Very true. Still, it makes a big difference, to omit the jargon and the need to choose an instance. Even if under the hood the technology is the same, the users

Very true. Still, it makes a big difference, to omit the jargon and the need to choose an instance. Even if under the hood the technology is the same, the users just know they sign in to an app and it works everywhere. The content creator/moderator knows that if the hosting service starts acting iffy, he exports everything to a different host, keeps the same domain, no one knows he even moved. Much smoother. The problem with federation is not the technology, is that the technology is packaged as a platform.