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Upspin – Another option for file sharing

security.googleblog.com

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Re: Upspin – Another option for file sharing

#141

Post by andi_satria77 »

inconshreveable wrote: post #19

Seems to be very much in the space of kbfs and IPFS. For the folks who are building this: can you compare and contrast this to both kbfs and IPFS? Why have you chosen to start another project in an already crowded space instead of contributing to either of those projects? They are both open source and much further along in development . . .

Seems to be very much in the space of kbfs and IPFS. For the folks who are building this: can you compare and contrast this to both kbfs and IPFS? Why have you chosen to start another project in an already crowded space instead of contributing to either of those projects? They are both open source and much further along in development . . .

Re: Upspin – Another option for file sharing

#142

Post by andi_satria77 »

enneff wrote: post #21
inconshreveable wrote: post #19

Seems to be very much in the space of kbfs and IPFS. For the folks who are building this: can you compare and contrast this to both kbfs and IPFS? Why have you chosen to start another project in an already crowded space instead of contributing to either of those projects? They are both open source and much further along in development . . .

We are aware of kbfs, ipfs, and several other systems. There are many trade-offs one can make in this space, and I think Upspin's set of tradeoffs is somewhat unique. One reason we started this project instead of contributing to others is that it's not clear that the trade-offs made by extant systems are really working for users, at a fundamental level. Maybe Upspin's will, maybe they won't. We'll see. We wrote a bit…

We are aware of kbfs, ipfs, and several other systems. There are many trade-offs one can make in this space, and I think Upspin's set of tradeoffs is somewhat unique. One reason we started this project instead of contributing to others is that it's not clear that the trade-offs made by extant systems are really working for users, at a fundamental level. Maybe Upspin's will, maybe they won't. We'll see. We wrote a bit about this in https://upspin.io/doc/overview.md but there is still more to say. I filed an issue a while back to write a substantial document that compares Upspin to other systems. Hopefully the community can help us flesh it out in time: https://github.com/upspin/upspin/issues/177

Re: Upspin – Another option for file sharing

#144

Post by driusan »

Merovius wrote: post #132
reitanqild wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't know if you are allowed to comment but: Is this an early sign of Google going back to its "not evil" roots or do I read too much into this? Edit: for context, I used to be a google fanboy and I still to sone degree recommend some of their products. I just got a bit fed up with the butchering of xmpp and possibly a few things I can't remember right now.

It's not a Google product. So no. (not that I'd agree with it not adhering to those roots currently. Just that this project has nothing to do with company policy)

"This is the official list of people who can contribute (and typically have contributed) code to the Upspin repository. The AUTHORS file lists the copyright holders; this file lists people. For example, Google employees are listed here but not in AUTHORS, because Google holds the copyright."

Re: Upspin – Another option for file sharing

#145

Post by kartickv »

josh2600 wrote: post #110
kartickv wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What problem does this solve for the end-user that isn't already or better solved by Google Drive, Dropbox, or sharing in chat apps like Hangouts or WhatApp? Or is it like, "Here is some cool technology!" without identifying a clear user need this solves, like Google Wave?

Dropbox uses one key for all content... Google drive means google can see all of your stuff... Sharing in hangouts is just like drive... WhatsApp isn't close to this robust... Wave was just really far ahead of its time but you see the modern incarnation in google docs and paper. This is like the infra to build spideroak on your own hardware. It's not the same as a service where you have to trust the operator.

Seems niche. Most people trust at least one of the above operators.

Re: Upspin – Another option for file sharing

#147

Post by rocketraman »

inconshreveable wrote: post #19

Seems to be very much in the space of kbfs and IPFS. For the folks who are building this: can you compare and contrast this to both kbfs and IPFS? Why have you chosen to start another project in an already crowded space instead of contributing to either of those projects? They are both open source and much further along in development . . .

The comparison to kbfs and IPFS seems relatively straightforward based on a cursory reading of the three web sites...

kbfs still stores files, and I still depend on them to keep their service running. kbfs adds key management via keybase, but the file sharing model doesn't seem significantly, or at all, different than Dropbox.

IPFS on the other hand is completely peer-to-peer, meaning I have little control over content I publish. I can publish new versions, but my old content is still on the network, and forever out of my control.

Upspin provides a middle ground by providing a protocol for key management and server lookup. Unlike kbfs, the files live on servers that I maintain control of. Unlike IPFS, I can delete or update content after it is published, as needed.

Re: Upspin – Another option for file sharing

#150

Post by mxuribe »

Although I prefer a bit more federation - maybe like DNS - overall the idea is really cool!

One other downside: what if the owner of a shared file passes away, or a worker leaves the company, etc.? I guess if the file's that important, then I would have to have downloaded the file ahead of time, and hosted it on "my upspin"? Not saying this is an easy thing to solve for...but maybe ipfs at least addresses that...unless I'm missing something, and upspin does accommodate that use-case?

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