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Zero Data App

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41–50 of 132 posts

Re: Zero Data App

#41

Pre cloud, this was just apps and local files. Just because an app stored a file on your hard drive didn't mean you could do anything useful with it outside that app, if it was a proprietary format. I'm not sure the typical user misses dealing with files.

Files are an implementation of "your stuff", using standards based storage to simplify managing "your stuff" should be the goal.

A simple "backup/restore to/from " service/computer often will suffice.

Re: Zero Data App

#42

Pre cloud, this was just apps and local files. Just because an app stored a file on your hard drive didn't mean you could do anything useful with it outside that app, if it was a proprietary format. I'm not sure the typical user misses dealing with files.

This isn’t true of the vast majority of files.

People could do a lot with their photos, videos, music and movie files that were stored in standardized formats on their hard disks.

Witness the plethora of music and movie players, the tools formed around images and video browsing and manipulation, etc.

Even non standardized stuff like word and excel documents could be shared, backed up, organized using these files.

Re: Zero Data App

#43
post #2

For the vast majority of users, isn't having solid export options enough, or even better than this? Your average non-techie isn't going to want to configure each app to get syncing with NextCloud or Dropbox working just right, they just want to perform a task with the app and move on with their lives, regardless of where the data lives. And with an export option, if the app dies, you've still got your blog posts or p…

If you're doing trivial things, or things where the data is the content itself, then none of this matters and you would be right. However, if the data is something more "meta" or is tied to the product itself, it becomes a bit trickier. If the app is not just a tool, but the whole workflow of a team or organization revolves around a workflow the app provides, it can be tricky, because the data is not just the content…

I'd argue that if the data is that specific to the app (e.g. which trees and courses of Duolingo you've completed), then if the app dies, the data is irrelevant. Either the data is useful outside the context of the app, in which case it tends to have standard formats (.png for images, .md for formatted text, etc), or the data is not useful outside of the context of the app (e.g. Duolingo) in which case the data is no longer of value and can be discarded, as no-one is going to be able to offer the exact same courses and trees and in-app cosmetics and gems etc etc etc.

It's true that the limited period of time between end of life and servers going offline may be a problem, but that tends to be a long period of time (3-6 months in general from the services I've used that have shutdown).

Re: Zero Data App

#44
post #28

Where actually is the data being stored then? With another provider? On your device? Or is the second diagram just about being allowed to access your data whenever/however you like. Eg if SocialNetwork just made an API that let you access 100% of any data they have relevant to you?

I think, currently the data is self-hosted.

Seems unlikely to solve anything in that case doesn’t it. Most people put convenience many places higher on their list than privacy.

Re: Zero Data App

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're doing trivial things, or things where the data is the content itself, then none of this matters and you would be right. However, if the data is something more "meta" or is tied to the product itself, it becomes a bit trickier. If the app is not just a tool, but the whole workflow of a team or organization revolves around a workflow the app provides, it can be tricky, because the data is not just the content…

I'd argue that if the data is that specific to the app (e.g. which trees and courses of Duolingo you've completed), then if the app dies, the data is irrelevant. Either the data is useful outside the context of the app, in which case it tends to have standard formats (.png for images, .md for formatted text, etc), or the data is not useful outside of the context of the app (e.g. Duolingo) in which case the data is no…

As I said, the examples you chose are for the simplest use cases, and fungible applications/features for which the raw data is pretty much the whole thing and having a database dump is enough.

Valuable applications more often than not simplify complex things or do hard things behind the scenes. Their value is in the workflow/experience or the processing that takes place on the data, including APIs and integrations to unlock users' creativity.

>It's true that the limited period of time between end of life and servers going offline may be a problem, but that tends to be a long period of time (3-6 months in general from the services I've used that have shutdown).

Again, have you used these as an individual relying on them lightly, or heavily, or as a business/organization where your work relied on these? Have you used them as a user, or as the person who was involved in making the purchasing decision for the whole team/organization?

Re: Zero Data App

#47
post #27

I saw remoteStorage years ago and had the impression the idea was nice, but without a bunch of easy to set up hosting providers this won't work.

This was my first time seeing it - looks like there's a small community around it. Their website lists two hosting providers now...

Re: Zero Data App

#48
post #25

0data appears to be a curated collection of five best-in-class libraries/frameworks that enable building SPA apps with user controlled data, rather than Big Tech controlled platforms and services. 1. Autonomous Data 2. remoteStorage 3. Solid Project 4. Unhosted 5. Fission [1] https://noeldemartin.github.io/autonomous-data/introduction.... [2] https://remotestorage.io/ [3] https://solidproject.org/ [4] https://unhoste…

We are developing both server and apps for [3] https://solidproject.org/ The effort is backed by Tim Berners Lee, with great auth libraries including dPop and PKCE token exchange

Re: Zero Data App

#49
post #25

0data appears to be a curated collection of five best-in-class libraries/frameworks that enable building SPA apps with user controlled data, rather than Big Tech controlled platforms and services. 1. Autonomous Data 2. remoteStorage 3. Solid Project 4. Unhosted 5. Fission [1] https://noeldemartin.github.io/autonomous-data/introduction.... [2] https://remotestorage.io/ [3] https://solidproject.org/ [4] https://unhoste…

We are developing both server and apps for [3] https://solidproject.org/ The effort is backed by Tim Berners Lee, with great auth libraries including dPop and PKCE token exchange

Once you authorize an app to use your data, how can you check if the app is not "syncing" everything with their backend?

Re: Zero Data App

#50
The message is good but the name makes no sense, and is almost the opposite of what’s described. In a traditional web app, the client has zero data, or just some cache. But in a "zero data app", in the way they mean it, the app has all the data, so certainly not "zero".

Go explain the concept to someone unfamiliar with it with a nonsensical name like this.

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