Cristian Motoiu Yes, for the initial release (including alpha this week), only the smartphone app will be available. Webpage interface will arrive later, but I don't know the estimated release date for it.
Alpha launches on Friday! The beta starts on April 1st. Probably each member of the beta will be able to invite up to 10 other members. If you have your own (bigger) community, you can contact OpenBook and probably get an invitation for all members of the group. And yes - for the time being only on mobile devices. The desktop version comes later.
I've read that it will be (or already is) open source which I find very encouraging and according to the Q&A they eventually want to make it decentralized. Now I'm interested.
EDIT: I just hope that making it for profit doesn't result in selling data etc.
David Bell I know what you mean. I'm the same way. It's tough to find anything other than Facebook that checks all the boxes, but I know how many feel about Facebook. Maybe once Openbook finds its feet and offers desktop it'll be an option. Time will tell.
Another point is that Mark Z. buys up anything popular and where everyone is. These smaller platforms don't have a chance.
Isn't Openbook essentially running in someone's basement at this stage? IMO this puts it at high risk of being a victim of its own success. I mean imagine if a single server cluster was suddenly hit by even 100,000 disenfranchised Google Plus users. Would it survive?
Unfortunately this goes to the weak point of independent or grass roots social media platform efforts.
You really need the resources and infrastructure of a large corporation to support a platform capable of success.
Christopher Gaul Mastodon proves that that's not true. It currently has over 2 million users and is growing very fast. The federated structure helps to overcome the problem of needed resources and infrastructure.
Well one of the migration options being promoted by some absolutely IS in someone's basement currently, by their own admission. Also often source. That's why I accidentally conflated this with that.
Also Diaspora, Friendica, at least they all have federation.
Then there's youme.social which is one guy running a mooSocial instance, and there's been several others mentioned on here that are all basically single server, one person hosted, off the shelf products none of which I'm aware of would scale out.
Openbook at least have a team, backing, and are making all the right noises so far. They are apparently looking at Solid for distributed infrastructure, but further down the line. Time will tell.
Benjamin M. I agree with Diana Studer. I actually view the delay as good news. That means the team is focused on doing things right rather than just pushing something out the door to meet a schedule. There's a lot of science in developing systems, but it isn't a perfect science, so developers can't necessarily identify every contingency in advance when building schedules. Quality is far more important than meeting schedules, so I'm pleased to see their decision.
My main concern about any centralized social media site (based on FOSS or not) isn't the load on technical resources, but on the humans overseeing the enterprise. Any popular site eventually places an enormous burden on site managers to mediate disputes. This is written in the history of Livejournal, Reddit, Facebook (probably any site that crosses a threshold of thousands of posts per hour).
One option to offset this is to regularly break up large groups into sub-sites. The Buy Nothing Project regularly and explicitly does this with its Facebook groups, based on geography. The federated systems have a built-in advantage here, it's relatively easy for motivated users to cleave off into individual pods/nodes/instances, with their own admins and continue to communicate with the others. The Openbook team makes noises about decentralization via a Solid framework, but we have no idea how any of that may work out.
Just because they're not decentralised, it doesn't mean things aren't running on a large server farm behind a content delivery network like Cloudflare.
I've no idea on OpenBook's infrastructure. I should imagine it's more than just a single cheap hosted server, but the fact that they're not decentralised doesn't concern me.
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I’m on the beta waiting list, I believe the alpha release is imminent
ReplyDeleteAlpha release is either Thursday or Friday of this week.
ReplyDeleteTerry Walker
ReplyDeleteonly on mobile devices?
Cristian Motoiu Yes, for the initial release (including alpha this week), only the smartphone app will be available. Webpage interface will arrive later, but I don't know the estimated release date for it.
ReplyDeleteBrad, I'm a bit old fashioned. What would you (or anyone) suggest for a PC desktop?
ReplyDeleteAlpha launches on Friday! The beta starts on April 1st. Probably each member of the beta will be able to invite up to 10 other members. If you have your own (bigger) community, you can contact OpenBook and probably get an invitation for all members of the group. And yes - for the time being only on mobile devices. The desktop version comes later.
ReplyDeleteI've read that it will be (or already is) open source which I find very encouraging and according to the Q&A they eventually want to make it decentralized. Now I'm interested.
ReplyDeleteEDIT: I just hope that making it for profit doesn't result in selling data etc.
Yes, it will be OpenSource. The code will be released soon. They are still looking for volunteer translators for the app!
ReplyDeleteDavid Bell I know what you mean. I'm the same way. It's tough to find anything other than Facebook that checks all the boxes, but I know how many feel about Facebook. Maybe once Openbook finds its feet and offers desktop it'll be an option. Time will tell.
ReplyDeleteAnother point is that Mark Z. buys up anything popular and where everyone is. These smaller platforms don't have a chance.
I contributed to their indiegogo for early access. I'm hoping for good things!
ReplyDeletekeep us up to date with new information
ReplyDeleteAlso on the beta list. But will be waiting till I can use it on my laptop.
ReplyDeleteBeta list. I’m hoping it will be good. I can really afford the time for only one social network.
ReplyDeleteAlso on the beta list here.
ReplyDeleteJust now saw this. Sent off a couple questions. Will see how long it takes to hear back from them.
ReplyDeletei'm on the alpha test, i couldent wait any longer. if i get any kind of friend code i'll share if possable.
ReplyDeleteThey have a group running on Slack where all questions are answered.
ReplyDeleteIsn't Openbook essentially running in someone's basement at this stage?
ReplyDeleteIMO this puts it at high risk of being a victim of its own success. I mean imagine if a single server cluster was suddenly hit by even 100,000 disenfranchised Google Plus users.
Would it survive?
Unfortunately this goes to the weak point of independent or grass roots social media platform efforts.
You really need the resources and infrastructure of a large corporation to support a platform capable of success.
They have some big name backers, so you would certainly hope it's a little better than a server in someone's basement. ;)
ReplyDeleteChristopher Gaul Mastodon proves that that's not true. It currently has over 2 million users and is growing very fast. The federated structure helps to overcome the problem of needed resources and infrastructure.
ReplyDeleteWell one of the migration options being promoted by some absolutely IS in someone's basement currently, by their own admission. Also often source. That's why I accidentally conflated this with that.
ReplyDeleteChristopher Gaul That will be Minds, Hubzilla, Known, Buddypass, ZeroMe, and ZeroNet. All of them require self hosting.
ReplyDeleteAlso Diaspora, Friendica, at least they all have federation.
ReplyDeleteThen there's youme.social which is one guy running a mooSocial instance, and there's been several others mentioned on here that are all basically single server, one person hosted, off the shelf products none of which I'm aware of would scale out.
Openbook at least have a team, backing, and are making all the right noises so far. They are apparently looking at Solid for distributed infrastructure, but further down the line. Time will tell.
Michael Warburton that's the one. YouMe. Thx
ReplyDeleteUpdate! Good an bad news.
ReplyDeletehttps://medium.com/openbook-org/unexpected-kickstarter-update-4-f4e6891e72c6
medium.com - Unexpected kickstarter update #4! – Openbook – Medium
Benjamin M. I prefer that. Honest, patience, get it right.
ReplyDeleteBenjamin M. I agree with Diana Studer. I actually view the delay as good news. That means the team is focused on doing things right rather than just pushing something out the door to meet a schedule. There's a lot of science in developing systems, but it isn't a perfect science, so developers can't necessarily identify every contingency in advance when building schedules. Quality is far more important than meeting schedules, so I'm pleased to see their decision.
ReplyDeleteMy main concern about any centralized social media site (based on FOSS or not) isn't the load on technical resources, but on the humans overseeing the enterprise. Any popular site eventually places an enormous burden on site managers to mediate disputes. This is written in the history of Livejournal, Reddit, Facebook (probably any site that crosses a threshold of thousands of posts per hour).
ReplyDeleteOne option to offset this is to regularly break up large groups into sub-sites. The Buy Nothing Project regularly and explicitly does this with its Facebook groups, based on geography. The federated systems have a built-in advantage here, it's relatively easy for motivated users to cleave off into individual pods/nodes/instances, with their own admins and continue to communicate with the others. The Openbook team makes noises about decentralization via a Solid framework, but we have no idea how any of that may work out.
Just because they're not decentralised, it doesn't mean things aren't running on a large server farm behind a content delivery network like Cloudflare.
ReplyDeleteI've no idea on OpenBook's infrastructure. I should imagine it's more than just a single cheap hosted server, but the fact that they're not decentralised doesn't concern me.
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ReplyDeleteBrad Borland Zuck has lied so much about data retention he is untrustworthy.
ReplyDelete