For context, here is the same thread from 6 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6438320
Urbit
121–130 of 309 posts
Re: Urbit
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
The best way to describe it is to tell us why we would want to use it. Also, don't say "it's a computer". It's not. A computer is what I'm typing this on - a piece of hardware. So - why would I want to use Urbit? Which problems does it solve? How will it make my life easier? Does it have any features that will make me say "wow, this is so cool!"
I do work for Tlon, if that wasn't obvious. I also find the "computer" terminology misleading, so I'm with you on that. Why would you want to use Urbit? The same reasons you want to use the modern consumer internet, which Urbit intends to pave over and replace with something better. How is Urbit better? Because you'll have all your data and programs on one machine, which you control, using an open source operating sy…
> I do work for Tlon, if that wasn't obvious.
This is at least your 4th, and potentially your 8th, comment on this story (at this point I can only tell what hour your posts were made in). Why did you wait so long to make this disclosure, and to the best of your knowledge who else in these comments works for this company?
Re: Urbit
#123All I see is ocean and stone images. Please if you are reading this, hire a marketing firm. I am sure you have worked hard on this but I can't understand what your product is. How can that be that you want to be the last computer but most can't even understand first thing about it.
Agreed (though there are some trees and abstract art too). It seems like a parody or a scam, but some people here are talking about it as if it's real? What is real? It certainly doesn't seem to be a computer like it claims to be. There is no hardware (right?).
"No one else can look at it without your permission, it can never show you ads.": These are only possible if it has no visual display or interface at all, or if it's so limited as to be useless.
"Your Urbit is a simple, durable computer ... Your Urbit isn’t a physical device: it lives in the cloud or your laptop.": Contradictory claims.
"Your Urbit is a permanent, private archive.": Until your laptop or server hard disk dies.
Re: Urbit
#124I think the novelty terminology makes this more confusing than it needs to be. If the hippy "its a movement not a trend" speak was taken out of the descriptions I'd probably be able to understand what this is supposed to be.
Re: Urbit
#125Idle question for whatever tlon'ers are reading this: have you considered putting a bitcoin in an urbit and challenging the world to get it out, as a publicity stunt slash bug bounty?
To me, the most interesting thing about Urbit is the explicit design goal of (eventually) becoming so simple and straightforward that it needs no further updates, as described in Toward a Frozen Operating System[0].
So, urbit is supposed to be a safe place to store my precious files, right? I'm supposed to be able to put my blogs and my bitcoins in there, leave it running, and come back in five years or fifty, and they'll still be there, right? So, why not put that to a real test - publish the identity of a running urbit with a prize on its filesystem, and see what happens? If it gets cracked, you get valuable feedback about your product for a bargain price (albeit with egg on your face). If not, you get some hard evidence that urbit does what it claims to on the side of the tin.
Re: Urbit
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
It says he quit; it does not say he doesn’t still have equity.
from the FAQ: "In early 2019, Curtis left the Urbit project and gave all of his voting interest (both as address space and voting shares in the company) back to Tlon. He retains a non-voting, minority interest in both the address space and the company — but is not involved in the day-to-day development or operations."
Why is the project still named after his Royalist blog? It's hard to take this distancing act seriously when the very title of your project is a fascist dog whistle.
Re: Urbit
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks Dang! I've become interested in alternative forms of Internet due to the recent .Org/ICANN news. Is it okay that I post these (also posted gnunet)? I'm learning a lot from people's comments.
I don't see a problem. If things get repetitive people will start complaining, but in the meantime these posts have been upvoted out of interest.
"Obscurantist racist vapourware" feels like it ought to be a problem, especially if it deliberately tries to obscure these properties in seemingly direct contradiction of the curiosity mandate.
Re: Urbit
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah I'm seeing all kinds of weird analogies/ abstractions that try to explain what this thing is but not a single use-case or an example of somebody getting utility out of it. Is this a parody?
Use case: this conversation, except between our own computers. Typically, we 'log in' to 'our accounts' on some company's server and use whatever fuctions the company grants us. They are not really our accounts in any meaningful way. If one were to be banned by hackernew(or twitter), she would have no access to her data, social connections, et c. In the urbit world, any data you have authored and any messages you hav…
Ok, so what's stopping one party from changing the data? How would one party prove they have the right data? Is this like blockchain messaging?
Re: Urbit
#129I have seen Urbit a couple times but never really understood it. From the "Understanding Urbit" page - >Imagine that you can login from anywhere with one name and password. >And when you do, your entire OS appears. >Inside is your whole digital life. All of your communities, conversations, and connections. All of your biometric data and devices. Your entire personal archive in one place that’s secure, private, and de…
The part you buy is dns that runs on ethereum (iirc), but with artificial scarcity because they want to make money. This part is completely pointless, because the actual system could work as well on ens directly, or even dns. The actual urbit is like docker with standard API for communication between all apps on different containers, but it runs on a lisp-machine like architecture, except instead of lisp there's a ne…
The place where a company puts a paywall is always arbitrary. Google puts it at the ad auction, and tries to give away devices and services for (close to) free. Apple puts it at the device purchase and tries to give away the software for (close to) free.
These decisions are arbitrary. You just make a bet that you can be attractive in a certain light, and you charge money in that light, and try to make every adjacent activity free.
Re: Urbit
#130I heard of Urbit a while back and still cannot for the life of me figure out what it does or what it's for. The comments here are helping me figure out how it works, but it still leaves me with the question of what can I do with it that I can't accomplish with my good ol' OS or internet or (whatever the closest conventional analogue for Urbit is).
It's because it's a system trying to pitch itself as a product. The system being a top to bottom rewrite of the stack in such a way so as to sidestep the client/server relationship entirely. A lot of services rely upon positioning themselves as the server, as the big computer you have timeshared access to, and they monetise your usage. For things like photo storage, or basic communication, or permissioned access to y…
Thank you! This is probably the first clear explanation I’ve read about Urbit. I’m far more interested in the project now. Good luck on development.
It would help to have a condensed version of your comment on the website, as opposed to space metaphors and pictures of rocks ;)