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The idea is that it would provide an easy alternative to the services that are provided by these large companies, i.e. Google Talk (or whatever they call it now

The idea is that it would provide an easy alternative to the services that are provided by these large companies, i.e. Google Talk (or whatever they call it nowadays) replaced with an XMPP server, Gmail replaced with self-hosted email, Dropbox replaced by your own self-hosted instance of ownCloud, etc. The only part of PRISM that it might not provide a defence against would be big social networks (Facebook et al), but you would still be able to host your own StatusNet instance or Tent server on your arkOS server and have alternatives that way. When services can be decentralized and brought back under individual user control, a "direct link" into major web company's servers is definitely made irrelevant.

muyuu 13y ago
I don't see how does it provide any of that. This is a server administrator, isn't it? like old school Webmin for instance?
- jcook818 13y ago
  It gives you the same abilities as Webmin, but it is/will be so much more. No need to fiddle around with config files (like Webmin) but at the same time it presents the configurations in ways that non-sysadmins might hope to understand. Installing and configuring webapps like Wordpress/Drupal/ownCloud and others with one click. Managing websites and emails in an intuitive and "easy" way. Webmin is great, but if you aren't a Linux sysadmin it doesn't really make hosting things any easier. Think of arkOS/Genesis as Webmin but with a better design, much easier to use and a more modular style of operation. It's kinda hard to explain because the plugins I am referring to are still works-in-progress. But as a longtime Webmin user, I can assure you that it goes above and beyond what Webmin does. It's actually a lot closer to Zentyal, but targeted for personal use, and bringing in many more improvements.
  - muyuu 13y ago
    I don't think complex installs full of options can really be reduced to a single click (without compromising security massively). "Think of arkOS/Genesis as Webmin but with a better design, much easier to use and a more modular style of operation." Ok that's a good goal. Although right now it doesn't seem to cover even a small fraction of what Webmin does. And even if it did, the "de-cloud everything" claim seems far-fetched from what a super-duper-better-Webmin would really do. Something like providing email in a local server involves a whole lot more than keeping an email daemon running. I'm sceptical that you can make even the network set-up "one click", or SSL tunnelling, or actual encryption which would be essential for something like that. Each of these are on their own massive, unsolved problems. Anyway, I will reserve judgement for later. The design looks good, that's all I can say at this point.
ceejayoz 13y ago
Self-hosted e-mail still has to get to its recipients. Most of us can't have a "I won't e-mail anyone not on my own e-mail server" policy. Same for XMPP - sure, internal traffic is safe, but as soon as you're contacting someone outside your network it's entirely possible they're being watched by PRISM.
- jcook818 13y ago
  This is true. I didn't mean to say that it would completely negate the effects of PRISM (or similar programs/policies). And it obviously doesn't eliminate the need for using encryption when you communicate with external services. But it will still "defend" against it by allowing people to repatriate a substantial amount of their data. The less personally identifiable data for you that Google/Microsoft/et al have on their servers, the more that policies like these become irrelevant.

muyuu 13y ago

I don't see how does it provide any of that. This is a server administrator, isn't it? like old school Webmin for instance?

jcook818 13y ago
It gives you the same abilities as Webmin, but it is/will be so much more. No need to fiddle around with config files (like Webmin) but at the same time it presents the configurations in ways that non-sysadmins might hope to understand. Installing and configuring webapps like Wordpress/Drupal/ownCloud and others with one click. Managing websites and emails in an intuitive and "easy" way. Webmin is great, but if you aren't a Linux sysadmin it doesn't really make hosting things any easier. Think of arkOS/Genesis as Webmin but with a better design, much easier to use and a more modular style of operation. It's kinda hard to explain because the plugins I am referring to are still works-in-progress. But as a longtime Webmin user, I can assure you that it goes above and beyond what Webmin does. It's actually a lot closer to Zentyal, but targeted for personal use, and bringing in many more improvements.
- muyuu 13y ago
  I don't think complex installs full of options can really be reduced to a single click (without compromising security massively). "Think of arkOS/Genesis as Webmin but with a better design, much easier to use and a more modular style of operation." Ok that's a good goal. Although right now it doesn't seem to cover even a small fraction of what Webmin does. And even if it did, the "de-cloud everything" claim seems far-fetched from what a super-duper-better-Webmin would really do. Something like providing email in a local server involves a whole lot more than keeping an email daemon running. I'm sceptical that you can make even the network set-up "one click", or SSL tunnelling, or actual encryption which would be essential for something like that. Each of these are on their own massive, unsolved problems. Anyway, I will reserve judgement for later. The design looks good, that's all I can say at this point.

ceejayoz 13y ago

Self-hosted e-mail still has to get to its recipients. Most of us can't have a "I won't e-mail anyone not on my own e-mail server" policy. Same for XMPP - sure, internal traffic is safe, but as soon as you're contacting someone outside your network it's entirely possible they're being watched by PRISM.

jcook818 13y ago
This is true. I didn't mean to say that it would completely negate the effects of PRISM (or similar programs/policies). And it obviously doesn't eliminate the need for using encryption when you communicate with external services. But it will still "defend" against it by allowing people to repatriate a substantial amount of their data. The less personally identifiable data for you that Google/Microsoft/et al have on their servers, the more that policies like these become irrelevant.