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Thanks for this link. The article has a good point, in that it will
only work if a critical mass of users will put some effort into "owning
the cloud" themselves (and paying for it) as compared to the corporate
suits owning the cloud (and monetizing it via ads). Today the technical
infrastructure is not really ready to make this possible for a mass
audience (hence Appleseed failed and Diaspora will likely too). <br>
<br>
What is needed technically in my view, is a personal, encrypted,
portable virtual machine (VM) with preinstalled "seed" software
supported by readily available hosting services or personally owned
24/7 connected internet devices. Such VMs are the "containers" which
are owned by the user, are portable and contain the data and the
software that uses the data and connects it to the world.<br>
<br>
The building blocks are actually there (linux, virtualbox, protocols,
3G, etc.) so I think developing the software is quite doable and having
100K+ and publicity certainly helps. But I think software alone is not
enough to make it fly, rather it involves a physical component ... "the
thing that makes up the drop in the cloud". Unless the Diaspora project
addresses this technical hurdle Skype-style (= slick and simple user
interface that "just works" everywhere) nobody but geeks will be able
to use the software. Handing out aGPLed bootable Linux CDs just won't
cut it.<br>
<br>
One needs affordable, reliable infrastructure support for a user run
"cloud" which is even today quite difficult to come by: <br>
- internet connected smart-devices like the iPhone are locked down and
generally not powerful enough to run a VM<br>
- PCs are seldom designed to be operated as 24/7 connected devices from
a power, noise and security point of view<br>
- internet providers forbid personal hosting in their usage policies or
slow p2p-type traffic when detected<br>
- professional hosting that would be capable of running such VMs is too
expensive and difficult to use for the average user<br>
<br>
So yes, I think Diaspora will probably fail practically, but in some
way succeed in creating usable software for the VM "containers" of the
future as well as stimulating this debate.<br>
<br>
And one more really disturbing thing: If we really want to keep control
over our bits, we would need digital rights management (DRM) for _all_
the content. Because without DRM, it is virtually impossible to delete
something from a p2p system or public cloud. As an example, just search
for your website from 1996 or later - if you had one - on the wayback
machine (here is mine:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://web.archive.org/web/19961224215007/http://karlsberg.usask.ca/">http://web.archive.org/web/19961224215007/http://karlsberg.usask.ca/</a>
... in particular this homepage note is fantastic: "
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
<font size="2">best viewed with a HTML-2.0 compatible browser like
<a
href="http://web.archive.org/web/19961224215007/http://www.netscape.com/">netscape</a></font>"
lol).<br>
<br>
--Andreas<br>
<br>
On 5/21/10 2:21 PM, Sam Dwyer wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:CE41E524-DF6F-43BA-A67F-6B2A7A2C1E6D@gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div>This may prove of interest:</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><i>Why Diaspora Will Fail</i></div>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/05/21/diaspora-social-network-fail-kickstarter-facebook">http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/05/21/diaspora-social-network-fail-kickstarter-facebook</a></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<br>
<div>
<div>On May 21, 2010, at 6:44 AM, Jon Ippolito wrote:</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
<blockquote type="cite">
<div style="word-wrap: break-word;"><br>
<div>
<div>On May 14, 2010, at 8:00 AM, <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:idc-request@mailman.thing.net">idc-request@mailman.thing.net</a>
wrote:</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
<blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span"
style="font-family: Eurostile;">From: Andreas Schiffler:<br>
<br>
I wanted to post a quick link that would allow anyone who is fed-up with<span
class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>
Facebook's continuing path of commercializing the social graphs of its<span
class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>
users to fund the development of an open source distributed replacement:<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/196017994/diaspora-the-personally-controlled-do-it-all-distr">http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/196017994/diaspora-the-personally-controlled-do-it-all-distr</a><br>
<br>
Seems like a worthy goal and technically feasible (although I admit that<span
class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>
I won't be donating, since I don't have a use for such a service).</span></blockquote>
</div>
Thanks, Andreas. I contributed, not because I have a use for Facebook,
but because I have an interest in seeing it die. More background at
"Your guide to the Facebook revolt of 2010":
<div><br>
</div>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.nmdnet.org/2010/05/18/your-guide-to-the-facebook-revolt-of-2010/">http://www.nmdnet.org/2010/05/18/your-guide-to-the-facebook-revolt-of-2010/</a></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Best,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>jon</div>
<div>
<div>______________________________</div>
<div>Still Water--what networks need to thrive.</div>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://still-water.net/">http://still-water.net/</a></div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
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