Perspective on Proton's Product Development
I observe that a predominant number of individuals are expressing similar desires, primarily focused on new additions to the Proton product line. These range from requests for a Proton-managed and optimized SearXNG instance, functioning as a search engine, to surprising appeals for a new operating system.
While some of these ideas possess merit, they seem somewhat disconnected from the actual needs of both individuals and businesses. As a Visionary account holder, I utilize Proton to address the requirements of both my family and my company. In both contexts, there are more critical features missing in Proton's offerings than the introduction of an entirely new operating system. Our objective shouldn't be to reinvent the wheel. However, most individuals, despite having the necessary skills, lack the time to manage:
Their own mail server (e.g., Roundcube);
A combined contact, cloud drive, and co-editing platform (such as NextCloud);
An e-meeting platform (like Jitsi);
A personal password manager (KeePass);
A private messaging protocol (Matrix).
Users like us prefer to focus our energies on our areas of expertise without compromising privacy.
Proton is the company closest to realizing this vision, yet there remains a significant gap. This proximity is not necessarily due to being the best in its field (which might be the case, but that is not my primary concern) but because the team has earned our trust.
I am generally reluctant to write or request features, as there are professionals employed by our contributions who are tasked with exactly this. Moreover, as this forum indicates, customers often do not precisely know what they need.
From my dual perspective as a family man and a business owner, I have recently transitioned our company's suite from Google to NextCloud, while managing family email and calendars with Proton. However, these systems do not integrate seamlessly. I would prefer to consolidate everything under Proton, but this is currently infeasible due to the absence of:
Integrated meeting and calendar solutions (akin to Jitsi and NextCloud Calendar);
Contact backup capabilities;
Co-editing features (attempts to collaborate on files saved in Proton Drive via LibreOffice have proven challenging).
These are my primary requirements.
Given that my company fully embraces and supports Open Source software, I would also appreciate greater attention to Linux distributions.
I recognize that Linux holds a minimal market share and do not expect Proton's developers to focus exclusively on porting applications to Debian, Android, or HarmonyNext (the latter of which my company is keenly exploring).
In conclusion, I encourage the Proton Team to continue their excellent work. There is always room for improvement, as is the case with any endeavor.
