Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A first look at Aperture by Tailscale (private alpha)

tailscale.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 42 posts

Re: A first look at Aperture by Tailscale (private alpha)

#31

Post by danudey »

stopachka wrote: post #4
frenchtoast8 wrote: post #2

I'm not understanding how this supports Tailscale's initiatives and mission. That isn't to say this isn't a useful feature for a business, but it feels like a random grasp at "build something, anything, AI related." As a paying customer I'm concerned about the company's focus being blurred when there are 3.8k open issues on their Github repo and my company has been tracking some particular issues for years without pr…

Another reason they could have built this was by listening to their users. I do believe lots of people are spinning up agents in their workplaces, and managing yet another set of api keys is probably annoying for Tailscale's customers. This feels like a great solution to me.

Not to mention that storing the API keys on a developer machine (or distributing them to a developer machine) is the first step towards a developer's API keys getting leaked or exfiltrated. With this approach, the developer never has the API key on their machine at all (and you don't have to rotate or invalidate the key when they leave).

Re: A first look at Aperture by Tailscale (private alpha)

#32

Post by danudey »

verdverm wrote: post #10
stopachka wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another reason they could have built this was by listening to their users. I do believe lots of people are spinning up agents in their workplaces, and managing yet another set of api keys is probably annoying for Tailscale's customers. This feels like a great solution to me.

I have a secret manager, why would I want tails ale involved in the management of secrets, they are a networking company Tails ale is not a company I see being involved in my core AI ops. I don't need their visibility tools, I already have LGTM. Tailscale should focus on their core competency, not chase the gilded Ai hype cycle. I have sufficient complaints about their core product that this effort is a red flag for…

They're not a networking company, they're an access control company. Their original product is based around networking, and now this new one is based around AI access and metrics.

This product isn't about managing and distributing API keys, it's about managing and distributing access to these services throughout the org. In fact, it's more about being able to avoid managing and distributing API keys, which is IMHO even better.

Re: A first look at Aperture by Tailscale (private alpha)

#33

Post by nojs »

“Aperture” is a pretty creepy name for this.

> By collecting usage information into a single place, engineering and IT leaders can get a complete picture into both user and agent token efficiency across the organization and providers.

What exactly is “user token efficiency”?

Re: A first look at Aperture by Tailscale (private alpha)

#34

Post by verdverm »

danudey wrote: post #32
verdverm wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a secret manager, why would I want tails ale involved in the management of secrets, they are a networking company Tails ale is not a company I see being involved in my core AI ops. I don't need their visibility tools, I already have LGTM. Tailscale should focus on their core competency, not chase the gilded Ai hype cycle. I have sufficient complaints about their core product that this effort is a red flag for…

They're not a networking company, they're an access control company. Their original product is based around networking, and now this new one is based around AI access and metrics. This product isn't about managing and distributing API keys, it's about managing and distributing access to these services throughout the org. In fact, it's more about being able to avoid managing and distributing API keys, which is IMHO ev…

The first I heard of them was they were the company around WireGuard, a networking technology.

We recently brought them into the stack to manage said access, it has been painful, aiui their configuration is not intuitive (not the one working on it). I suspect any further expansion will be a big ask after the dismal experience. I certainly don't trust them to manage my secrets and access afterwards. I haven't even found an enjoyable DX talking point in either my personal or professional usage either

> They're not a networking company, they're an access control company.

This is like Ripping saying they are not an HR company, they are an access control company. I got into this very argument with them on a sales call looking for a payroll provider. They wanted to manage the keys to everything, I don't trust them to safely guard access to my cloud projects, nor is it something I even want my HR/payroll company even considering doing. This new product sounds like TailScale was the keys to the kingdom and I sure as hell am not giving it to them after the disappointing rollout of their established networking technology

Re: A first look at Aperture by Tailscale (private alpha)

#35

Post by suralind »

Oh man. Not saying this is not needed or anything, but it feels like Tailscale needed to pivot to something something AI… What a shitty time to be alive, companies doing good products that actually work well need to appeal to investors and do random things like that.

Re: A first look at Aperture by Tailscale (private alpha)

#36

Post by nunez »

frenchtoast8 wrote: post #2

I'm not understanding how this supports Tailscale's initiatives and mission. That isn't to say this isn't a useful feature for a business, but it feels like a random grasp at "build something, anything, AI related." As a paying customer I'm concerned about the company's focus being blurred when there are 3.8k open issues on their Github repo and my company has been tracking some particular issues for years without pr…

Loads of enterprisey companies are asking for exactly this, and Tailscale is becoming more enterprisey. That's how, I'd think.

Re: A first look at Aperture by Tailscale (private alpha)

#37

Post by jen20 »

verdverm wrote: post #34
danudey wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're not a networking company, they're an access control company. Their original product is based around networking, and now this new one is based around AI access and metrics. This product isn't about managing and distributing API keys, it's about managing and distributing access to these services throughout the org. In fact, it's more about being able to avoid managing and distributing API keys, which is IMHO ev…

The first I heard of them was they were the company around WireGuard, a networking technology. We recently brought them into the stack to manage said access, it has been painful, aiui their configuration is not intuitive (not the one working on it). I suspect any further expansion will be a big ask after the dismal experience. I certainly don't trust them to manage my secrets and access afterwards. I haven't even fou…

What would you say Microsoft are? A word processor company? An operating system company?

It's conceivable surely to anyone that a company could do more than one thing?

Re: A first look at Aperture by Tailscale (private alpha)

#40

Post by traceroute66 »

frenchtoast8 wrote: post #2

I'm not understanding how this supports Tailscale's initiatives and mission. That isn't to say this isn't a useful feature for a business, but it feels like a random grasp at "build something, anything, AI related." As a paying customer I'm concerned about the company's focus being blurred when there are 3.8k open issues on their Github repo and my company has been tracking some particular issues for years without pr…

> As a paying customer I'm concerned about the company's focus being blurred when there are 3.8k open issues on their Github repo and my company has been tracking some particular issues for years without progress.

I feel exactly the same way.

So many open issues, the majority thoroughly deserving of a resolution.

I would rather they get their house in order on the core product first before rushing out shiny new things .... because the shiny new alpha/beta things will only exponentially increase the number of open issues.

Post reply on HN