Ava wrote yesterday about trusting small companies / individuals with our patronage and our data. It's an insightful read and I've had similar concerns during my own attempts to move away from Big Tech.

Instead of trusting big companies who could (or rather, will) enshittify and become too big and bloated (Google, Meta, Microsoft...), we should trust smaller maintainers within our circles.

I totally agree. However, Ava also makes an important observation:

If we want to switch away from these data-harvesting giants to smaller solutions, we are confronted with the fact that usually, it's a small group of people, or even just one person.

She goes on to raise some excellent questions, which anyone switching to a small-scale "indie" project should consider, especially if it's likely to involve data that's personal, sensitive or critical.

One notable concern for me is what happens when that company or individual decides they don't want to do it anymore? This is often an issue with services that are free, or predominantly so. If the owner concludes the effort isn't worth the return, it's losing them money, or they've just lost interest then even the best ideas can quickly fall by the wayside.

Case in point: I was recently looking for a mood-board service or app that didn't have an expensive subscription or was full of bloat. A Reddit thread led me to an indie alternative which people were raving about - free, privacy-friendly and easy to use. I excitedly headed to the website, certain I'd found exactly what I needed, only to see an announcement about the service closing. The lone creator simply couldn't manage it anymore and it was closed with just two weeks notice. The existing users were left floundering.

There's also the issue of unexpected technical problems bringing a small service to a standstill. An example of this is happening right now with Meadow's popular guestbook service, used by many Bear bloggers. On Friday, the script stopped working and guestbook messages no longer appear. Meadow has written a statement explaining that Azure suspended the hosting account in error and now they're having to go through the tedious process of getting it reinstated. Meadow is small fry to the likes of Microsoft, so will not have access to priority support channels that could get the issue sorted quickly. Ironically, Meadow's humble passion project is now totally at the mercy of Big Tech.

None of this is Meadow's fault and there was no way to know it would happen, but it showcases a potential issue with relying on a small company or individual. Because they don't have the industry clout to get things fixed quickly, a service can disappear overnight and take days, weeks or even months to come back online. Or not at all.

Another option is to look at "challenger" services. These tend to be small companies, but with a slightly larger structure, setup to disrupt the bigger players by offering user-friendly, privacy-conscious alternatives, often with a premium subscription model to ensure sustainability in the long-term. A good example is Kagi Search, which I recently subscribed to and has been a real breath of fresh air. The one concern I have with this type of organisation however, is that once they reach a certain level of success, they tend to get targeted for acquisition by bigger companies. Being offered vast sums of money can be a difficult thing to turn down, regardless of your ethical stance.

I regularly support indie developers when downloading apps on my phone, iPad and Mac. I love seeing the different creative approaches they take to existing offerings from bigger companies and the way they carve their own little niche in a saturated market. Yet I do worry about longevity as apps come and go all the time, or pass to new developers that have a different vision to the one you signed up to. While it's impossible to predict this potential scenario, one of the things I look for is cross-compatibility and the option to export my data in a common format, so if things don't work out, I can move elsewhere with minimal friction or at least have an accessible backup.

So my two pennies worth - before trusting a small company or individual, do a bit of research to determine how your data is handled and ensure there are suitable options to export (and delete!) it. Read Ava's questions and see how they apply to your situation. Then if it all looks good, enjoy your new-found freedom from Big Tech and appreciate how good it feels to support the little guy.