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The Vision for Decentralized Web

tautvilas.lt

1–10 of 53 posts

Re: The Vision for Decentralized Web

#2
This a problem I’ve something I’ve been working on my free time. The biggest problem with the decentralized web right now is that setting up a server is a huge pain and your average person lacks the knowledge and resources to do so.

I’ve been working on a simple music streaming server called mStream. The goal is to make a server even my mom could setup.

I publish binaries for every major OS which means you don’t need to rent a server or buy more hardware. You can just run it on your home computer. mStream is configurable entirely through the GUI, so you do not need to open a terminal to get it running.

The hard part is making that server easily accessible on the internet. Setting up SSL and dealing with NATs still requires tech knowledge. I’ve been making some beer money selling hole punching software, but that still requires me to host a server so other people can access their servers.

Re: The Vision for Decentralized Web

#3

This a problem I’ve something I’ve been working on my free time. The biggest problem with the decentralized web right now is that setting up a server is a huge pain and your average person lacks the knowledge and resources to do so. I’ve been working on a simple music streaming server called mStream. The goal is to make a server even my mom could setup. I publish binaries for every major OS which means you don’t need…

Tor is often a valid workaround for both NAT and SSL.

Re: The Vision for Decentralized Web

#4
Chicken and egg: Why would anyone leave Facebook/Twitter/CorporateTool for this or any other competitor?

Also, what's to prevent this from being boiled down to another set of Facebook-like/Twitter-like/CorporateTools, just as the early web was contorted into today's interactive TV?

Re: The Vision for Decentralized Web

#5
needs more vision. decentralization alone won't get us out of this nightmare. even if we design the perfect replacement system, we'll never get the mainstream off the old one - not without nuking Moab Utah.

Re: The Vision for Decentralized Web

#6
I'll be interested to see where these distributed trends go. I too have been working on something to solve a problem I face; "information" sharing and storage. Fundamentally I want a public wikipedia focused around small pieces of information (though I'm still toying/dogfooding with the UX), but more importantly I don't think it should be a centralized entity.

Oddly though there's something I don't like about building on top of a blockchain. It feels strangely walled off. A distributed system with all the problems of a closed off startup. I'm likely being unfair, but I'm just saying how I perceive them. Despite being interested in this area, including working on it personally, I just have no interest in joining one of these blockchain things. I don't honestly understand what I or my hypothetical users are getting out of it.

I really like the Scuttlebutt protocol in concept; it feels very.. "email-like". Something that is a mix of federation and self-hosting. Scuttle or maybe ActivityPub seem to have a good feel for decentralizing. Blockchain (as I've seen so far) however.. eh. Am I being unfair / short sighted?

Re: The Vision for Decentralized Web

#7

I'll be interested to see where these distributed trends go. I too have been working on something to solve a problem I face; "information" sharing and storage. Fundamentally I want a public wikipedia focused around small pieces of information (though I'm still toying/dogfooding with the UX) , but more importantly I don't think it should be a centralized entity. Oddly though there's something I don't like about buildi…

You should check out blockstack. The platform does not use blockchain to store data, but only to create a more robust domain name and identity solution. The data is stored on encrypted server storage. I think this is a nice combination of decentralization and blockchain at work.

Re: The Vision for Decentralized Web

#9
post #7

I'll be interested to see where these distributed trends go. I too have been working on something to solve a problem I face; "information" sharing and storage. Fundamentally I want a public wikipedia focused around small pieces of information (though I'm still toying/dogfooding with the UX) , but more importantly I don't think it should be a centralized entity. Oddly though there's something I don't like about buildi…

You should check out blockstack. The platform does not use blockchain to store data, but only to create a more robust domain name and identity solution. The data is stored on encrypted server storage. I think this is a nice combination of decentralization and blockchain at work.

"Blockstack PBC, a public benefit corporation at the heart of the Blockstack ecosystem, has raised $50M+ in capital to develop the core protocols and developer tools for the platform."

What is decentralized about a venture-funded vanity project?

Re: The Vision for Decentralized Web

#10
AFAICS, neither Blockstack or dpage.io are "decentralized". Note the login page. Ask what happens if dpage.io site goes down. This is just a website. The fact that this site uses Blockstack's centralized servers doesn't make it "decentalized" any more than using AWS would.
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