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I think that the observation that big players just walk into a federated service and then tend to dominate it is pertinent, however that doesn't mean the servic
by mariusor 5y ago
I think that the observation that big players just walk into a federated service and then tend to dominate it is pertinent, however that doesn't mean the service has failed in my opinion. Outside of gmail, there are countless alternatives suitable for all people that just want an address to those that bring their own domain. As long as alternatives exist, nothing is lost.
However, a larger omission is the fact that the new wave of federated services based on ActivityPub, Mastodon, Pixelfed[1], et all are missing from the article. I think that these disparate applications addressing different use cases, but which can talk to each other are the future of a federated web. Yes, there are larger entities that already carved a big chunk of the userbase, yes there are incompatibilities, but they're just starting and I'm optimistic.
[1] I'm talking from the perspective of someone that's building something in this space.