[HN Gopher] Add ability to choose a custom coordination server
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Add ability to choose a custom coordination server
        
       Author : hooooonk
       Score  : 490 points
       Date   : 2022-08-15 11:45 UTC (11 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (github.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
        
       | sigwinch28 wrote:
       | I want to use tailscale for me and my wife. I'd like to give them
       | my money to manage it for me because adding yet another self-
       | managed service to my home network seems tedious.
       | 
       | It seems to me like I would want two "users", but that pushes me
       | into their pro or business billing. Which tier should I go for?
        
         | flyt wrote:
         | Sign up and just add another user to your account. Their limits
         | are soft and they probably won't bother you if all you have is
         | an extra user. Tailscale is fair and flexible this way.
        
       | SEJeff wrote:
       | TIL about headscale: https://github.com/juanfont/headscale
       | 
       | Good on tailscale for fostering the community and not playing
       | this like most startups would!
        
         | lijogdfljk wrote:
         | This sort of thing would make me buy-in to tailscale, honestly.
         | 
         | I have this pattern where i avoid software i can't self host,
         | because while i love paying for my products - i don't want to
         | be cloud trapped. So some software/hardware, say Ubiquiti's
         | suite - i buy and run locally. But sometimes cloud features are
         | nice, so i enable them.
         | 
         | I don't _want_ Cloud, but knowing i'm not trapped makes me far
         | more likely to be a customer. Knowing i can opt-in to cloud,
         | opt back out, etc is great.
         | 
         | In practice i often end up buying Cloud. But i only first
         | bought and continue to pay for services when i know i'm not
         | trapped. The moment they start to make self-hosting a pain, or
         | inhibited - i'm out.
        
           | api wrote:
           | I feel the same way. Unfortunately the only ways to make
           | money in software today seem to be (1) cloud SaaS, (2)
           | cryptocurrency which is mostly scams, (3) surveillance, (4)
           | addictive Skinner boxes that suck money from people ("loot
           | box" games).
           | 
           | Of the four (1) is the least shady.
        
       | itsjloh wrote:
       | Its really impressive how much Tailscale care about the UX of the
       | whole product all the way down to the level of not over
       | complicating their menus.
       | 
       | The whole Tailscale experience for an enduser (ie not Tailscale
       | admin) is so much nicer than compared with something like OpenVPN
       | in a place without MDM.
        
         | throwaway892238 wrote:
         | This idea of "protecting the users from themselves" can be
         | dangerous. Several very large corporations are currently
         | telling their users to do very insecure things because telling
         | them to use an extra option in some circumstances would be too
         | confusing for their puny brains. Even though it's a security
         | feature and doing things securely is kind of a big deal.
         | 
         | An extra field in an "Advanced Settings" menu should not need
         | to be hidden behind some "Press About 5 times" secret gauntlet.
         | Users are not so stupid that they will fill out an "Advanced"
         | form field they don't understand, and even if they do, you can
         | always make a connection attempt to see if the input was valid.
        
         | Kinrany wrote:
         | Good UX is the whole point since they build on top of WireGuard
         | which is already available, no?
        
         | aaronharnly wrote:
         | The solution of only showing menu opens if you repeatedly open
         | and close the menu seems very bizarre to me though? Is there
         | precedent for that?
        
           | nabakin wrote:
           | I think the point is the users are very unlikely to do it.
           | Tailscale's UI is designed to be used by as many people as
           | possible and even a single additional menu hurts that goal
        
           | smileybarry wrote:
           | Android's developer settings unlock if you tap the build
           | number X amount of times (I forgot how many)
        
             | RealStickman_ wrote:
             | 7 times I think
        
         | pilif wrote:
         | _> down to the level of not over complicating their menus_
         | 
         | to be fair, their mobile UX has plenty of warts and behaviors
         | that don't match platform expectations and are confusing (like
         | what happens when you tap on any of the listed machines that
         | you have access to).
         | 
         | This one seems to at least have been partially motivated by
         | making sure that accessing tailscale without paying is not too
         | visible.
         | 
         | I'm saying this as a huge fan (and paying customer) of
         | tailscale.
        
           | dpatterbee wrote:
           | >> making sure that accessing tailscale without paying is not
           | too visible.
           | 
           | Not sure what this means, Tailscale is free for the vast
           | majority of non-corporate users, and I would imagine that
           | anyone who's using it so intensely that they need the
           | "personal pro" plan is probably someone techie enough to dig
           | around and find out about headscale.
           | 
           | Also headscale isn't entirely free if you're paying for a VPS
           | or other server to host it on.
        
             | vineyardmike wrote:
             | You wouldn't _pay tailscale_ if you used headscale, you'd
             | just be using the efforts they funded by using their app.
        
       | lapser wrote:
       | The developer of Headscale, Juan Font, mentioned that Tailscale
       | also reached out to them when they tried to implement a new
       | version of their control protocol. They also gave Juan some docs
       | on the design to help with implementation on the Headscale side.
       | It was posted to HN[1], but didn't seem to gain much traction.
       | 
       | [0] https://twitter.com/juanfont/status/1507760973037322240
       | 
       | [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30829522
        
       | vinay_ys wrote:
       | No doubt, Tailscale people are awesome.
       | 
       | From a security perspective, I would design this feature
       | differently. If the capability to change the control server
       | exists, then, rather than hiding it, I would want to see a
       | prominent UI element displaying the control server name, url and
       | "more details" to the user to see before they connect/login.
       | 
       | This is important to prevent any social engineering based
       | security hacks.
        
       | asim wrote:
       | Big for tailscale IMO. Will just drastically increase the
       | footprint of tailscale even when different control servers. Might
       | lead to some form of federation protocol.
        
         | dannyw wrote:
         | Exactly. Hobbyist users won't make huge amounts of money, but
         | they could bring it to work and that'll probably be hosted.
        
       | nikolay wrote:
       | That's good news, but there's now a plethora of WireGuard-based
       | Tailscale clones.
        
         | geethree wrote:
         | Interested in these! Any chance you could drop a list of
         | clones?
        
           | nikolay wrote:
           | The recent ones I've seen are these:
           | 
           | * NetBird (https://netbird.io/)
           | 
           | * Firezone (https://www.firezone.dev/)
        
             | jacooper wrote:
             | But none of them as advanced as Head/Tailscale though.
             | 
             | No support for exit nodes for example, or DNS hostnames.
        
           | yewenjie wrote:
           | https://github.com/HarvsG/WireGuardMeshes
        
       | stavros wrote:
       | I love Tailscale but I am wary of allowing them access into my
       | personal network. This way, I can use them for my stuff without
       | my paranoia getting in the way, and I can recommend the hosted
       | option for work, as it works perfectly.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | knur wrote:
         | This is precisely my worry. I do use tailscale but I have this
         | itch in the back of my mind... I have a lot of sensitive and
         | personal stuff in my machines, and even though it would be hard
         | for someone to get into my VPN, tailscale themselves could
         | easily add a node and join my VPN without me even noticing.
        
         | moontear wrote:
         | "allowing them access into my personal network"
         | 
         | In what form? The private keys never leave the nodes, hence
         | there shouldn't by any access per se (see
         | https://tailscale.com/security/). Of course TS has _insights_
         | into your networks, i.e. what servers it is installed on, what
         | you connect to - so metadata.
        
           | stavros wrote:
           | They can add a node and connect to whatever other node they
           | want.
        
             | ec109685 wrote:
             | This seems solvable. They talk about that here:
             | https://tailscale.com/kb/1099/device-authorization/
             | 
             | But it still seems like they could flip that feature off if
             | they got compromised. To remedy that, feels like they could
             | support a preshared secret that they don't control / see
             | being shared as a first step:
             | https://tailscale.com/kb/1099/device-
             | authorization/#generate...
        
               | yencabulator wrote:
               | You can't generate a secret with a webapp they control
               | without them controlling the secret too.
        
               | stavros wrote:
               | I assume the notion was that the nodes will all know the
               | secret but the control server won't.
        
               | stavros wrote:
               | Yeah, they control this setting so they can just disable
               | it, or override it.
               | 
               | Since Headscale exists, though, this problem is solved
               | quite neatly.
        
             | moontear wrote:
             | Haven't thought about that and this should certainly be
             | addressed - especially if I'd use Tailscale for business.
        
         | ec109685 wrote:
         | For enterprises, they do offer self-hosted control servers, but
         | for personal use, something like headscale will put you in more
         | control: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28574477
        
         | yepguy wrote:
         | I don't really understand how self-hosting headscale is
         | actually any more secure. The control server needs a stable IP
         | address, so I'd need to run it on a VPS or something, which
         | means I'm still trusting a third-party to not mess with my
         | network.
        
           | stavros wrote:
           | My home machine has a static IP, so I run it there. Does it
           | need a static IP, or just a hostname?
        
             | yepguy wrote:
             | I guess it probably only needs a hostname. Although I'd
             | still feel uneasy about running it at home, because I don't
             | want any incoming connections to my home network unless
             | it's over Tailscale, and headscale would need some kind of
             | firewall exception.
             | 
             | Maybe headscale could run at home, served over a tunnel[1]
             | to a VPS. But honestly, if I ever lost confidence in the
             | trustworthiness of Tailscale the company, I would just
             | connect my devices with some other overlay network like
             | Yggdrasil[2] or Tor.
             | 
             | [1]: https://github.com/anderspitman/awesome-tunneling [2]:
             | https://yggdrasil-network.github.io/
        
               | stavros wrote:
               | I think Nebula is the current favorite, but it's not as
               | plug and play as Tailscale.
        
         | soraminazuki wrote:
         | You can mitigate potential risks by configuring your OS
         | firewall to only allow independently encrypted and
         | authenticated traffic through Tailscale. SSH and TLS covers
         | most needs anyways, so it doesn't require additional work.
        
           | stavros wrote:
           | Eh, sure, but if I'm going to reimplement a VPN, why use
           | Tailscale?
        
             | soraminazuki wrote:
             | Not sure what you mean by reimplementing a VPN. I was
             | talking about restricting the type of traffic that flows
             | through Tailscale. Tailscale is still the only software
             | responsible for handling external traffic in this scenario.
        
               | stavros wrote:
               | I mean if I'm going to encrypt and authenticate my own
               | traffic, it makes the VPN redundant. Is that what you
               | meant? I might be confused.
        
               | soraminazuki wrote:
               | I use Tailscale as a reasonably secure and hassle-free
               | entrypoint into my own network. I could alternatively
               | just expose my SSH / HTTPS servers to the internet, but
               | that would require much more effort to maintain. Not to
               | mention that it would expose my network to even more
               | attackers, not just theoretical ones.
               | 
               | I also believe that traffic inside homes should be
               | secured regardless since routers can be hacked. So in my
               | case, I didn't consider it a duplicated effort. I had my
               | traffic already encrypted and authenticated when I
               | started using Tailscale.
        
       | eadmund wrote:
       | Believe it or not, this increases the likelihood of me
       | recommending Tailscale for business use. Good for them!
        
       | varbhat wrote:
       | One interesting thing about Tailscale Android App is that it uses
       | Gio UI(Golang GUI Framework).
       | 
       | https://gioui.org/
        
         | ignoramous wrote:
         | I believe they also fund its development. A model for other
         | tech shops to follow (fund the FOSS projects they make their
         | millions with).
        
       | hinkley wrote:
       | I am utterly disappointed by the lack of Scheme jokes in this
       | thread.
        
       | GekkePrutser wrote:
       | Interesting. I would never use a hosted VPN service because I
       | want to be the only one who controls access. For this reason I
       | don't use something like ZeroTier either (even though that can
       | technically be self-hosted, it's not easy). But Mesh VPN is a
       | great option.
       | 
       | I wonder if Headscale can also use internal credentials? As far
       | as I remember with tailscale you had to log in with Google or
       | Microsoft which is another total deal-breaker. But I haven't
       | looked at it in ages as the hosted variety was a non starter
       | anyway. Edit: Indeed they now have local logins, but still I
       | would want to be the only one who controls access :)
       | 
       | I don't have a problem with paying for a good product, it's just
       | the control that's an issue for me. For something as crucial to
       | security as this, it needs to lie with me alone. Though I do
       | prefer to just buy software outright instead of subscription
       | models. Since I will do my own hosting, I don't think this is too
       | much to ask. Perhaps they could offer a paid tier for people
       | using headscale.
        
         | gruez wrote:
         | >I wonder if Headscale can also use internal credentials? As
         | far as I remember with tailscale you had to log in with Google
         | or Microsoft which is another total deal-breaker. But I haven't
         | looked at it in ages as the hosted variety was a non starter
         | anyway.
         | 
         | from the project page:
         | 
         | https://github.com/juanfont/headscale
         | 
         | >Node registration
         | 
         | > * Single-Sign-On (via Open ID Connect)
         | 
         | > * Pre authenticated key
        
           | GekkePrutser wrote:
           | Hmm, the SSO is too cumbersome with me (I don't want to set
           | up my own OpenID service just for this). The preauth key
           | might work though. I'll try it out!
        
             | moontear wrote:
             | But don't you want your own OpenID service? I highly
             | recomment Authelia - easy to set up and works for so many
             | services that allow a custom OIDC service.
        
               | ikiris wrote:
               | with the red flag that they don't support registering
               | multiple security keys via gui
               | 
               | why im still using keycloak
        
               | moontear wrote:
               | I wouldn't consider this a red flag, but a missing
               | feature.
               | 
               | But nothing against keycloak - keycloak is the gold
               | standard. But compared to Authelia, Keycloak is really
               | cumbersome to get up and running and also to maintain.
        
       | isatty wrote:
       | That's pretty amazing. Thank you Tailscale!
       | 
       | I've been running my own Homebrewed WireGuard configuration
       | mechanism for N=~10 machines using Ansible because I did not want
       | to use a proprietary product. This gives me the confidence to
       | eventually switch over to headscale.
        
       | candiddevmike wrote:
       | If you're looking for a tailscale alternative (ish), I built a
       | plugin for HashiCorp Vault to manage Wireguard keys:
       | https://github.com/candiddev/vault-plugin-secrets-wireguard
       | 
       | It's a bit more involved than Tailscale with the benefit that it
       | uses Vault's robust authentication options.
        
         | jdoss wrote:
         | It's a shame that this is getting downvotes. This looks
         | fantastic. Thank you for posting it.
        
         | jacooper wrote:
         | There is also Netbird.io A fully open source Tailscale
         | alternative.
         | 
         | But honestly, headacale is better and more advanced than it.
        
         | CGamesPlay wrote:
         | Does the vault read command produce a full mesh network? I'm
         | assuming that's what it does, but it isn't spelled out in the
         | readme.
        
           | candiddevmike wrote:
           | Yea, reading the `/wg-quick` endpoint will produce a rendered
           | config for a wg-quick interface that contains all of the
           | peers in the group. Combined with the Vault agent example, it
           | will update the node automatically as peers are
           | added/deleted.
        
         | Operyl wrote:
         | But completely missing the thing that makes Tailscale great,
         | imho: ACLs.
        
           | candiddevmike wrote:
           | This was focused more on secure key distribution. The plugin
           | could be extended to include tags and firewall rules for the
           | groups/peers similar to Tailscale's design and convert them
           | to PostUps that modify nft or iptables.
        
             | Operyl wrote:
             | Yup! And that's where it gets significantly more
             | complicated quickly.
        
       | aborsy wrote:
       | How does a start up like Tailscale gets to advertise on front
       | page of HN so frequently?
       | 
       | I mean every feature and blog.
       | 
       | As a start up person, I am really curious about their marketing.
        
         | packetslave wrote:
         | People submit articles about them, and other people upvote
         | them. It's really not that complicated.
        
       | n3t wrote:
       | That's great!
       | 
       | What about iOS?
        
         | zrail wrote:
         | This has apparently been possible for a long time on iOS but
         | you have to use an MDM profile to change the setting.
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28573354
        
           | Operyl wrote:
           | They say this, but then looking at a recent issue they say
           | it's not done in iOS yet, only macOS:
           | https://github.com/tailscale/tailscale/issues/4299
        
             | madjam002 wrote:
             | Yep it doesn't work on iOS, hopefully the Tailscale team
             | add a similar debug menu that they added on Android and
             | make the login server URL configurable through there, or a
             | working configuration through a .mobileconfig would also be
             | fine!
        
               | eddieroger wrote:
               | I wonder why they don't open source the iOS client like
               | they do Android. There is precedent for open source iOS
               | apps still available on the App Store, so that's not a
               | limitation. I would gladly dedicate some time to adding
               | this as a PR (as I'm sure a million others would, too).
        
               | dblohm7 wrote:
               | Tailscale employee here:
               | 
               | In general the OSS operating systems get OSS clients,
               | whereas the closed-source ones don't necessarily get the
               | full OSS treatment.
        
               | eddieroger wrote:
               | Appreciate the reply, Tailscaler.
               | 
               | That makes sense and seems like a legitimate line to
               | draw. Being a little bit of a pain, I would point out
               | that the Google Play store and Google's components for
               | Android are not open source. If you're willing to make
               | Tailscale available via Google Play, and open source the
               | client, maybe iOS can as well? And while we're at it,
               | macOS apps can be installed out of band of an app store,
               | so maybe that can be open, too. It could even share a
               | codebase these days.
        
               | lern_too_spel wrote:
               | I'm not a Tailscale employee, but Tailscale works on
               | FireTV, so it is clearly not reliant on Google-provided
               | services. They also provide a build for F-droid from the
               | same code base that doesn't use any external services.
               | https://github.com/tailscale/tailscale-
               | android/blob/main/and...
               | 
               | As far as I can tell, the only Google Play Services API
               | the app distributed on the Play Store uses is Google
               | account authentication via the Play Services Google
               | account picker.
        
               | dblohm7 wrote:
               | (Personal opinion here) Keep in mind that we're still a
               | relatively small (but growing) team, and I think that a
               | big part of not open sourcing everything is a simple
               | matter of having the capacity to properly engage with the
               | community.
               | 
               | For now, we've optimized for doing that for operating
               | systems where users most expect it.
        
               | bradfitz wrote:
               | > I wonder why they don't open source the iOS client like
               | they do Android.
               | 
               | Mostly because developing for iOS and macOS is terrible,
               | especially when your app needs to have "entitlements".
               | Tailscale uses a "Network Extension entitlement" which is
               | linked to our corporate Apple account. Even onboarding
               | new employees and getting them up to speed on
               | xcode/macOS/iOS development is painful. It often requires
               | a bunch of messing around with Keychain and random
               | reboots (not just Xcode restarts!) because something in
               | the macOS kernel gets confused. For some development we
               | also need to disable System Integrity Protection. And
               | make sure there aren't duplicate copies of certain files
               | between /Applications and ~/Library/Developer/whatever.
               | 
               | And then once you get it all working, some cert or login
               | or something in Xcode or Keychain expires in a few months
               | and you have to re-learn the whole esoteric dance once
               | again.
               | 
               | The whole process of developing Network Extensions is
               | pretty terrible.
               | 
               | Even if we open sourced it, you couldn't just git clone
               | it & hit play in Xcode. Even if you paid Apple $100/year,
               | you still couldn't, because your Apple account isn't
               | blessed enough with the right to use a Network Extension.
               | 
               | It's hard enough for us to support Apple platform
               | development internally without helping the world learn
               | Xcode/code signing/entitlements/Keychain.
               | 
               | I've been and remain a huge open source fanboy for about
               | 25 years now. If I thought we or the community would
               | benefit from it being open source, I'd argue for us open
               | sourcing it. But it just doesn't seem worthwhile. Or
               | maybe I'm just still angry at the platform.
        
               | psanford wrote:
               | That is totally fair. I will say that I got quite a lot
               | of value from being able to see how tailscale-android
               | works when building my own gioui app[0]. I suspect that
               | being able to see the same thing for a modern iOS app
               | would be useful to some small set of developers, even if
               | they couldn't produce a fully working tailscale binary on
               | their own dev machines.
               | 
               | It really does feel like Apple just doesn't care that
               | their app policies are hostile to developers because they
               | have such a strong monopoly on mobile app distribution.
               | 
               | [0]: https://github.com/psanford/wormhole-william-mobile
        
               | dcow wrote:
               | Keep in mind that for security sensitive applications,
               | being open source isn't necessarily solely about me
               | wanting to build and run my own copy, it's also about
               | verifying the code yourself. I know that breaks down
               | because without verified/reproducible binaries
               | (impossible with app store distribution afaik) you could
               | still publish malicious nonsense, but assuming that you
               | publish what's in the repo, being able to verify the code
               | functions how you say it does is not nothing.
               | 
               | I have dealt with mac/iOS network extension BS before too
               | so I feel you there. But, on that front, it also means
               | I'd know a bit about what's going on and find the code
               | insightful.
        
               | eddieroger wrote:
               | Definitely appreciate the reply, and I don't mean to
               | trivialize network extension development on iOS. You may
               | still be angry at the platform, and on the other side of
               | that coin, I'm a fan of yours who just wants to use this
               | same feature on iOS that Android got. But again, I
               | appreciate being a small team and wanting to focus on dev
               | experience. If there's any hope to prioritize custom
               | endpoint config on iOS, that would be great, and I'd be
               | quick to use it!
               | 
               | For what it's worth, my want is to use Tailscale (or
               | similar) for a family setup, which ends up feeling like
               | enterprise to me as a tech guy, but without the pricing
               | of it. Things like SSO are big to me, but I can't justify
               | paying enterprise pricing for it. If there was such a
               | plan, I'd be your first customer.
        
               | Operyl wrote:
               | Then, as a Tailscale customer for business, it'd still be
               | great if you would prioritize the MDM stuff for my
               | personal uses. Or just expose a field in the settings,
               | even if it's behind some hidden menu.
        
         | Shish2k wrote:
         | I'm hoping for this too - for me I like self-hosting, and I
         | also like throwing money at companies who produce good
         | products. If there was like a $20-per-device tailscale-pro app
         | which was identical except for allowing a custom server, I'd
         | buy that without thinking twice...
        
       | xrd wrote:
       | This is a a beautiful thread. All the concerns that come into
       | play with a commercial business, a very human representative of
       | that business, and someone outside expressing a need. A need that
       | some would see is contradictory to the pure business goals.
       | 
       | Doing business out in the open like Tailscale is doing is so
       | refreshing. Having seen Brad Fitz communicate in other places, it
       | is obvious he isn't doing the right thing for the user only
       | because these conversations will be scrutinized in public.
       | Tailscale has a lot of great technical people who actually are
       | even better communicators.
       | 
       | This is the lesson for me in this thread: remember to optimize
       | hiring good communicators and not just good technical people.
       | This conversation would have quickly gone south if it was purely
       | about the technical or business reasons for doing it. After all,
       | the root word of communication is commune: to connect. We often
       | forget that.
        
         | BiteCode_dev wrote:
         | I remember when we used to say things like that about Google,
         | circa 2000.
        
           | xrd wrote:
           | Google used to have that, probably lost it, and then they
           | lost people like Brad Fitz.
        
             | endtime wrote:
             | And Avery (CEO), who was by far the best presenter (and
             | thing-namer) I ever worked with at Google.
        
             | dekhn wrote:
             | Maybe Urs etc shouldn't have criticized Brad when he posted
             | his well-intentioned "Do not buy Nest Protect smoke alarm".
             | 
             | https://twitter.com/bradfitz/status/566072337020112896?lang
             | =...
             | 
             | The product was a terrible piece of crap that never should
             | have been released.
        
               | bla3 wrote:
               | I don't have an opinion on that product, but no smoke
               | alarm is "hushable" due to state laws, as far as I know.
        
               | bri3d wrote:
               | I'm not aware of any state law that prohibits a hushable
               | smoke alarm.
               | 
               | Short-term (<15minute, repeatable) hush modes are
               | considered a safety feature. They prevent angry
               | homeowners from removing the smoke alarm entirely, a far
               | more dangerous situation than a short term hush.
               | 
               | NFPA 72 recommends a desensitization method for
               | ionization smoke alarms and requires one for smoke alarms
               | installed near a cooking appliance, and several states
               | have followed in codifying this into law. Hush is not
               | required for photoelectric smoke alarms, under the theory
               | that they are less prone to cooking and shower-related
               | false-positives, but this feature is still allowed and
               | they are a common user convenience.
               | 
               | UL 217 allows smoke alarms to be provided with a <15
               | minute desensitization feature which prevents an alarm
               | from triggering unless obscuration/ft exceeds 4%.
               | 
               | Also... the Nest v2 got an in-app hush feature. My
               | understanding is that V1 had some kind of false-positive
               | issue that triggered a ">4% non-hushable" alarm, though,
               | so this wouldn't have mattered.
        
               | Semaphor wrote:
               | So what happens when the alarm goes off? Hope it's a fire
               | and the device gets burned down?
        
           | dkjaudyeqooe wrote:
           | Earning large sums of money corrupts everything. Eventually
           | people realise that being 'evil' is highly profitable.
        
             | nicoburns wrote:
             | I think it might be being a public company more than it is
             | about earning large sums of money. The people who own
             | public companies ultimately have control of the company,
             | and typically care only about how much money is generated.
        
               | jlkuester7 wrote:
               | Yup, this what what I eventually grew to dislike the most
               | about working for a public company. At the end of the day
               | the stock price was the only thing that mattered. It
               | would have been easier to stomach if the shareholders had
               | a long-term vision of a healthy successful company whose
               | value accumulates over time by making good long-term
               | business decisions. But, quarterly returns were the name
               | of the game. The executive compensation was tied to that
               | performance and that cemented it into the basic strategy
               | of all decisions.... (And this was for a large (20000+
               | employees), well established (40+ years old), corporation
               | in a relatively stable sector (health care tech).
        
               | api wrote:
               | I've heard this before: "The product isn't the product.
               | The stock is the product."
               | 
               | This can be true in VC-backed private companies too, but
               | with public companies it seems to be even more amplified
               | since the investors unlike angels/VCs often don't even
               | know let alone care what the company really does.
        
               | bombcar wrote:
               | The problem with public companies is they effectively
               | have _no_ shareholders; none that can actually do
               | anything to affect the company. Which leaves the company
               | to be run by the managers for the managers.
               | 
               | Bogle (the father of the index fund) talks about how the
               | index fund and friends has warped the benefits of
               | ownership to leave companies effectively "unowned".
        
               | xxpor wrote:
               | How is that any different from a typical private company?
        
               | bombcar wrote:
               | A private company (and some public companies) have
               | shareholders/owners that are large enough and active
               | enough to control the company (Ford, famously).
               | 
               | Most just are kind of "managed", especially after a "star
               | CEO" or similar moves on.
        
               | api wrote:
               | VCs and other private investors are usually more active.
        
               | xxpor wrote:
               | Yeah, I guess I was thinking more bootstrapped/Koch-
               | like/small business than private-with-investors
        
               | Analemma_ wrote:
               | The alternatives to index funds are either that ordinary
               | middle-class people can't participate in ownership of
               | companies at all, or that they have to pay extortionate
               | fees to fund managers. No thank you.
        
               | bombcar wrote:
               | The choice isn't between index/active fund ownership -
               | the question is how to make it so the company is not
               | managed for the benefit of the managers, but actually for
               | the benefit of the owners, however many or few there are.
               | 
               | Some companies in Europe have what might be part of the
               | solution, with the union et al having board
               | representation.
        
           | 1ncorrect wrote:
           | I gave Google the benefit of the doubt right up until they
           | introduced their real name policy, haven't had an active
           | account since.
        
           | wnevets wrote:
           | Once the MBAs and accountants take over a company things like
           | that can't happen anymore.
        
         | kodah wrote:
         | The people on that thread are very dope. I've filed tickets
         | with Denton before and he's _ridiculously_ thorough. My mesh is
         | a little complicated on my side, and he was super patient as I
         | walked through the relevant stages of determining where and why
         | I was getting packet loss.
        
           | endtime wrote:
           | Denton was my manager at Google for a couple years. He won
           | some award for being one of the best 10 (? some very low
           | number) managers in the company. Thorough and patient are
           | definitely two of his good qualities. :) Tailscale did well
           | to hire him.
        
       | wingspan wrote:
       | Also a good lesson about including screenshots in any PR with UI
       | changes. Once the maintainer saw the changes visually they were
       | much more willing to iterate and get the PR merged.
        
       | ozb wrote:
       | Just bought the Personal Pro plan (even though I don't really
       | need it), and will be recommending Tailscale to friends and
       | employers whenever possible. This really addresses the potential
       | lock-in / privacy concern, and more generally makes me believe
       | they have their users' interests at heart, rather than just
       | trying to extract whatever they can.
        
       | unixhero wrote:
       | Brilliant. Already a user of both offerings.
        
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       (page generated 2022-08-15 23:01 UTC)