Matthew Toseland wrote: > 2) Write a killer file-sharing application (232 votes) > > IMHO there are a number of issues here: > - Current data persistence sucks. We are working on it and need to do more > work on it. - It is relatively hard to search for files. We need a good > WoT-based spamproof fast file search system. - General demand from many > folks for insert on demand. Maybe it worked on Frost, maybe it didn't, but > Frost is dead. The main advantages of insert on demand are 1) that you can > "share" a directory immediately, 2) you don't need to wait for the insert, > 3) the set of available data, or available data at a given speed, is > larger. I am skeptical, there are several problems with it (trust, > security, different views of "network pollution" ...), but in any case > improving data persistence and making it easy to search for files are both > important, and once we have these we can consider insert on demand. And > there *are* options for relatively safe reinsert on demand, although they > are messy... > > Or am I being unduly dogmatic and long-termist here? Maybe a simple > WoT-based file search and share and reinsert on demand system would gain > us so many more users that we should do it anyway, even if insert on > demand is risky and not necessary long term? > > This does rely on distributed searching, and it could be a while ...
This is only MHO, but I really think that freenet could take off on user numbers if it were an out-of-the-box secure file-sharing replacement. It's a matter of time that some app will fill the gap that will appear, even if less private alternatives are nowadays doing well. Backing this position are emergent projects aiming at providing shared global hard-disks, like omemo, wuala and others (you could even include dropbox and the myriad of similar ones here, although their sharing capabilities are not (I think) intended for untrusted people groups). In a way they're doing what freenet does in providing free "cloud" storage. The case of omemo is of particular interest to me, not only because his creator is a compatriot, long time prominent figure in the p2p scene, and awaiting sentence for *creating* a p2p application (actually the charges are unfair competition, worth 13e6$), but because his programming trajectory follows what I see as the dominating trend in p2p generations, in going from mp2p to omemo. So better be there leading than lose the train to some not-so-secure alternative. That said, I'm with you in that several pieces are needed, and all of them require lots of work (even in theoretical aspects). a) Data persistence b) Distributed scalable spam-resistant indexing (!) c) Insertion on demand. Also like you I wonder if it's better to get a working something ASAP and refine it later or what. The frost system death should be a warning, but... I'm awaiting eagerly for the WoT/Freetalk plugins to be deployed, although my (distant) experiences with FMS WoT weren't that rosy. I get lost in the technical details, so I wonder if some recent posts about insertion of b-trees can help b), which to me is the most difficult goal...
