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Your pool, landscaping, and traditional appliances are all fairly mature and stable in a way that lets local workers learn basic, repurposeable maintenance skil

Your pool, landscaping, and traditional appliances are all fairly mature and stable in a way that lets local workers learn basic, repurposeable maintenance skills that last a long time and cover a large number of clients. We won’t have that for home compute appliances until hardware/interface innovation slows down, and that’d actually been trending in the other direction for a while now. It will stabilize, even while innovation happens at other layers, but core stability plays a huge role in what you have in mind here. Cloud stuff basically hid that that stuff on the other side of a pipe for a while, but has its own drawbacks and we’re likely seeing the start of a turn away from it.

rlyshw 4y ago
Linux has been pretty stable for decades now. I’ve been using the same core configs and bulk data in my home compute environment basically since I started using Linux. Remote repos for any syncing needs, then just tar/rsync bulk archive data over. Store longer term or stale data on older decommissioned HDDs. I’ve been running more or less the same services through hardware, hypervisor, and now kubernetes migrations and revisions. It seems to me doing things “the Linux way”, sticking to open source where possible, is resistant to the fast pace of the consumer innovation market. When anything new comes along, it’s usually relatively trivial to transfer over.
- rlyshw 4y ago
  I know that this is a typical HN post, assuming everyone should become a Linux sysadmin. But related to the parent, and recent developments in Zero Trust Access products, I wonder if there is a pathway towards neighborhood-scale sysadmin services. I mean, I essentially provide that to my small social community with a private media tenant. With ZTA systems in place to accommodate remote access, maybe there is an appetite for neighbor-to-neighbor network sysadmin services? Hard to compete with the sleek silos of big box brands and their infinite marketing budget, plus 5 9s of service, though.
  - zamnos 4y ago
    If only there were some sort of regional authority, a local group of people to whom we all gave money to, that could hire someone to administer such a system. This group could take on the responsibility of running, not just this neighborhood network system, but also, I dunno, the fire department and the police department and maybe also the schools? I know it's an "out there" crazy silicon valley leftist idea but maybe something like that could work? Okay no but for reals, the USPS could do that!
    - rlyshw 4y ago
      USPS might be mired in fed scale problems. Maybe a Library is more appropriate? At least, more directly accessible at the local level. I’m just not sure how exactly that would work, or operate thru existing library organization… I think the incentive of a trade/artisan economy would make more sense, and justify individualized labor (house calls for NAS reconfiguration, for instance). Like a plumbing contractor vs inspector… I like the socialized idea, but I don’t see how the implementation would work under current social service labor system and organization…
    - froggit 4y ago
      The posted article is about the problem presented by police overreach into data that the average person has a mistaken expectation of privacy for. I may be misunderstanding what you're proposing, but it seems to me like having the same organization run things for both the neighborhood and police would actually facilitate police access to this kind of data moreso than provide any benefits in privacy.
      - zamnos 4y ago
        Which is exactly why I proposed the USPS as a solution! They are an independent agency of the executive branch, and are the perfect fit for such a service.
    - CrazyPyroLinux 4y ago
      Odd that you pick USPS of all possible examples: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/apr/23/usps-covert-program-postal-service-social-media https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/apr/23/usps-covert...
- ClumsyPilot 4y ago
  > Linux has been pretty stable for decades now Really? I installed Ubuntu after a 5 year holiday from it - Now you have some kind of Snaps, and flatpak. There is whatever is happening in wayland. To install handbrake, you need to install flatpack. There used to be 4 different drivers for intel GPU, now there are 7, and I still can't get Quicksync to work in Handbrake. There seems to be some kind of plugin you can download from their website, but that doesn't install. After tinkering, I realised that Quicksync works in ffmpeg and in Jellyfin, but not in Handbrake Mind you, I have a home server that runs 20 docker contsiner for things like home assistant. I deploy applications to kubernetes in my say job. But this shit is still frustrating Who do I call to fix this for less than $500 an hour?
  - ilyt 4y ago
    Just install Debian honestly. Ubuntu is slowly turning into clown fiesta.
    - chaxor 4y ago
      If you're looking to get away from the massive crowd and the effects of it (new devs aimlessly reinventing wheels) you have to move to something like BSD, and then learn to deal with not having the tools made by said new aimless devs.
jedberg 4y ago
I'm not sure that's necessarily true. For example when need maintenance on my heater, I have to call someone certified in support for my brand. Same with my washer, dishwasher, refrigerator, and stove. If GE made a home security product for example, it would make sense for vendors to get certified on GE home security support. Even if the underlying tech changed a lot, if they had access to support docs and a support portal it could work.
- swatcoder 4y ago
  That’s true and that’s probably what first entrants will do (are doing), but it takes a big capital expenditure and a lot of time to set up a program like that and recruit local shops to participate in, and your market opportunity is constrained by that growth. It’s easier to certify techs at an existing HVAC repair on your specific heater than it is to convince somebody to set up shop just for your new and peculiar product. Maturity of industry matters.
- ilyt 4y ago
  I mean, there are companies doing that. Just not at the price homeowner will want.
jollyllama 4y ago
Even then, there are contractors who will not work on systems installed by contractors not adhering to certain standards of workmanship.
apercu 4y ago
Innovation doesn't seem that fast to me. I've been in tech since the mid-90's and all I see is iteration when it comes to storage technology. What is faster and faster is anti-consumer activities and the general acceptance of it.

rlyshw 4y ago

Linux has been pretty stable for decades now. I’ve been using the same core configs and bulk data in my home compute environment basically since I started using Linux. Remote repos for any syncing needs, then just tar/rsync bulk archive data over. Store longer term or stale data on older decommissioned HDDs. I’ve been running more or less the same services through hardware, hypervisor, and now kubernetes migrations and revisions. It seems to me doing things “the Linux way”, sticking to open source where possible, is resistant to the fast pace of the consumer innovation market. When anything new comes along, it’s usually relatively trivial to transfer over.

rlyshw 4y ago
I know that this is a typical HN post, assuming everyone should become a Linux sysadmin. But related to the parent, and recent developments in Zero Trust Access products, I wonder if there is a pathway towards neighborhood-scale sysadmin services. I mean, I essentially provide that to my small social community with a private media tenant. With ZTA systems in place to accommodate remote access, maybe there is an appetite for neighbor-to-neighbor network sysadmin services? Hard to compete with the sleek silos of big box brands and their infinite marketing budget, plus 5 9s of service, though.
- zamnos 4y ago
  If only there were some sort of regional authority, a local group of people to whom we all gave money to, that could hire someone to administer such a system. This group could take on the responsibility of running, not just this neighborhood network system, but also, I dunno, the fire department and the police department and maybe also the schools? I know it's an "out there" crazy silicon valley leftist idea but maybe something like that could work? Okay no but for reals, the USPS could do that!
  - rlyshw 4y ago
    USPS might be mired in fed scale problems. Maybe a Library is more appropriate? At least, more directly accessible at the local level. I’m just not sure how exactly that would work, or operate thru existing library organization… I think the incentive of a trade/artisan economy would make more sense, and justify individualized labor (house calls for NAS reconfiguration, for instance). Like a plumbing contractor vs inspector… I like the socialized idea, but I don’t see how the implementation would work under current social service labor system and organization…
  - froggit 4y ago
    The posted article is about the problem presented by police overreach into data that the average person has a mistaken expectation of privacy for. I may be misunderstanding what you're proposing, but it seems to me like having the same organization run things for both the neighborhood and police would actually facilitate police access to this kind of data moreso than provide any benefits in privacy.
    - zamnos 4y ago
      Which is exactly why I proposed the USPS as a solution! They are an independent agency of the executive branch, and are the perfect fit for such a service.
  - CrazyPyroLinux 4y ago
    Odd that you pick USPS of all possible examples: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/apr/23/usps-covert-program-postal-service-social-media https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/apr/23/usps-covert...
ClumsyPilot 4y ago
> Linux has been pretty stable for decades now Really? I installed Ubuntu after a 5 year holiday from it - Now you have some kind of Snaps, and flatpak. There is whatever is happening in wayland. To install handbrake, you need to install flatpack. There used to be 4 different drivers for intel GPU, now there are 7, and I still can't get Quicksync to work in Handbrake. There seems to be some kind of plugin you can download from their website, but that doesn't install. After tinkering, I realised that Quicksync works in ffmpeg and in Jellyfin, but not in Handbrake Mind you, I have a home server that runs 20 docker contsiner for things like home assistant. I deploy applications to kubernetes in my say job. But this shit is still frustrating Who do I call to fix this for less than $500 an hour?
- ilyt 4y ago
  Just install Debian honestly. Ubuntu is slowly turning into clown fiesta.
  - chaxor 4y ago
    If you're looking to get away from the massive crowd and the effects of it (new devs aimlessly reinventing wheels) you have to move to something like BSD, and then learn to deal with not having the tools made by said new aimless devs.

jedberg 4y ago

I'm not sure that's necessarily true. For example when need maintenance on my heater, I have to call someone certified in support for my brand. Same with my washer, dishwasher, refrigerator, and stove. If GE made a home security product for example, it would make sense for vendors to get certified on GE home security support. Even if the underlying tech changed a lot, if they had access to support docs and a support portal it could work.

swatcoder 4y ago
That’s true and that’s probably what first entrants will do (are doing), but it takes a big capital expenditure and a lot of time to set up a program like that and recruit local shops to participate in, and your market opportunity is constrained by that growth. It’s easier to certify techs at an existing HVAC repair on your specific heater than it is to convince somebody to set up shop just for your new and peculiar product. Maturity of industry matters.
ilyt 4y ago
I mean, there are companies doing that. Just not at the price homeowner will want.

jollyllama 4y ago

Even then, there are contractors who will not work on systems installed by contractors not adhering to certain standards of workmanship.

apercu 4y ago

Innovation doesn't seem that fast to me. I've been in tech since the mid-90's and all I see is iteration when it comes to storage technology. What is faster and faster is anti-consumer activities and the general acceptance of it.