Posts by mike@unfediverse.com
(DIR) Post #ALKovOZG9DRLnVIIe8 by mike@unfediverse.com
2022-06-12T21:54:33Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
These projects (Hubzilla, Zap, Streams, etc.) already have/had a protocol which is superior to ActivityPub in a number of ways, but which has not been "blessed" by a recognised standards body. The nice thing is that if a corporate player takes over the fediverse, we can just turn off ActivityPub and carry on with out it. We can also communicate in ways that cannot even be seen by the rest of the fediverse. I call it the "fediverse underground" for these reasons. We also use ActivityStreams so the data is exactly the same. Only the transport protocol is different. These projects mostly run on very small websites for family and friends and there are very few public instances.Streams is unique in that the name itself is a placeholder which is replaced by your own site once installed. We are firmly opposed to brand worship.
(DIR) Post #ALKovPXWX9e6oPUQa0 by mike@unfediverse.com
2022-06-12T23:55:29Z
2 likes, 4 repeats
Internet history is full of decentralised and open source protocols/projects and even operating systems which were either taken over or reduced to irrelevance by corporations. If somebody thinks they can monetise open source, in the words of Steve Ballmer - "we'll just take it". Sometimes they'll just give the market leader a shitload of money to walk away. Sometimes they'll use "embrace, extend, extinguish" tactics. As the most poignant example, take email. You cannot run an email server today without Google's blessing and adherence to their rules. OK sure - technically you can, but it won't federate outside a handful of small sites. This is how the game is played. What makes you think the fediverse is special?
(DIR) Post #ALnIywpoqhkNkYLuAy by mike@unfediverse.com
2022-07-22T23:18:56Z
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@Bonfire @Tim Chambers @Humane Tech Now @ilja Have been doing pretty much all of this and more for the last decade, except we don't have unique permissions for circles because membership in different circles can overlap and this could result in permission conflicts. We apply permissions to individuals but you can define unique permission "sets" and name them - so the end result is the same. This is neither a critique or one-up-manship. Nobody cares what I'm building these days and I'm ok with that. Just glad to see somebody else thinking progressively instead of re-inventing yet another corporate service "with federation". Would be happy to check out bonfire and do some interop testing when you're ready to federate.
(DIR) Post #AMUCZNIfWX76wYAc7c by mike@unfediverse.com
2022-08-12T21:42:31Z
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We had some disagreement over whether it should be an attachment or a tag; but that's not a hill I intend to die on and one person was willing to die on that hill; insisting it should be a tag because it wasn't "included" in the body but only linked by reference. We actually include it in the body; which means attachment is more appropriate and is the correct answer for our use case. In any case we currently support 10 different quoteUrl mechanisms, but we might be able to whittle that down to 2 at some point.
(DIR) Post #AMaUIc5qX28fh2n71k by mike@unfediverse.com
2022-08-15T22:25:56Z
3 likes, 1 repeats
I just find it all amusing. The fediverse of today is finally beginning to catch up with the fediverse of a decade ago. Meanwhile we're working on things you'll probably discover a decade from now once other projects "invent" it, because if we do something novel and interesting nobody will ever notice or care.
(DIR) Post #AMrlcSxKuXXehooqAK by mike@unfediverse.com
2022-08-24T20:42:04Z
2 likes, 0 repeats
Methinks you should read the spec again. Implementations are free to ignore extensions they don't know about. The spec actually recommends that if you wish to provide an extension type such as a "Frumble" that can gracefully devolve into and be displayed as a "Note" you identify it as a [ "Note", "Frumble" ]. Some projects will try and display this. If you do this backward and call it a [ "Frumble", "Note" ] or just call it a "Frumble", and we have no idea what a Frumble represents, we've every right to throw it into the bitbucket.
(DIR) Post #AN20LyJsUSYdwrYTBY by mike@unfediverse.com
2022-08-29T20:32:39Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Looks like they're taking on Atlassian. I like their IDEs, but mostly it's because these days it's a choice between them and Microsoft.
(DIR) Post #AN21i1y7hg2FahSgsq by mike@unfediverse.com
2022-08-29T20:49:05Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
My only worry is the JB devs are already stretched pretty thin and quality has started to slide. If they take on too much, I hope their existing stuff doesn't destabilise as a result.
(DIR) Post #ANAt19v3CXjft4ToKe by mike@unfediverse.com
2022-09-03T01:03:13Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
You've got a 50/50 chance it will be better. That's better odds than the lottery.
(DIR) Post #ANV0DqWzCJF7yKal1c by mike@unfediverse.com
2022-09-12T20:05:17Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
They went through a number of different stacks. It started off using their own gamer dev tools for Apple and C-64 and then migrated to GEOS for several years and between 1995 and 2001 they were building webpages using TCL under AOLServer and they were in the process of migrating to Java. They were on the web from the start. I worked for Netscape (which later was swallowed up by them - so I ended up engineering manager for Groups@AOL) and they had deals with Netscape and Microsoft for special access to web browsers and APIs from the very beginning. So the text and early window interfaces were only for 4-5 years and that was mostly in GEOS. .
(DIR) Post #AOJDb5renAWwHgEiyu by mike@unfediverse.com
2022-10-06T22:26:13Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
Even better - one that supports nomadic identity.
(DIR) Post #AOlaPtHHlHDDPqhI92 by mike@unfediverse.com
2022-10-19T20:26:02Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
I would've told Microsoft and Eric Allman to get stuffed when they rejected our (Netscape) proposal for ending email spam and malware by adding end-to-end signature verification to ESMTP -- in 1996. And when Zuck was in my guitar shoppe in 2003 I could've electrocuted him. Missed opportunities...
(DIR) Post #APEmf0sYHn7RYW2Ylc by mike@unfediverse.com
2022-11-03T20:09:01Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
As I remember, he couldn't find William Shatner - who may have been on another instance and gave up.
(DIR) Post #APHboA0fBu4qSWsCnY by mike@unfediverse.com
2022-11-04T21:41:42Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
At some point you have to realise that some people are just toxic to your project and any community you try and build. Some are just wired differently from you and I - and this is always a challenge to figure out how to engage productively. Might be cultural, might be genetic, might be insurmountable technical/cognitive barriers for them - but for whatever reason you just can't get things to click. Some are intentionally or habitually toxic and there's nothing you can do about it. I know it seems wrong to leave somebody who is having difficulty, but you simply can't solve every problem. Be polite, do your best, but when the mud starts flying, let it go and move on. Every one of these is a learning experience incidentally. So I always ask myself how I could've done better - either technically or socially. If it's any consolation, I've found that those who demand I drop everything and solve their problem or they'll "leave" always leave anyway, no matter how much time and energy I devote to helping them. Always.
(DIR) Post #APMw227tBHjIdmlQSe by mike@unfediverse.com
2022-11-07T18:19:18Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
I run a handful of personal servers and also do fedi development on a single shared hosting account for about $5 / month. There is also no "flagship instance" of my software. Why? Because I want to make sure that every site can participate as equals no matter what size server it is running or how many people use it. Cheers.
(DIR) Post #APPB3143tRE51M9OIC by mike@unfediverse.com
2022-11-08T20:07:14Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
"Why we cannot go faster than light"Because you can't see where you're going. Doh.
(DIR) Post #APRCvl8rHcPTppyu5w by mike@unfediverse.com
2022-11-09T20:06:51Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
There's a little repository in the middle of nowhere which is the latest and greatest of the Friendica/Hubzilla family and continues the evolution of its forebears while treading a lot of completely new ground. It has no brand identity of its own but you can just call it 'streams' if you feel a need to associate names to things.
(DIR) Post #APe3D3peh2Vjl7YhTE by mike@unfediverse.com
2022-11-15T19:36:26Z
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And a lovely morning to you also.
(DIR) Post #APeZuLCxABXWdO8aZM by mike@unfediverse.com
2022-11-16T06:32:43Z
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The point is that I'm retired from open source and all the associated toxicity. I still write code and I still give it to the world because that's just something I've always done. If you find me or what I do repugnant for some reason, you probably won't be interested in my personal repository. I'm doing some interesting stuff with decentralised communications, just as I've done for 40-50 years now. It is always changing form and adapting to the communications norms of the day but it always does some really cool shit. If this offends you in some way, have a great life.
(DIR) Post #APgZ7sRrAzb3r0v2XY by mike@unfediverse.com
2022-11-17T04:32:17Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
Yeah my first Ramones concert was @ Keystone Berkeley about 46 years ago.