Re:Re-decentralizing the Web, for good this time
by kornork on Friday January 11, 2019 @04:42PM
(#18887414)
Maybe I missed it somewhere, but I didn't quite follow how this is going to gain a foothold. Solid has the same problem any new social media platform has - before people want to use it, people have to be using it. Facebook and Google certainly have no incentive to promote it.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Re-decentralizing the Web, for good this time
by kjetilk on Friday January 11, 2019 @07:32PM
(#18888578)
Oh, but Solid isn't just a social network. True, social networks have really powerful network effects, so it is a key to success, but not the only key. We're separating data from apps, which enables permissionless innovation. That means a lot of people can start writing cool things that they just can't now, because they are constrained by those platform companies. We're doing that too. And once people start doing that, every useful app that comes to Solid will grow the platform, first probably as small communities here and there, and then those communities get new connections, and boom, disruption! :-)
Re:Re-decentralizing the Web, for good this time
by rubenverborgh on Friday January 11, 2019 @04:48PM
(#18887479)
Google might. They do more than advertising, including selling services. They might happily make Google Drive compatible with Solid—especially if this helps break the Solid monopoly.
Facebook, probably not so much. Their business model is data harvesting.
Regarding Solid, note that we don't want to overthrow or replace any existing social networks. We start with offering experiences they cannot offer due to their siloed nature.