Manifest Big Tech Alternatieven: Wat moet er beter - Bert Hubert's writings
a day ago
- User experience and ease of use are critical; open source or European origins do not earn leniency if the product is less polished than big tech alternatives.
- Offer services (SaaS) with full support, onboarding, and training, not just software that users must self-host.
- Avoid mimicking American big tech's privacy-invasive practices (tracking, cookies, shady conditions); build privacy-first solutions.
- Have real-world experience in the domain your software targets; understand existing workflows and pain points.
- Know the features of incumbent big tech solutions thoroughly before claiming to replace them; underpromise and overdeliver.
- Address necessary but unglamorous aspects: backups, archiving, compliance (e.g., ISO 27001), accessibility, and multilingual support.
- Ensure high quality, robust monitoring, security teams, and protection against account takeovers and DoS attacks.
- Invest in sales, marketing, and professional branding; make it easy for users to start with demos and frictionless sign-up.
- Collaborate across organizations, have a clear business model, and clarify ownership to prevent acquisition by big tech.
- Stay true to open values: data portability, inclusivity, and building on existing open source components.