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Show HN: Privacy-Focused Alternative to Google Docs and Microsoft Word

docs.arcaneoffice.com

31–40 of 65 posts

Re: Show HN: Privacy-Focused Alternative to Google Docs and Microsoft Word

#31

Just a suggestion: Give users the option to hide the controls. You already let people hide the formatting, but in order for me to want to use this to write, I would need the ability to hide the top bar ie BACK TO LIST | HOME | ... | EXPORT & SHARE

Thanks for your interest, I noted this, and I will talk with the designers ;) We will contact you when we update it.

Re: Show HN: Privacy-Focused Alternative to Google Docs and Microsoft Word

#32
post #5

As we keep hearing about data breach news of big companies like Dropbox or WhatsApp, it is harder for us to keep trusting them with our file and personal data, and it made us think about finding a better way. We believe the best way to keep data secure is not having them in the first place. That's why we choose the server-less solution, in another word, blockchain. Here is a link to our launch on Product Hunt that wa…

How does blockchain promote privacy? Doesn’t it just store the data in a decentralized, permanent way?

Well for one no one can just query your Gaia data for anyone who wants to purchase your data..

Re: Show HN: Privacy-Focused Alternative to Google Docs and Microsoft Word

#33
post #9

"Sign in with Blockstack" - never heard of that, so won't be signing up. No way to provide sign-in with e-mail & pw? :(

I am really confused how it's supposed to be "decentralized" if you have to have a sign-in with a specific provider to use it. Can you log in if Blockstack-the-company goes down or has a technical issue?

Its a distributed database, it doesn't matter if the blockstack company takes a long walk off of a short pier.

Re: Show HN: Privacy-Focused Alternative to Google Docs and Microsoft Word

#35
post #15

Title text says "Blockchain-based alternative for Google Docs". GDPR mandates "right to be forgotten", which afaik isn't very compatible with how blockchains work. How do you deal with it?

The encryption key is on the blockchain, but not your files, and you can choose whatever storage provider you want when you sign up. So you are free to remove all your fills, and they will be erased entirely, although they are heavily encrypted and you are the only person that have the keys.

Re: Show HN: Privacy-Focused Alternative to Google Docs and Microsoft Word

#36
post #15

Title text says "Blockchain-based alternative for Google Docs". GDPR mandates "right to be forgotten", which afaik isn't very compatible with how blockchains work. How do you deal with it?

How do you forget something that you do not know to begin with?

Re: Show HN: Privacy-Focused Alternative to Google Docs and Microsoft Word

#37

App idea: iOS/Android/PC/MacOs/ipad/linux clients to encrypt/decrypt documents on Google Docs. Just encryption -- you don't need the whole blockchain. Not sure there is a way to do that with Google Docs, though. You need a layer between them. You can use Google Drive of course, but then the client has to come up with all the clever features Docs provides.

That would be interesting, especially if generalized to support lots of different storage options - Google Docs/Drive, Dropbox, Github gists, pastebin, etc.

Re: Show HN: Privacy-Focused Alternative to Google Docs and Microsoft Word

#38
post #17

I'm surprised of the amount of blockchain hate in the comments from people who haven't even checked out the product...

blockchain and silicon valley don't really play too nice together, which is why you see so much chain dev done outside of the valley in places like Seattle, NYC or Switzerland. SV is stuck in its silo's, content to be spymasters of their peers for the five eyes.

Silicon Valley is one of the major hubs of blockchain development. And not everyone on HN is from SV.

Re: Show HN: Privacy-Focused Alternative to Google Docs and Microsoft Word

#39

I would like to see a preview before signing up. Is that possible based on the current app structure? Being someone who is working on building a text editor myself, I know how many small details make or break the user experience. While the privacy focus is nice, I won't sacrifice the user experience. Proving that the app state is up to par would be an instant factor to make me switch.

The signing up process is simple and free and will not get any unnecessary info, give it a try ;)

Re: Show HN: Privacy-Focused Alternative to Google Docs and Microsoft Word

#40
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does blockchain promote privacy? Doesn’t it just store the data in a decentralized, permanent way?

We use Blockstack for authentication. It is made on Bitcoin blockchain to store your private key that will be used to encrypt all of your stuff. Making the master key will be done just the first time, and after that, every file gets a new password from the master one. No matter what, all the files will be encrypted, so you always have control over your data — something like ProtonMail but for Office.

Why are you storing a private key on a blockchain, where the primary purpose of a blockchain is universal visibility?
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