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The way to decentralise without the risk of inherent centralisation is to go p2p. If everyone installing an app runs their own instance and doesn’t need to pick

The way to decentralise without the risk of inherent centralisation is to go p2p. If everyone installing an app runs their own instance and doesn’t need to pick a server, then the efficiency gains of a server drop off massively. This is why we’re hoping to steer Matrix from being decentralised-at-the-servers to being decentralised-at-the-clients.

antocv 8y ago
Cryptocurrencies are p2p yet centralized, bittorrent is p2p, yet a few search-engines and trackers compared to clients.
- Arathorn 8y ago
  well, you don’t gave to have a tracker to seed p2p, and they don’t have to cause centralisation. search engines can and should also be decentralised :)
- palunon 8y ago
  >yet a few search-enginescompared to clients Bittorrent doesn't have a search engine, so of course they are not decentralized. > yet a few trackers compared to clients Well, not if you count the DHT (the decentralized tracker).
pferde 8y ago
Is there any write-up regarding Matrix plans on this topic, please? Genuinely curious.
- rakoo 8y ago
  Seconded, having the full Matrix way of architecting data synchronization available from any endpoint is something that can truly change the field.
SamPatt 8y ago
There is a major hurdle in getting people to install their own servers though. We've seen this with OpenBazaar. It makes p2p pretty simple out of the box but if it's not in browser or a mobile app many won't even try it once.
- anderspitman 8y ago
  Something like Sandstorm[0] might be able to solve this, since then a person would hypothetically only need a single server (with a nice web interface) that they install all their decentralized apps into. In practice I think modifying the apps to be compatible is too much overhead. But I think something in the same vein could work. I'm sure @kentonv has some ideas on what the main roadblocks to adoption are. [0] https://sandstorm.io/ https://sandstorm.io/

antocv 8y ago

Cryptocurrencies are p2p yet centralized, bittorrent is p2p, yet a few search-engines and trackers compared to clients.

Arathorn 8y ago
well, you don’t gave to have a tracker to seed p2p, and they don’t have to cause centralisation. search engines can and should also be decentralised :)
palunon 8y ago
>yet a few search-enginescompared to clients Bittorrent doesn't have a search engine, so of course they are not decentralized. > yet a few trackers compared to clients Well, not if you count the DHT (the decentralized tracker).

pferde 8y ago

Is there any write-up regarding Matrix plans on this topic, please? Genuinely curious.

rakoo 8y ago
Seconded, having the full Matrix way of architecting data synchronization available from any endpoint is something that can truly change the field.

SamPatt 8y ago

There is a major hurdle in getting people to install their own servers though. We've seen this with OpenBazaar. It makes p2p pretty simple out of the box but if it's not in browser or a mobile app many won't even try it once.

anderspitman 8y ago
Something like Sandstorm[0] might be able to solve this, since then a person would hypothetically only need a single server (with a nice web interface) that they install all their decentralized apps into. In practice I think modifying the apps to be compatible is too much overhead. But I think something in the same vein could work. I'm sure @kentonv has some ideas on what the main roadblocks to adoption are. [0] https://sandstorm.io/ https://sandstorm.io/