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Purism Differentiator Series, Part 10: Convenience
Todd Weaver
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Welcome to Purism, a different type of technology company.
We believe you should have technology that does not spy on you.
We believe you should have complete control over your digital life.
We advocate for personal privacy, cyber security, and individual freedoms.
We sell hardware, develop software, and provide services according to these beliefs.
To do all that, we think differently across all areas of business and technology.
Purism Differentiator Series, Part 10: Convenience
Fully protecting your privacy, security, and having your digital rights retained should not require a person to be inconvenienced. While Purism works hard and invests millions to create ever more convenient products, the current product line-up from Purism has varying levels of convenience. Across hardware, software, and services the breakdown on convenience is roughly as follows:
- Librem 14 laptop running PureOS:
A drop in replacement for a Mac/Windows/ChromeOS user, minor learning curve around what software does what. - Librem Mini running PureOS:
Same as Librem 14, quite convenient. - Librem 11 tablet running PureOS:
For a Linux user pretty convenient (as the apps would be familiar), for an iPad/Surface user there is a learning curve and app gap (popular apps in the app stores are not yet available in PureOS). - Librem 5 and Liberty Phone running PureOS:
For core applications (calls, chats, browser, calculator, calendar, settings) quite convenient, for an iPhone/Android user the app gap is large (popular apps are not yet available in PureOS). - Librem AweSIM and Librem One bundle:
The convenience level is extremely convenient for Librem AweSIM (it is a SIM card that offers “VPN for Cellular” like service to any phone taking an external SIM card), for Librem One bundle there is currently setup and configuration steps required.
Convenience is solvable with momentum and time, we have the momentum and time can be compressed with cash, the more support we get in product sales, investment, promotion, community outreach, the faster we increase convenience, which in turn puts our solution into the hands of more people, which repeats the cycle creating an ever more convenient product offering to compete against the tech giants.
The Future of Computing and Why You Should Care
A talk, video, and post made in 2019 is still relevant today. Maximizing shareholder value in a society that has nearly no digital rights, guarantees exploitation of that society. Why did we let this happen? How did we let this happen? I know why. Because… It’s convenient to give up control. It is convenient for you to download a proprietary application that exploits you, agree to the legal binding terms of service you didn’t read, and blissfully believe Big Tech is helping you in the digital world. It’s inconvenient to stand up for your freedom.
It seems we are offered to choose between convenience and control or inconvenience and freedom
I believe we can have both convenience AND freedom. We can actually build technology that benefits society faster when they are based on principles we deem ethical.
“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people, but the silence over that by the good people.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.
“A person who won’t care, has no advantage over one who doesn’t care.” ~ Mark Twain
Hardware Kill Switches are Convenient
At Purism, we believe that people should be in full control of their devices instead of their devices controlling them, and shouldn’t have to choose between convenience and privacy. The Librem 5 has been designed to give people convenient features and control of when they are enabled simply by switching them off using our kill-switches.
The App Gap
Most people only really use ten apps on their phone; the problem is everybody wants a different ten apps. The Librem 5 and Liberty Phone running PureOS is superbly convenient—while also having many other benefits of security, privacy, and freedom all built in—but the convenience is limited to people with use cases for basic functionality: calling, texting, calculator, or browsing the web (a historic snapshot of capabilities is worth a read) . Increasing convenience means increasing applications that people use, and we call this closing the App gap.
There are a number of ways to close the App gap, and thus increasing application convenience in PureOS for our Librem 5 and Liberty Phones; they are:
- Investment: Where Purism funds improvements by invested funds.
- Fund Your App Donations: Where Purism prioritizes apps donated to.
- Iterate: Whereby Purism and the Community add new apps regularly.
- Native Apps: These are apps that are native compiled and included in PureOS or PureOS Store.
- Web Apps: These are apps that can run from a browser in isolation, Purism curated URLs into PureOS Store is a goal for our future.
- Emulated Apps: Some apps require to be authored and release by the app company or developer, so these apps require emulation (or what we like to call adversarial compatibility) to get these applications to run on PureOS in an isolated jail.
- Developers: Whereby developers release apps for PureOS and into PureOS Store.
- Society: Where you use, promote, recommend, and advocate for increasing apps in PureOS and PureOS Store
Convergence Helping Convenience
Investing in Real Convergence improves convenience; and after the decades-long wish to have a single computer to carry around with personal files, favorite programs, and that can be used as a mobile computer, laptop, or desktop, Kyle Rankin realized that dream.
Convergence also helps with application development convenience, Purism has invested millions into PureOS and the adaptive technologies and libraries included into hundreds of applications currently, these applications run on desktops, tablets, and our mobile phones. A developer can write once and test on multiple screen resolutions and by using Purism’s innovations in adaptive design libraries the application will adapt its buttons and user interface to be desktop friendly (with keyboard, mouse, monitor) or mobile friendly (with touch interaction). This major investment helps us with closing the App Gap (discussed later), because we are building a larger ecosystem of developers and applications that work on all devices.
(User)Name Convenience is Possible
At Librem One you have One account to rule them all. One account to remember, One account to share with all; and no privacy to surrender. One of the fundamental design goals for Librem One, outside of privacy, was linking all of our services under a single convenient login. This means that no matter how you want to connect with a person, you have everything you need from a single username. As Purism grows we plan to expand Librem One offerings as well as making it ever more convenient.
Crossing the Chasm Toward the Tipping Point
In a post touching on innovation, business model, hardware, software, and services; we also go through listing the chasm, some struggles, investment, and advancing toward the tipping point of mass adoption. Innovating is a roller coaster ride, there are plenty of ups and downs, exciting times and stressful times, times where others doubt but you believe. Perseverance is the most important trait of early stage entrepreneurship. We are past the early stage now, executing across hardware, software, and services; we are crossing the chasm into reliable, convenient products and have big goals for market expansion in our future.
Convenience with You in Control
Quoted from More than A Phone: How Purism Advocates Digital Security “It is always about convenience and control, it is currently convenient to use products that control you, and until there is a convenient alternative where you retain your freedom and control, society will continue to suffer from digital rights oppression. We are continuing to build that future with the support of millions and growing.”
The long-term goal of Purism is to make beautiful convenient products that respect the rights of humans. The ‘convenient’ part of that continues to be a major investment we make. In a world that wants to track every move you make, it’s important to have alternatives to the tech giants.
Antitrust Report Highlights the Need for Convenient Alternatives
As part of a top-to-bottom review of the online market, the US House Committee on the Judiciary initiated a bipartisan investigation into Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. Antitrust, also known as anticompetitive, is an area where regulators determine if the economic powers of business is healthy and allows competition to flourish. The 449-page report thoroughly reviewed nearly 1.3 million documents, held seven separate hearings, and six hours of testimony from the CEOs of the four companies clearly shows anticompetitive behavior.
If you support Purism, you are supporting an ever growing movement to change the future of technology for the better by offering ever increasing convenient products to compete against these anticompetitive tech giants.
Purism Products and Availability Chart
| Model | Status | Lead Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Librem Key (Made in USA) | In Stock ($59+) | 10 business days | |
 | Librem 5 | In Stock ($999+) 3GB/32GB | 10 business days | |
| Librem 5 + SIMple (4 GB Data) | In Stock ($99/mo) | 10 business days | |
| Librem 5 + SIMple Plus (10 GB Data) | In Stock ($129/mo) | 10 business days | |
| Librem 5 + AweSIM (Unlimited Data) | In Stock ($169/mo) | 10 business days | |
 | Librem 11 | In Stock ($999+) 8GB/1TB | 10 business days | |
 | Librem 14 | In Stock ($1,370+) | 10 business days | |
 | Librem Mini | Apr 2024 ($799+) | Shipping April, 2024 | |
| Liberty Phone (Made in USA Electronics) | Apr 2024 ($1,999+) 4GB/128GB | Shipping April, 2024 | |
 | Librem Server | Apr 2024 ($2,999+) | Shipping April, 2024 |
Recent Posts
Related Content
- Purism Differentiator Series, Part 14: Surveillance Capitalism
- Purism Differentiator Series, Part 13: Modularity & Right to Repair
- Purism Differentiator Series, Part 12: Secure Supply Chain and Made in USA Electronics
- Purism Differentiator Series, Part 11: Convergence
- Purism Differentiator Series, Part 10: Convenience
