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ShowHN: buddycloud, a distributed social network

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: ShowHN: buddycloud, a distributed social network

#21

Post by mtgx »

imaginator wrote: post #15
adrianwaj wrote: post #12

Any way you can make it more appealing to bitcoiners?

I like bitcoin: it started out as a protocol and reference implementation. That's what we are trying to do today. And I wouldn't be surprised if there is a a large overlap between bitcoin-ers and buddycloud-ers. Encryption (Client to server connections are encrypted. Server to server connections are also encrypted.) And Decentralised. And built around a common protocol.

If you can add more encryption protocols in the future like OTR for chats, and so on, please do. But of course don't let this distract you right now. Your #1 goal now is actually get people moving away from the closed networks like Facebook, and I guess you can add more encryption/anonymity stuff later on. But it could be important to keep this in mind while you build the service up, so you don't need a major overhaul later to add them.

Re: ShowHN: buddycloud, a distributed social network

#22

Post by billyjobob »

imaginator wrote: post #20
billyjobob wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your profile page behaves weirdly when viewed on iPad. The scrolling is jerky and clicking the title bar doesn't scroll to the top like it should.

We know there are problems on the 1st gen iPad. Is that what you are using?

no, 3rd

Re: ShowHN: buddycloud, a distributed social network

#23

Post by imaginator »

mtgx wrote: post #21
imaginator wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like bitcoin: it started out as a protocol and reference implementation. That's what we are trying to do today. And I wouldn't be surprised if there is a a large overlap between bitcoin-ers and buddycloud-ers. Encryption (Client to server connections are encrypted. Server to server connections are also encrypted.) And Decentralised. And built around a common protocol.

If you can add more encryption protocols in the future like OTR for chats, and so on, please do. But of course don't let this distract you right now. Your #1 goal now is actually get people moving away from the closed networks like Facebook, and I guess you can add more encryption/anonymity stuff later on. But it could be important to keep this in mind while you build the service up, so you don't need a major overhau…

The difficult part is always key management: making a service that my mom can understand and manage and "just works". Our federation layer is built on XMPP. That gives us a pretty solid layer to extend chat and interoperate with gtalk and other chat services including video via Jingle.

Re: ShowHN: buddycloud, a distributed social network

#24

Post by earroway »

Great idea. Wish the project much success. Once it is further along, my startup will give this product a shot -- in particular the java server integration is of interest to me.

Whenever a module/feature gets completed, please consider creating short how-to docs/videos. This is a consumer oriented product, so friction to deploy should be minimal.

Re: ShowHN: buddycloud, a distributed social network

#25

Post by imaginator »

earroway wrote: post #24

Great idea. Wish the project much success. Once it is further along, my startup will give this product a shot -- in particular the java server integration is of interest to me. Whenever a module/feature gets completed, please consider creating short how-to docs/videos. This is a consumer oriented product, so friction to deploy should be minimal.

Good idea. Thanks. We're also working to solve the problems by keeping the design as intuitive as possible. Media sharing should be just a question of dragging and dropping the file in to the channel posting box (we're going to work on this frontend bit next).

The java server (https://github.com/buddycloud/buddycloud-server-java) is nearly feature complete and being implemented by a company called Surevine who plan on using it for "enterprise" customers.

Re: ShowHN: buddycloud, a distributed social network

#27

Post by Giszmo »

adrianwaj wrote: post #12

Any way you can make it more appealing to bitcoiners?

Who is "you"? You, adrianwaj could make it more appealing to bitcoiners by offering some cool features. I programmed a bitcoin wallet for facebook (and never put it live as I fear handling other people's money) but of course, that's a cool feature. The users within one server could transfer coins outside the block chain at no transaction costs. Do it yourself or make a bounty for it.

Re: ShowHN: buddycloud, a distributed social network

#28

Post by adrianwaj »

imaginator wrote: post #15
adrianwaj wrote: post #12

Any way you can make it more appealing to bitcoiners?

I like bitcoin: it started out as a protocol and reference implementation. That's what we are trying to do today. And I wouldn't be surprised if there is a a large overlap between bitcoin-ers and buddycloud-ers. Encryption (Client to server connections are encrypted. Server to server connections are also encrypted.) And Decentralised. And built around a common protocol.

Yeah, nice work. My own thoughts: you want to have people coming together to engage in commerce on buddycloud with btc as the preferred currency, like what paypal is to ebay. Maybe make the server appealing to install on bitcoin servers and have the network as the preferred way to discuss transactions and record a list of transactions and interactions.

Re: ShowHN: buddycloud, a distributed social network

#29

Post by imaginator »

abcd_f wrote: post #26

> ... a magically simple way. I'm sorry, but the only person who could plausibly pull off "magically" in a product description was Jobs. I would strongly suggest rewording this part so not lose people in the first 3 seconds on the site.

I had been meaning to change that. Thanks https://github.com/buddycloud/webclient/commit/d7cc1f43103dd...

Re: ShowHN: buddycloud, a distributed social network

#30

Post by adrianwaj »

Giszmo wrote: post #27
adrianwaj wrote: post #12

Any way you can make it more appealing to bitcoiners?

Who is "you"? You, adrianwaj could make it more appealing to bitcoiners by offering some cool features. I programmed a bitcoin wallet for facebook (and never put it live as I fear handling other people's money) but of course, that's a cool feature. The users within one server could transfer coins outside the block chain at no transaction costs. Do it yourself or make a bounty for it.

It's not going to be me, haha. But they should put up a btc donations address.

Is there a site for btc bounties? You (someone, anyone) could put time into that.

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