Proton
Empowering you to choose a better internet where privacy is the default. Protect yourself online with Proton Mail, Proton VPN, Proton Calendar, Proton Drive. Proton Pass and SimpleLogin.
Proton Mail is the world's largest secure email provider. Swiss, end-to-end encrypted, private, and free.
Proton VPN is the world’s only open-source, publicly audited, unlimited and free VPN. Swiss-based, no-ads, and no-logs.
Proton Calendar is the world's first end-to-end encrypted calendar that allows you to keep your life private.
Proton Drive is a free end-to-end encrypted cloud storage that allows you to securely backup and share your files. It's open source, publicly audited, and Swiss-based.
Proton Pass Proton Pass is a free and open-source password manager which brings a higher level of security with rigorous end-to-end encryption of all data (including usernames, URLs, notes, and more) and email alias support.
SimpleLogin lets you send and receive emails anonymously via easily-generated unique email aliases.
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I remember when people thought offering VPN was a distraction from improving their email features.
This complaint is getting old.
If the prices don't go up, you have a point.
To someone who is/was interested in Proton's email service but not their VPN service this may still be a fair point though imo. I don't think it being a rehashed complaint here automatically invalidates it.
Not automatically, no.
But when a company roles out lots of new products that not everyone uses but many do, without abandoning development in their existing products? Yah, that complain gets tired, and I feel I'm justified in dismissing it out of hand.
It's old because it shows ignorance of the situation, and vast misunderstanding of how companies are run and things are made.
I'm waiting on a lot of things from Proton, mostly around them hiring more Linux Devs so they can flesh out that platform.
But that being said, they haven't said they aren't doing it, it just isn't happening on the timeline I want. So I'm good. If I'm ever not good with that I can choose to not renew.
Other products and features doesn't take away from my wish list. If they have 500 devs on staff and none of them are Linux experts, then them working on other projects doesn't take anything away from me, it only adds.
We've had consistent proof that they have no interest in Linux support though. The VPN and mail bridge are the only apps that work well. Proton Pass is barely an app and doesn't really work well at all (no biometric or polkit-based unlock, for example).
I think that conclusion is up for interpretation though. I mean, you could be right, but I wouldn't call anything proof.
They have not said, we don't want to support Linux. Or we never intend to support Linux. What they have said is that they lack Linux developers to flesh out their products on that platform.
They need more Linux devs, plain and simple. They don't have them and I will admit that is clearly not their priority.
The crux of the matter is their focus isn't on Linux. But not focusing on Linux is not the same as not supporting it.
Their clear focus is on Enterprise Business, quality privacy access for those that need it (be it journalists or oppressed countries), and general user privacy last.
While Linux users tend to be more private in nature, 100% of us are still smaller than a fraction of their focus. It may seem counter intuitive for them being a privacy company to lack support in the most private platform, but it would also seem counter intuitive that using them to get away from Google products still requires the Play store and Gapps for notifications.
So I take it all with a grain of salt.
Again, you might be right. They might not have any interest in Linux in the long term. But I don't see the evidence that proves that without a doubt. Them not lining up with my opinion of how they should do things isn't proof of anything.
The evidence is that they talk about having too few Linux devs while not posting open positions for Linux devs. Plenty of Linux devs would be interested in working for them. I would absolutely be interested in working for Proton, for example. They just don't have any genuine interest. Understandably so because of how small the Linux market share is. But let's not lie to ourselves. I like Proton and will probably continue to pay for it for the foreseeable future, but I'm not going to delude myself into thinking they have any interest in Linux at all.
Yeah, I respect that position. I can completely understand the feeling and I'm only a shade away from it. My take is that it's low priority, yours is that its zero interest. I hope I'm right, and that one day they can shift gears and get more done. Maybe I'm just optimistic.