4 ms·

> But you can run the same software on your server at home if you want, for free. Whats to say this will still be true if the company gets sold?

• happymellon 5mo ago
  Except that we do have Vaultwarden, so those who haven't already switched still have an option.
  • alt227 5mo ago
    Vaultwarden relies on the goodwill of Bitwarden to allow it to use its clients for compatibility. I would wager a new owner looking for money would block that pretty soon after buying the company.
    • lern_too_spel 5mo ago
      The clients are open source. If Bitwarden removes the ability to select the server, people will just fork the clients.
      • alt227 5mo ago
        Again, for how long? The answers to all the questions seems to be the same. If Bitwarden was sold they could remove all of this free functionality and interoperability with 3rd party clients immediately. Then you could say well Vaultwarden will work with these forked clients, but then you are placing your security into the hands of multiple different open source maintainers and vaultwarden then has nothing to do with Bitwarden and becomes some random back end + some random 3rds party clients.
        • rcxdude 5mo ago
          Sure, but vaultwarden as a system would be entirely usable, I don't think a lot of it is really relying on the bitwarden compatibility for much more than a little convenience.
          • alt227 5mo ago
            Useable yes, but trustable? Not without some serious backing and regular auditing from some public security experts. IMO that fact that the existing Vaultwarden system relies on Bitwarden clients and therefore caries Bitwardens secure reputation is its main selling point. Take that away and Vaultwarden is nothing more than some random back end software that can not really be trusted.
            • troyvit 5mo ago
              > the existing Vaultwarden system relies on Bitwarden clients and therefore caries Bitwardens secure reputation is its main selling point. I hope that this could be a starting point and not an end-point of Vaultwarden. It has gotten far on the shoulders of the Bitwarden giant. If it forked, would it have a large enough community to continue to carry that trust forward (including building new clients)? How much financial support would they need? Could they find a sponsor? It's a European project -- would the EU help fund it as a data sovereignty push?
              • alt227 5mo ago
                Agreed, it would be great to have a fully open source solution, however I would be wary of it until it was audited and backed by secuirty professionals in the field.
            • rcxdude 5mo ago
              Maybe, I don't think that reputation really should transfer anyway, and it's not something I would consider necessary for using it. (I mean, some scrutiny is obviously good, but I don't think it needs to be as big as Bitwarden).
              • dns_snek 5mo ago
                > I don't think that reputation really should transfer anyway Why not? The most important security bits are implemented client-side which is developed by Bitwarden. If the clients are secure then my database is safe even if Vaultwarden turns out to be evil. Switching from Bitwarden Client to Vaultwarden Client would require about 3 orders of magnitude more trust than switching the server which primarily deals with encrypted blobs. If the client turns out to be malicious then it's game over.
• xienze 5mo ago
  The fact that Vaultwarden exists?
  • alt227 5mo ago
    How long after a public sale will Bitwarden clients keep compatible with Vaultwarden? The new owners could put a check in all clients on the first day of ownership if they wanted, and Vaultwarden would immediately be obselete and useless.
    • GCUMstlyHarmls 5mo ago
      I wonder if Bitwarden shit on everyone, how long it would take for Vaultwarden specific clients to appear. A browser extension would be pretty simple, app store apps are a bit more complicated because of the pay-to-play aspects.
      • alt227 5mo ago
        The problem is once Vaultwarden clients appear, then Vaultwarden becomes its own complete system and is no longer able to rely on the good reputation of Bitwarden. Plus developing clients for multiple browsers and OSes is a lot more difficult than just keeping a back end up to date. If they went this path I think I would jump ship to a paid service.
    • YFriedman 5mo ago
      The Bitwarden client is FOSS, so Vaultwarden could fork it.
  • donmcronald 5mo ago
    As soon as they break compatibility with the official clients, it becomes much tougher. Even though the current versions can be forked, the whole system is set up to work against any kind of grassroots effort to maintain an open source version. Apple and Google being the gatekeepers for all mobile app distribution is a real pain point. Without the clout of a big brand name the risk of being unable to distribute apps goes up.