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I think something like this makes sense at some # of users closer to 10-20, or maybe even higher numbers, kind of monkeysphere / Dunbar's number level. That is

I think something like this makes sense at some # of users closer to 10-20, or maybe even higher numbers, kind of monkeysphere / Dunbar's number level. That is, a smaller group of people (an extended family, a neighborhood street, a collective ... fine, a cult) band their resources together to pay for pod hardware to realize some savings / distributed back-up, and have "edge" apps for trusted sharing within the pod, and then P2P (pod-to-pod?) apps for sharing outside the pod. Right now, the economics just don't quite make sense.

ocdtrekkie 6y ago
I absolutely think the self-hosting story definitely only works for the widespread world if those of us capable of self-hosting provide services to less-technical users we know.
passive 6y ago
If this were to take off, I would expect to see some governments offering it to all citizens, both to support whatever digital services they provide, and as a tool for helping users manage their privacy.
- oakfr 6y ago
  How would governments finance this? Developing these offerings with the quality of service of the GAFAM (which users take now for granted) costs a fortune (financed by advertising in practice as of today).
- Vinnl 6y ago
  Such as that of Flanders, for example: https://inrupt.com/flanders-solid https://inrupt.com/flanders-solid
- azinman2 6y ago
  Exactly what I want in my tech… gov control of my data, combined with gov-paced innovation…
  - kdunglas 6y ago
    A "collaboration" led by Jan Jambon, the guy who says that about collaborating with the Nazis: "The people who collaborated with the Germans had their reasons. Me, I was not alive during that time." I don’t trust GAFAM to protect my privacy, but I wouldn’t trust this government either.
hinkley 6y ago
My favorite example of this is image sharing for large extended families. If most people thought about it, they don't actually want pictures of their kids all over Instagram, but it's a way to distribute them and, after a fashion, back them up. We don't have to worry about the matriarch's house burning down and taking out our photo archive with it. Or her clicking on a malware link and wiping it all out. If they had a piece of software that wasn't designed for building a startup (deeply technical, highly fiddly), Uncle Bob and you and your nephew Timmy could host geographically redundant copies of the data that the group has access to.

ocdtrekkie 6y ago

I absolutely think the self-hosting story definitely only works for the widespread world if those of us capable of self-hosting provide services to less-technical users we know.

passive 6y ago

If this were to take off, I would expect to see some governments offering it to all citizens, both to support whatever digital services they provide, and as a tool for helping users manage their privacy.

oakfr 6y ago
How would governments finance this? Developing these offerings with the quality of service of the GAFAM (which users take now for granted) costs a fortune (financed by advertising in practice as of today).
Vinnl 6y ago
Such as that of Flanders, for example: https://inrupt.com/flanders-solid https://inrupt.com/flanders-solid
azinman2 6y ago
Exactly what I want in my tech… gov control of my data, combined with gov-paced innovation…
- kdunglas 6y ago
  A "collaboration" led by Jan Jambon, the guy who says that about collaborating with the Nazis: "The people who collaborated with the Germans had their reasons. Me, I was not alive during that time." I don’t trust GAFAM to protect my privacy, but I wouldn’t trust this government either.

hinkley 6y ago

My favorite example of this is image sharing for large extended families. If most people thought about it, they don't actually want pictures of their kids all over Instagram, but it's a way to distribute them and, after a fashion, back them up. We don't have to worry about the matriarch's house burning down and taking out our photo archive with it. Or her clicking on a malware link and wiping it all out. If they had a piece of software that wasn't designed for building a startup (deeply technical, highly fiddly), Uncle Bob and you and your nephew Timmy could host geographically redundant copies of the data that the group has access to.