
Ask HN: Is it possible to get non-technical users to self-host software online? - open-source-ux
Has anyone ever had success with getting <i>non-technical</i> users to install or deploy software on a server?<p>I have never heard a success story. I hope someone has a successful tale to share?<p>Are one-click app marketplaces the only viable option? (One-click app marketplaces include hosting and take away some of the complexity of deployment - examples include Linode, Digital Ocean).<p>It seems to me that without easy deployment for non-technical users, self-hosting will never be a viable option for most people, only for a tiny minority of technical users. Agree or disagree?
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rvz
> It seems to me that without easy deployment for non-technical users, self-
> hosting will never be a viable option for most people, only for a tiny
> minority of technical users. Agree or disagree?

Agree. You'd have to come up with a very clever idea to get non-technical
users to self-host software without a sys-admin. My idea is close to one click
app marketplaces, but this time it is done on a physical in-house NAS which is
ready to buy. Thus, it should be possible to self-host apps like, Bitwarden,
Gitlab, etc on the NAS and it is already accessible from the cloud login
(Western Digital optionally does this). But in most cases, it is done for
them.

This is why technical support exists in general. For consumers, End users pay
for support as part of a package to help them with setting up software tuned
to their requirements, including self-hosting. For companies or institutions,
they have IT departments that do all of this in-house for them.

