Marc-Uwe Kling (author of the Kangaroo Chronicles) launched "Digital Independence Day" at the 39C3 hacker congress: replace one US tech service with an independent alternative on the first Sunday of every month. A relaxed rebellion. One step at a time.
I took that as a prompt to rethink my video conferencing setup. Zoom works. No question. But I love the idea behind the Digital Independence Day. So I looked at seven European alternatives, both managed services and open source, and ran two Pugh decision matrices with 14 weighted criteria each. Zoom as baseline.
Two winners emerged. One, I have chosen.
Will my choice be perfect? No. Most participants won't know the name yet. But the same people once asked "What's Zoom?" and three weeks later it was the default.
Starting this month, I'll use it for my workshops and meetings. Field report to follow.
I documented my decision as an ADR so I can re-evaluate in 12 months. Let's see if my choice will work out.
"Der Netzwerkeffekt sind wir." (Linus Neumann, CCC)
If enough people switch, the alternative becomes the standard. Digital independence is not an all-or-nothing project. It's a path. One tool at a time.
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