Comment by Renaud | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Renaud | Hacker News Reader

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The solid infrastructure looks promising to me. Based on the other submission today on Solid[1], there are varying opinions on whether it will take off and really be able to challenge the big social media.

However, I think we _need to want_ this to succeed, even if there are other ideas of what decentralised architectures should look like.

It may not be the best system to everyone, but it has some clout with Tim Berners-Lee behind it and its architecture and capabilities can -and will- evolve. It looks to me like our best chance to start 'disrupting' the current status-quo, even if it flies under the radar for a while.

I can imagine an Instagram-like app that would let me import a take-out archive from my Instagram account and just let me continue where I left off. Maybe I would need to rebuild a user-base, but that's OK, there would be new people on that platform and and more control over what I want to see, rather than some ad-optimized algorithm deciding for me.

A payment systems built on top could allow direct monetisation for content-creators without having to go through a 3rd party that enforces arbitrary rules over what content gets and doesn't get monetized.

[1]:https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18100895

Disruption is driven by need though. Uber succeeded because traditional cab companies suck. I can’t remember when people weren’t complaining about cabs, even before the internet, and Uber came and removed almost all of the annoyances. Sure they were bad for labour, but for the customers it made sense.

I’ve never seen anyone complain about Instagram or visa. How can you disrupt services that people love?

I mean, it should be obvious by now that almost nobody cares about privacy.

> I’ve never seen anyone complain about Instagram or visa.

Then you are not listening to everyone. According to some, Instagram is the most toxic site out there, and Visa leeches fees from their customers. I'm not necessarily in those camps, but I certainly have heard the criticisms.

Industries that are ready to disrupt have loyal followings that they think everyone loves them, when in reality much of society would be just as happy to see them fade. The web as a whole is reaching that point. Whether you dislike the privacy issues, the money-driven nature of startups, the demographic who lives online without engaging with the world, or any other reason... the web is not universally loved, despite the many people who still think it is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Maybe it is time for some changes.

Heh we obviously have very different groups of friends. Everyone I know complains about Insta and existing payment methods all the time.

On top of the people complaining there are those the market hasn't appealed to yet. I'm a very social person but I'm not on any social networks. My mum is (wisely) a bit scared of sharing her data on the internet and also using the internet in general. I've taught her some of the basics so she can eg. receive photos from my by email but she doesn't want to use social networks because she doesn't trust them. I feel the same way. She has plenty of friends she could be keeping in contact with regularly too.

I've seen people wishing they had a Solid-like concept for years, asking for ownership of their data with fine-grained control over who/what gets access to it. And I think that those who haven't wished for this (eg. the general population) will see the benefits once they actually try to use it.

Whether Solid can pull this off is another question but I think this is an area that is driven by demand and it's only through ignorance that people aren't generally asking for this.

Literally everyone that has interacted with the financial sector has complained about the financial sector at some point.

Person-to-person settlement is a stepping stone on the way to a better financial/banking system.

We already have person-to-person payment apps that work instantly and feeless though, at least in my country we do. They were made by banks.

This example doesn't include people who never took cabs but started using Uber because it was easier. Need isn't the only thing that drives disruption or innovation.

There's just a ton of better projects out there solving this problem with a much higher focus on architectural clarity, running code, competing seriously with major platforms, etc.

https://decentralizedweb.net/

"TALK: Solid: empowering people through choice"

Speakers: Tim Berners-Lee, Ruben Verborgh

https://decentralizedweb.net/videos/talk-solid-empowering-pe...

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