I'd introduce Voice Messaging

Sender Side
1 - Click to voice message someone from the phone dialer
2 - Talk
3 - Click Send

Receiver Side
1 - Notification akin to text
2 - Listen / Look at the transcribed message

Calls are inturruptive in nature, this would be a non-inturruptive voice option.
Easy to re-record if desired
Voicemail is ANNOYING
Submit technical support or customer service requests

I know some tried this with proprietary solutions...but without global or at least platform level availability it was doomed to fail.

Our thinking is far more aligned than you have concluded. But I disagree in one part. I am not giving up freedom if the data is still under my control.
In this case, with Google involved, it probably wouldn't be under my control, so I would actively opt out by flashing firmware or buying a different car.

I would like the ability to share (or NOT share) my driving history with my insurance company to get a lower premium. Many people install company specific devices in their cars to do just that.

e.g. I don't mind a camera on my phone, as long as I control where the pictures end up.

Stopped using it after they killed that feature a few years ago.

That way I can read it later when I have time.

Imagine driving and taking your hands off the wheel for a few seconds. Now imagine driving and closing your eyes for a few seconds.

The state objected to their labeling, not their product. They labeled the toy as OK for 14+. The state says that magnets must be labeled as not safe for 14 and under. The labeling included 14 year olds as part of an acceptable audience. From an observers perspective, the company has been completely immature about the entire event. They responded with inflammatory accusations of persecution and have used the event repeatedly in their marketing. And now they are shutting down...? The company should have been fine. This misrepresentation makes me wish I hadn't given them money. There are alternatives out there.

Why wouldn't business should have a strong objection to this? All sorts of intellectual property, internal financial data, client data, medical records, financial records, and/or personnel files could be compromised, and not just by the FBI or a rogue agent. This is the practice of intentionally creating a backdoor with standard access mechanisms that's usage will inevitably be undetectable.

I don't see the ability to dynamically expand FreeNAS. (Just add a drive and expand the protected space)

I cautiously recommend unRaid. I have not had an ideal experience with it, but most of it was due to my lack of diligence in ordering compatible hardware and fully reading all 10,000 forum threads before logging in. Mainly the hardware thing.

I use this on all new drives. I run it twice or three times. It has saved me from a failure more than once.

Where did you get that the employer owns the software? He wrote it in his personal time, on his personal equipment.

Open source gives you several great advantages. You don't give it to your company, but you get the credit anyways, while maintaining control of the project. The company gets to use it and you get the advantages you spoke of at work. You also improve your resume globally.

Would you read different books if you bought a Kindle?

Unraid works well for a home solution. I had 2x2 TB drives fail within a one month period of time and lost no data.

Telling people they can't afford something is never popular.

But guess what.

We can't afford it.