It’s January 1st, 2026, so it’s time for a post about New Year’s resolutions. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season.🥳 I’d like to start this post with a little recap of 2025, but to be honest, it was another one of those years that felt like a century. Overall, I think it was an okay year for me, at least personally. Politically, well… didn’t the world end in 2020?
For 2026, I have the following goals:
1. Get back in shape.
I recently came across an old photo of myself and holy crap, that’s a difference. After two knee injuries, countless bouldering injuries, and general laziness, there’s about a 10kg difference compared to when I was really fit :’| Time to get back to work. Starting with running, climbing and CrossFit.
2. Using more alternatives against enshittification
If there’s one thing I can’t stand anymore, it’s how everything is subject to enshittification, aka how products and/or services are drastically deteriorating in quality. That’s why I find it all the more important to use ethical alternatives, such as:
Loops instead of TikTok.
I know I shouldn’t be using TikTok at all, but my dopamine-crackhead-hamster brain is simply addicted. Plus, besides being a hilarious app, it’s also a direct source of journalism about political developments, especially in countries where that’s less accessible. It’s a real shame that since the acquisition of TikTok’s American branch by Oracle, amongst others, there’s been clear censorship. Loops is an open-source alternative, built by the same people who built Pixelfed - a nice alternative to Instagram. Loops needs a bit more development, but I suspect they’re 80% there.Mastodon and Pixelfed, instead of X and Instagram.
Now, I haven’t used the latter two for years anyway, but I do want to make it a point to raise awareness for Mastodon and Pixelfed. They’re just really nice platforms. Admittedly, I could use my Pixelfed account more often.Qobuz instead of Spotify.
Starting with the fact that no monopoly is good, and that’s been the case with Spotify for a while now. They pay their artists practically nothing (yet make 8 billion in profits, which they siphon off through tax havens), they invest in military companies, they generate AI-generated music to distribute even less royalties, and apparently, they recently ran ads for ICE. And of course, the price keeps rising. Plus, Spotify isn’t great for discovering new music either; you’re usually presented with a small list of well-known artists. I’m open to suggestions for alternatives. For now, Qobuz seems like a good option to try.Whatever instead of Booking.
I already had my reservations about Booking.com when they continued to offer accommodations in occupied Palestinian territory, but their service also isn’t what it used to be. Arriving at a double-booked accommodation on Boxing Day and receiving no compensation is just another reason to use other platforms.Proton instead of Gmail/Google Drive.
This one has been on my list for a long time, but it’s also the most drastic. De-Googlefying is difficult, given it’s such a comprehensive ecosystem. Proton offers a nice suite with email, document storage, and an online text editor. Paying for email will take some getting used to, but at least I’ll no longer be paying with my privacy.Building a PC myself instead of cloud-based gaming resources.
As a hobby gamer, this is a huge pet peeve. I’ve been wanting to build a PC to replace my Steam Deck for ages. Because AI data centers are increasingly hogging resources, there’s now a RAM and GPU shortage. We’re being forced more and more towards online game streaming, when no one can afford a PC anymore. Aka ‘you will own nothing and you will be happy about it.’ I’m afraid we can also abandon the illusion that the Steam Machine will be affordable. And yes, I should have bought RAM and a GPU when it was still affordable, sigh. Let’s hope it will remain available at all.Cotton, wool, and linen instead of polyester clothing.
This one isn’t technical, but it is important. I’d like to buy less fast fashion full of microplastics and invest more in natural products, as well as repair more clothes. I already took a sewing course at De Steek in Amsterdam in 2025; I think it would be really cool to be able to make my own clothes with non-toxic materials someday.
3. Post more often about my OSPO work
I still have the best job ever. For the time being, I’m still working for the Dutch government’s Open Source Program Office (OSPO). From July to December, I was the interim lead; now I’m back to setting up projects and programs and doing general advocacy work. For example, I’m still involved in various open-source policy matters (most recently a recent victory here), the further development of MijnBureau, our collaboration with European member states in the EDIC, bringing together the OSPO NL network, and setting up Forgejo as a government-wide coding platform. This is just a small selection of all the exciting things I’ve been involved with over the past year. My goal is to share much more about these developments in the coming year, particularly here on my website. Plus, now that I’ve finally connected Woodpecker to my website, so I no longer have to do local Hugo builds, I have no excuse left lol.
4. Supporting some good causes
Whether with time or financially, these organizations have my attention again:
- Fosstodon: It remains an honor to support one of the best places on the Fediverse as an admin and team member. I’m happy to continue this commitment in 2026.
- Dierenambulance Amsterdam: These people all deserve a medal, but since they saved my cat Pookie, I’ll definitely keep sponsoring them.
- Women on Waves: This organization does fantastic work in women’s rights activism and women’s healthcare. Please check out some their most recent activities..
5. Moving abroad
2026 will be the year I finally leave the Netherlands. Many of you know I’ve been wanting to move to a warmer country for a while, and after 36 years in the dreary, gray swamp where I was born, it’s time. Options include Australia, Southern Europe, and Thailand. Of course, I’d love to continue the OSPO work I’m doing now; I absolutely love advocating for open source interests. I hope to be able to continue that work. There’s only one role that will keep me in the Netherlands, even for several years if necessary. At the same time, I’ll be actively looking abroad - and please let me know if you see a suitable position! Either way, 2026 is the year for the big leap.
I hope you enjoyed this post, and I’m curious to hear about your resolutions. Feel free to send me a message at Mastodon.
Thanks for reading.