I love Proton, I use them for my business. Sure they are missing some things. The calendar is too basic, no widget. Drive does not have a Linux client and no rsync support or anything useful. And now there is no desktop app For Linux (it's not electron?). BUT, I love the webapp and they bring a steady stream of nice improvements, and what currently exists works very well. They are a company with the right values so I love paying them and look forward to what's coming.
Tutanota has got a Linux app, and the Android app is available on F-Droid.
I love what both companies are trying to achieve with building private ecosystems, but for me Linux must always come first. Everyone who loves privacy has switched to Linux by now.
I use Linux as a litmus test, is that the term, to see how serious a company is about privacy. Without a Linux presence, it's privacy marketing or just lip service. I might still use the product on another OS simultaneously, but I need to know that the control point exists.
They have a way to run thunderbird by running a local bridge. I don't really want their desktop client anyway. I do use their android app which is decent.
You can use Proton Mail on Linux already via our Proton Mail Bridge: https://proton.me/mail/bridge. We plan to make the Proton Mail Linux native app available in early 2024.
While I will appreciate the Proton Mail Linux app when it is eventually released, I refuse to pay for a Proton Unlimited, Proton Family, or Proton Business subscription until Proton Drive has a free and open source client for Linux.
Linux support is essential for cross-platform privacy-oriented services. I hope your company is able to provide a specific timeline for when Linux will be supported in Proton Drive, instead of ignoring Linux completely like your company is doing in your product roadmap (https://proton.me/blog/proton-drive-roadmap).
This reeks a bit of misplaced entitlement. Proton, as any company, has limited resources, and they focus it where it counts for their business.
This means that for almost anything, be it gaming, office suites or video editors, we are a minority. And we have to live with less attention. It's just how it is.
Sure we can make requests and provide feedback, but we have no rights. If you ask me we don't even have the right to responds with slight annoyance.
We may just hope that even though we are a minority, perhaps companies may recognize the following things in us:
- they do earn enough directly of off us to justify support
- they trust that us techies take the tech we use at home to work
- We are superior bug finders and reporters and may earn our support that way
We are not entitled to anything though, and companies must also realize that in the end we too will vote with our wallets.
It's not "entitlement" to share my purchasing preferences with Proton. I am glad to pay for Proton Mail subscriptions, but I am unwilling to pay for Proton Drive subscriptions (including Proton subscription bundles) until Proton releases a free and open source Proton Drive client for Linux. This is a perfectly rational position to take, since nobody wants to pay for things they aren't able to properly use.
While you're certainly able to communicate with Proton however you like, it's not anyone's place to tell me and other Linux users what we can say to Proton on an online forum or whether we're allowed to express annoyance. There's no better way to let Proton know how I will vote with my wallet than to tell them directly.
Fwiw, I agree with you, a good Linux client (or better, an API, so we can get Nautilus and Dolphin etc integration) would be great and I'd also pay more for a subscription, since now it can be a backup for my pictures.
