6 ms·

First, we had centralized time-sharing systems, which gave way to decentralized applications running on PCs. Back to centralization with early web applications

First, we had centralized time-sharing systems, which gave way to decentralized applications running on PCs. Back to centralization with early web applications, and now back to decentralized apps running in the browser.

tazjin 5y ago
> and now back to decentralized apps running in the browser I think it's now both, because things won't work correctly if you're offline for the most part. Tarpit diving.
api 5y ago
Web apps are centralized. They almost never work without a constant link to the server. The browser is basically the 21st century equivalent of the VT terminal. We are in what I call the mainframe 2.0 era.
- ozim 5y ago
  People don't understand decentralization and I think that people don't want decentralization. Just look at GIT its killer feature is decentralization, bad luck because Linus Torvalds and bunch of kernel developers are using it in such way. Rest of the world is using Github\Gitlab making their own centralized repositories.
  - api 5y ago
    Users largely don't care whether something is decentralized or not. They care if it works. It's proven easier to deliver things that work well using centralized systems. This if for entirely pragmatic engineering reasons like the difficulty of distributed consensus.
tyingq 5y ago
It does have a sort of trojan-horse feel to it, since prior attempts to lock down desktops in the same way as iOS didn't work out well.
ozim 5y ago
What is the point of this thought process? centralized time-sharing -> decentralized applications -> centralization with web applications (or cloud) Like next model would be coming from previous one or somehow created by some architect and like one or the other would be superior. There is no such causal relationship, each model was or is best for its time and technical possibilities. If it would be possible to have decentralized applications running on PCs in 1950 people would do that right away. Centralized time-sharing systems were necessity because computers were freaking huge and slow, remember that people did not have network connection to mainframe, they had terminals that were scarce and rather close to huge boxes that were mainframes. Decentralized applications running on PCs were necessity because we there was no ubiquitous networking in the 80's-90's, while computers got small enough that basically everyone could have computing possibilities at his desk, not just dumb terminal. There were still quite some mainframes around because they were more convenient for huge calculations than whatever was possible on the desktop. Nowadays or since 2000's we have really capable machines on desktop and internet started to grow to enable centralization that people want. Not like centralization that was necessity. I can do my calculations or a lot of work done on my desktop but I can easily share that work with someone on the other side of globe and thanks to centralization I don't have to wake him up but he can check his email when he finishes his morning coffee. So it is not back or forth, those are totally different modes of computing enabled by different possibilities that we have because of technology changes.

tazjin 5y ago

> and now back to decentralized apps running in the browser I think it's now both, because things won't work correctly if you're offline for the most part. Tarpit diving.

api 5y ago

Web apps are centralized. They almost never work without a constant link to the server. The browser is basically the 21st century equivalent of the VT terminal. We are in what I call the mainframe 2.0 era.

ozim 5y ago
People don't understand decentralization and I think that people don't want decentralization. Just look at GIT its killer feature is decentralization, bad luck because Linus Torvalds and bunch of kernel developers are using it in such way. Rest of the world is using Github\Gitlab making their own centralized repositories.
- api 5y ago
  Users largely don't care whether something is decentralized or not. They care if it works. It's proven easier to deliver things that work well using centralized systems. This if for entirely pragmatic engineering reasons like the difficulty of distributed consensus.

tyingq 5y ago

It does have a sort of trojan-horse feel to it, since prior attempts to lock down desktops in the same way as iOS didn't work out well.

ozim 5y ago

What is the point of this thought process? centralized time-sharing -> decentralized applications -> centralization with web applications (or cloud) Like next model would be coming from previous one or somehow created by some architect and like one or the other would be superior. There is no such causal relationship, each model was or is best for its time and technical possibilities. If it would be possible to have decentralized applications running on PCs in 1950 people would do that right away. Centralized time-sharing systems were necessity because computers were freaking huge and slow, remember that people did not have network connection to mainframe, they had terminals that were scarce and rather close to huge boxes that were mainframes. Decentralized applications running on PCs were necessity because we there was no ubiquitous networking in the 80's-90's, while computers got small enough that basically everyone could have computing possibilities at his desk, not just dumb terminal. There were still quite some mainframes around because they were more convenient for huge calculations than whatever was possible on the desktop. Nowadays or since 2000's we have really capable machines on desktop and internet started to grow to enable centralization that people want. Not like centralization that was necessity. I can do my calculations or a lot of work done on my desktop but I can easily share that work with someone on the other side of globe and thanks to centralization I don't have to wake him up but he can check his email when he finishes his morning coffee. So it is not back or forth, those are totally different modes of computing enabled by different possibilities that we have because of technology changes.