *.*.*

Below I have compiled a list of free, open-source software that I use 
daily. I feel this is a good way to spread the word, since most of the 
time FOSS does not rely on advertising or marketing but rather word of 
mouth.

==WATERFOX BROWSER==

Waterfox is a fork of Mozilla firefox that seeks to remove all telemetry 
and provide a better user experience. For a short time I avoided them due 
to a deal with System1, however they have since switched back to being 
fully independent and have been verified to collect no data on the user. 
The browser itself does have opt-in automatic updates however which I 
prefer to leave enabled. It is based on Firefox ESR, so it still gets 
regular security updates. Another bonus is that if like me, you despise 
the Firefox Proton UI, Waterfox is pre-compiled with the old Firefox UI 
style with the squared tabs and UX.

URL: https://www.waterfox.net/

==NICOTINE / SOULSEEK==

Nicotine is a client for the peer to peer file sharing service Soulseek. 
It uses the GTK user interface, and allows you to share a selected folder 
of files for others to download whilst having a very feature filled search 
page to download files from. As a bonus, it allows for more profile 
customisation than the original soulseek client. 

URL: https://nicotine-plus.org/ https://www.slsknet.org

==LEMMY==

Lemmy is an open source and free link aggregator that is federated with 
the ActivityPub protocol. It gained popularity after Reddit started paid 
plans for their API which drew users away from the site, and has now 
gained even more users totalling over a million after Reddit announced 
plans to sell user post and comment data to be used to train artificial 
intellegence. You can choose any Lemmy instance / website to sign up on 
that aligns with your interests or values, and use that one account to 
communicate across all websites running Lemmy.

URL: https://lemmy.ml/ https://join-lemmy.org/

==PROTON VPN (& Mail)==

Proton is a more private alternative to the Google suite of applications. 
They are open source and have been audited 3 times. I use their VPN and 
email services, however they also offer calendar, cloud storage, and 
password manager services.

URL: https://proton.me/


*.*.* Closed Source *.*.*

Despite my love and preference of free and open source software, there are 
a couple things I use that do not follow this trend. Namely, after years 
of dual booting Windows on a Linux install, I ultimately decided to switch 
back to Windows in 2023. I found the amount of time I spent using it to 
run Ableton / Fruityloops as well as certain games just made Linux not 
worth it anymore. That being said, I hardened this operating system to 
hell to make it private, which is very time consuming but well worth it. 
Though its sad to go through this much effort just to be sure Windows is 
not watching what you're doing.

I also use MusicBee as my music player as it is by far the most 
customisable player I have ever had the joy of using, and unlike 
Clementine, it is maintained. That being said, it is closed source, though 
it has been seen as trustworthy for the greater part of a decade, so use 
your discretion if you want to try it.