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(This is going to seem a bit off topic at first.) I think many of the decentralization projects have issues that will limit their deployment. A lot of these id

(This is going to seem a bit off topic at first.) I think many of the decentralization projects have issues that will limit their deployment. A lot of these ideas limit the ability of companies like facebook, google, etc to earn money from a service and/or ignore ecommerce, etc. Take federated systems, for example.. how does a federated facebook earn money? And while you and I might not care if facebook earns anything, it's going to be tough for existing stakeholders to back it or anything like it if the idea would result in the end of their business. Similarly, the same limitations apply to startsups.. meaning todays startups, who eventually become tomorrows large companies, aren't going to be based around something that can't be used to generate revenue. This isn't the 1980s anymore. There are too many users, placing too many demands on systems for it to ever be free. So to answer the question: I think the distributed web is paid for just like today's web.. because any distributed system that succeeds, will need to be able to support the current methods of generating revenue from the internet.

eternalban 10y ago
The old fashioned way: by providing a service. Here is an example. We'll assume an imaginary decentralized communication platform. Alice wants to chat with Baozhai. Alice speaks English, Baozhai speaks Mandarin. They connect and chat (in their own language). Each capability here, identity, presence, and translation is provided by service providers. Alice and Baozhai have paid for these services.
- ex3ndr 10y ago
  And why it should be done in decentralized way?
paavokoya 10y ago
it's going to be tough for existing stakeholders to back it or anything like it if the idea would result in the end of their business. Regardless of our inflation-positive zero-rate economy that caters to the investing class, I think people will do what they want. Obviously a decentralized internet will not be for everyone but the same can be said for democratic societies. The desire for a decentralized and encrypted internet grows with every new data-cap by ISP's and every illegal surveillance scandal carried out by governments. The people find no recourse in their established authorities and will seek to their own devices for security. Generating revenue is an after-thought of freed men.
adrianratnapala 10y ago
I you haven't adequately addressed why we should care "if facebooks earns anything". The importance existing stakeholders is a contigent detail, not a necessary truth. It's like evolution: things in society (inventions, ideas, protocols, whatever) exist because they popped up and then survived. One way to survive is to provide a revenue stream for profit seekers who will look after you in return. Many thing work that way, but many things, such as human languages, and the TCP/IP protocol survive in other ways. Of course all these things do profit people, and are kept around as a result, but through mechanisms quite different to the ones you are talking about.

eternalban 10y ago

The old fashioned way: by providing a service. Here is an example. We'll assume an imaginary decentralized communication platform. Alice wants to chat with Baozhai. Alice speaks English, Baozhai speaks Mandarin. They connect and chat (in their own language). Each capability here, identity, presence, and translation is provided by service providers. Alice and Baozhai have paid for these services.

ex3ndr 10y ago
And why it should be done in decentralized way?

paavokoya 10y ago

it's going to be tough for existing stakeholders to back it or anything like it if the idea would result in the end of their business. Regardless of our inflation-positive zero-rate economy that caters to the investing class, I think people will do what they want. Obviously a decentralized internet will not be for everyone but the same can be said for democratic societies. The desire for a decentralized and encrypted internet grows with every new data-cap by ISP's and every illegal surveillance scandal carried out by governments. The people find no recourse in their established authorities and will seek to their own devices for security. Generating revenue is an after-thought of freed men.

adrianratnapala 10y ago

I you haven't adequately addressed why we should care "if facebooks earns anything". The importance existing stakeholders is a contigent detail, not a necessary truth. It's like evolution: things in society (inventions, ideas, protocols, whatever) exist because they popped up and then survived. One way to survive is to provide a revenue stream for profit seekers who will look after you in return. Many thing work that way, but many things, such as human languages, and the TCP/IP protocol survive in other ways. Of course all these things do profit people, and are kept around as a result, but through mechanisms quite different to the ones you are talking about.