Good Luck With That
I linked to this story about an attempt to create a "distributed Facebook" earlier, but I was making a different point about privacy. When I really got into the article, I noticed this:
As they describe it, the Diaspora* software will let users set up their own personal servers, called seeds, create their own hubs and fully control the information they share. Mr. Sofaer says that centralized networks like Facebook are not necessary.
Umm, sure. First, your ISP probably forbids you from running a server of that nature (nevermind whether it should be that way; it is). Second, setting up your own VPS, while easier than it once was, is not for the faint of heart. I documented my efforts here; unless they plan to ship a preconfigured VM for deployment (complete with Apache configuration), then this will catch fire with a handful of tinkerers, and no one else.
What makes Facebook work is that it's simple. This effort might be some things, but simple won't be one of them.
Technorati Tags: simplicity, privacy
