Re:Ask HN: If the Internet were redesigned today, what chang...
by dijit on Sunday October 31, 2021 @04:20AM
(#29055388)
I’d argue that it’s a huge barrier to innovation.
Most people getting started are not going to understand systems administration enough to set up a server like that. But they can run software locally.
One of the first projects I was ever a part of was a “WAMP” machine (Windows Apache MySQL & PHP) running Nuke Evolution forum software. I learned a lot from that and would never do it again but it was a useful project for some people and I learned a lot by patching around the source files and learning about MySQL enough to make backups and improvements and so on.
Being able to put up a simple service is but only one of the reasons to be publicly addressable, P2P is also important (things like games, VoIP) but $20 for a VPS is no small barrier.
Most people getting started are not going to understand systems administration enough to set up a server like that. But they can run software locally.
One of the first projects I was ever a part of was a “WAMP” machine (Windows Apache MySQL & PHP) running Nuke Evolution forum software. I learned a lot from that and would never do it again but it was a useful project for some people and I learned a lot by patching around the source files and learning about MySQL enough to make backups and improvements and so on.
Being able to put up a simple service is but only one of the reasons to be publicly addressable, P2P is also important (things like games, VoIP) but $20 for a VPS is no small barrier.
Not for someone getting started.