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About running your own servers. I would happily do this, if... , security concerns were less of a worry. Ideas like Opera's inbuilt web server and other peer

About running your own servers. I would happily do this, if... , security concerns were less of a worry. Ideas like Opera's inbuilt web server and other peer to peer technologies are appealing, Alongside nearside hosting. But it all comes down to simplicity of use. And how easy it is to setup. Grid computing makes a lot of sense but you need a simple framework, with safeguards.

jonnycomputer 5y ago
By running own servers, do you mean the hardware, or would using something like a linode count? So I use linode to host a mattermost instance, and its been mostly a trouble free experience, and I enjoy tinkering around in linux anyway. But most people aren't like that, I admit. And I don't even own the hardware; that's a whole other level of responsibility that I don't particularly want. And the $7/mo I spend on my linode is basically two cups of Pike's. Windows is a powerful operating system; but my experience has been that non tech-saavy people repeatedly run into obstacles using it, or end up with malware installed, etc. That's why the walled gardens of iOS and Android have been so successful. Relatively safe (yes, I know, but still), and largely intuitive. Grandpa can use it. So, if we want wide adoption of people "running their own servers", then it needs to follow the UX and security-managed approach of mobile OSs. Walled garden server software; limited options, user-friendly UX for non-professionals. Well, in some ways, the SaaS cloud approach solves this, right? You just need user-friendly apps--probably mobile first--to interface them, and designed with the non-tech savvy consumer in mind.
- raytube 5y ago
  Yeah that's what I am getting at. If it was user friendly without risk you might. I could put a pi on my home connection, but don't want that as an attack vector to my network. That's a flaw. But much like web coding, there are vulnerabilities whatever you do and however much time you spend securing it. Redhat had a cartridge deploy system. A good attempt at appyfying the server space. The one click installs. Plesk has one click installs for a wealth of software, but I never use these, why? Email is a good example. In our organisation we originally ran out own SMTP server. These days would I? And if not why not? I used to sit next to the mail server in the late 90s and read the logs. For very personal email I could host my own, and that's very tempting. But the other half of the conversation might well be eavesdropped. Then there is backup mitigation. And multi endpoint. I still haven't worked out the multi device thing for something like signal. With email I can have multi clients access my server. But again backup mitigation issues and privacy. And hassle. Strip out the hassle and I would like easy cloud deployables given secure trust. I don't want a host trading personal messaging. Of course there is so much current friction, I just trade it all in for convenience.

jonnycomputer 5y ago

By running own servers, do you mean the hardware, or would using something like a linode count? So I use linode to host a mattermost instance, and its been mostly a trouble free experience, and I enjoy tinkering around in linux anyway. But most people aren't like that, I admit. And I don't even own the hardware; that's a whole other level of responsibility that I don't particularly want. And the $7/mo I spend on my linode is basically two cups of Pike's. Windows is a powerful operating system; but my experience has been that non tech-saavy people repeatedly run into obstacles using it, or end up with malware installed, etc. That's why the walled gardens of iOS and Android have been so successful. Relatively safe (yes, I know, but still), and largely intuitive. Grandpa can use it. So, if we want wide adoption of people "running their own servers", then it needs to follow the UX and security-managed approach of mobile OSs. Walled garden server software; limited options, user-friendly UX for non-professionals. Well, in some ways, the SaaS cloud approach solves this, right? You just need user-friendly apps--probably mobile first--to interface them, and designed with the non-tech savvy consumer in mind.

raytube 5y ago
Yeah that's what I am getting at. If it was user friendly without risk you might. I could put a pi on my home connection, but don't want that as an attack vector to my network. That's a flaw. But much like web coding, there are vulnerabilities whatever you do and however much time you spend securing it. Redhat had a cartridge deploy system. A good attempt at appyfying the server space. The one click installs. Plesk has one click installs for a wealth of software, but I never use these, why? Email is a good example. In our organisation we originally ran out own SMTP server. These days would I? And if not why not? I used to sit next to the mail server in the late 90s and read the logs. For very personal email I could host my own, and that's very tempting. But the other half of the conversation might well be eavesdropped. Then there is backup mitigation. And multi endpoint. I still haven't worked out the multi device thing for something like signal. With email I can have multi clients access my server. But again backup mitigation issues and privacy. And hassle. Strip out the hassle and I would like easy cloud deployables given secure trust. I don't want a host trading personal messaging. Of course there is so much current friction, I just trade it all in for convenience.