saul goode saul@identi.ca

Mommy, Why is There a Server in the House?

I've been typing this up off and on the last few days, but new blogpost: Javascript beyond Javascript(with Guile?)

Since we're just chatting, and I apparently sleep like a zen monk (without any of the advantages), the thing that has been keeping me awake: I am going to build a crowd-funding platform specifically for stuff going into the commons, such as free cultural artifacts (CC-0 stuff) and FOSS projects, as well as supporting the personal lives of folks that parrticipate in such things (replacing broken laptops, making airfare to LibrePlanet/Wikimania/wherever).

That is exciting, sure. But it is a lot of work, and I need to get org stuff in place, yadda yadda. The part that is making my brain crank is how I am going to fund ongoing web services via the clever use of perks.

Basically, I want to make services that are accessible to lots of folks, regardless of ability to pay, while also being transparent about the cost. A lot of the stuff I host isn't open registration, in part because dealing with spammy accounts and volume is difficult to do when one isn't offsetting the cost by being creepy (ie tracking, serving ads, selling user info, etc.). So, each web service will have an annual fund-raiser, explaining how much it is used, and aiming to to support itself for the next year. The tiered awards will include a "perk", which is one from a list.

What are the perks? Essentially an account on some service, and different extras on subsequent choices (the latter are shown after the forward slashes).

* A jabber account for you/for a friend

* ownCloud account for you/for a friend, more storage

* WordPress hosting

* Federated social net account for you/for a friend

The idea is that those accounts are lifetime affairs, and this also makes it so once a year we can have an intake of new users for our services, making it more managable (the other ways to get accounts will be local, in-person mentoring, special programs, stuff like that).

This way of funding and increasing usage free web services corresponds to my ideas on human scale (hey, I wrote that a almost exactly a year ago!). And the possibilities are astounding. Right now is a golden time to point out how big companies treat customers as products, and to cater to a growing number of folks that care about how theirs services are configured. It also means that I can support the free and open web by mentoring others and supporting individuals behind projects (whom I'd much prefer run updates and configure these services than myself!).

So yeah, that is why I only sleep 4 hours a night, which itself contributes to the delirious smile I wear these days. ^_^

One of the (silly) reasons I've continued to run GNOME 3 under Ubuntu instead of switching to Debian is a hesitance to move from Firefox to IceWeasel.

With this EME/DRM stuff, for the first time, I no longer feel that hesitance. A trademark dispute is one thing... but DRM is another.

Hmm, I sort of see some of what you're saying but am missing the overall idea. You say I don't see the forest, but let's examine my situation.

• I have no TV.
• I have no set-top box.
• I have no satellite TV.
• I have no direct-to-mobile service.
• Physical media meaning ... hard drives? USB drives? CDs? Floppy disks? I have some of those...

It seems like a lot of the groups or services or areas of concern you have are ones that I don't use or interact with. On the other hand, I do use a web browser, and I can certainly choose which one, and I can certainly choose one that's not adding sandboxes for DRM to live in if I want.

If you want to say that creating a sandbox for DRM to live in is not building in DRM, OK, but now we're playing word games. Let's grant you your word game victory, because it's a boring topic. Then let us say that Mozilla is fostering an environment in which DRM can easily thrive.

It is easy to say, "ZOMG big media is the enemy!", and that may or may not be true, depending what you're talking about, but one way of attacking the enemy is to deny them support. That is one reason people are complaining about Firefox. You can't change the status quo by endorsing it, after all.

Also, many people who are anti DRM-sandbox-whatever-you-wanna-call-it are also broadly speaking opposed to monopolies. We vote with our votes, our mouths, and, yes, of course, our wallets.

we further failed when email stopped being the primary method of truly personal communication in favor of SMS, Facebook chat/posts, etc. and email is really only used now a days for communication in with companies or mailing lists, outside of the free software world anyway.

Whenever I hear the word "selfie" or see a selfie, I almost always picture this monkey.