Many words written and little mention of the big problem with decentralization: without an economic model you can’t afford the incredible amount of effort required to make software usable for non-techies.
Computers are by default very hard to use. Techies don’t notice this because they know how to use computers well.
As a result techies think software is done when they can use it. It’s nowhere near done. Not even close.
Getting software working is often like 5% of the effort. The other 95% is polishing, and polishing, and going through 50 design iterations, and polishing more, and supporting a bunch of platforms with all their quirks, and polishing…
All companies have to do is create an easier to use alternative and a migration path. Then when enough people migrate, close the path. Done.
It’s all about UX.
I like the fediverse and use it, but if I didn’t understand how it worked I’d find it very confusing. Understanding how it works is easy when you have a network protocol background but without that the way users and instances and federation work is not obvious at all. That alone is “full stop” for the vast majority of people.
“I made an account… why can’t I log in?” “You aren’t on the right instance.” “Huh? What’s an instance?” “It’s a server that networks with other mastodon servers…” “So I need an instance?” “No you just need to go to the right one.” “How do I find it?” “It’s the one you made an account on.” “But I made my account on Mastodon…”
Computers are by default very hard to use. Techies don’t notice this because they know how to use computers well.
As a result techies think software is done when they can use it. It’s nowhere near done. Not even close.
Getting software working is often like 5% of the effort. The other 95% is polishing, and polishing, and going through 50 design iterations, and polishing more, and supporting a bunch of platforms with all their quirks, and polishing…
All companies have to do is create an easier to use alternative and a migration path. Then when enough people migrate, close the path. Done.
It’s all about UX.
I like the fediverse and use it, but if I didn’t understand how it worked I’d find it very confusing. Understanding how it works is easy when you have a network protocol background but without that the way users and instances and federation work is not obvious at all. That alone is “full stop” for the vast majority of people.
“I made an account… why can’t I log in?” “You aren’t on the right instance.” “Huh? What’s an instance?” “It’s a server that networks with other mastodon servers…” “So I need an instance?” “No you just need to go to the right one.” “How do I find it?” “It’s the one you made an account on.” “But I made my account on Mastodon…”