Purism Plans To Expand & Offer Ethical Subscription Services

If the folks at Purism weren't busy enough working on their Librem 5 Linux smartphone initiative and adjoining projects like creating a new software app store, they also are eyeing an entrance into offering "ethical" subscription services and ultimately expand into other areas.

Purism founder Todd Weaver has written a blog post about the origin of Purism and attributing it to the digital security/privacy for his children. While recapping the history and milestones hit thus far, he mentions they plan to follow-up with the Librem 5 smartphone and app store with "a subscription of ethical services, so everybody can join in the fun." Then the last item on his business plan is just to "Expand."

Todd also commented, "starting in 2019 – the year of ethical services bundle (coming soon) and of the delivery of the Librem 5 phone." He hasn't elaborated on what services they plan to get into, but seeing as they are driven by privacy concerns and against the policies of Facebook, Google, and other companies while preparing to ship their own smartphone in the months ahead, it's not hard to imagine Purism offering email services and/or cloud file hosting.

We'll see if these yet-to-be-announced Purism services can take off where the likes of Ubuntu One have not for its file synchronization / hosting and even music service or back further when Red Hat / Fedora had their short-lived "Mugshot" social network like service. There's also more open-source software platforms these days like Nextcloud and LibreOffice Online if wanting to avoid the behemoths like Google as well as secure email alternatives like ProtonMail.