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I do wonder though if you could create a compelling product that would keep the customer from ever knowing they "own" a server. I've thought about a service whe

by ellius 9y ago

I do wonder though if you could create a compelling product that would keep the customer from ever knowing they "own" a server. I've thought about a service where I effectively would run one big "load balancer" front end that would route a customer's traffic entirely to prefab cloud servers that I would spin up & configure via tools like Terraform and Ansible on the back end. I wanted to load those mainly with privacy tools--things like Pi-Hole, encrypted DNS, etc. I don't see why I couldn't say "hey in addition to this you get an app portal" that is effectively providing a standardized social media app. So for a regular price you get privacy, ad blocking, and a social media / cloud storage app that doesn't spy on you. It seems doable.

mundo 9y ago
There is a chicken-and-egg thing too - it's not normal for Joe Internetuser to have a $5/mo cloud server in addition to his Netflix/Hulu/etc because there is no easy-to-use-for-regular-people software to run on one, and no one builds such software because such users don't have $5/mo cloud servers to run it on. This is sort of the fatal flaw of app portals like Sandstorm, but it doesn't need to be that way forever.
- ocdtrekkie 9y ago
  Well, you can use a managed version, both Sandstorm and Cloudron can be subscribed to as online services. I also think there's a lot of opportunity for families and small groups. Most people I am close with would not run their own server, but perhaps would use mine if I offered it.
warkdarrior 9y ago
If users do not see a visible distinction between your app portal and Facebook, why would they pay you instead of using FB for free? Is it enough to claim privacy in order to make a sale? I really doubt it.
- mundo 9y ago
  You could be right, but it isn't that far-fetched. Consider: * A lot of users would be in the pennies-per-month level, charged by standard Amazon usage prices * Owning your own data is a big deal - it's not uncommon for people to pay for backups, which would essentially be an included service * It's not unreasonable to imagine a company of Amazon's size and competence doing a very good job of this, and including novel features that FB/IG/etc can't match * It could also be a loss-leader to get people to own servers for other purposes, e.g. hosting a vanity domain

by ellius 9y ago

mundo 9y ago

There is a chicken-and-egg thing too - it's not normal for Joe Internetuser to have a $5/mo cloud server in addition to his Netflix/Hulu/etc because there is no easy-to-use-for-regular-people software to run on one, and no one builds such software because such users don't have $5/mo cloud servers to run it on. This is sort of the fatal flaw of app portals like Sandstorm, but it doesn't need to be that way forever.

ocdtrekkie 9y ago
Well, you can use a managed version, both Sandstorm and Cloudron can be subscribed to as online services. I also think there's a lot of opportunity for families and small groups. Most people I am close with would not run their own server, but perhaps would use mine if I offered it.

warkdarrior 9y ago

If users do not see a visible distinction between your app portal and Facebook, why would they pay you instead of using FB for free? Is it enough to claim privacy in order to make a sale? I really doubt it.

mundo 9y ago
You could be right, but it isn't that far-fetched. Consider: * A lot of users would be in the pennies-per-month level, charged by standard Amazon usage prices * Owning your own data is a big deal - it's not uncommon for people to pay for backups, which would essentially be an included service * It's not unreasonable to imagine a company of Amazon's size and competence doing a very good job of this, and including novel features that FB/IG/etc can't match * It could also be a loss-leader to get people to own servers for other purposes, e.g. hosting a vanity domain