Durham, NC
Bryan formerly managed the Open Organization section of Opensource.com, which features stories about the ways open values and principles are changing how we think about organizational culture and design. He's worked on Opensource.com since 2011. Find him online as semioticrobotic.
Authored Comments
It's out!
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/09/01/ale-chief-white-house-beer-recipe
I agree with the analyses here. But I think Diaspora* has one thing left going for it: No one else has yet dicovered the formula for generating significant traction around <a href="https://opensource.com/life/12/6/future-must-be-decentralized">decentralized</a> social networking.
Sure, Diaspora* seems stalled. But so does <a href="http://status.net/">Status.net</a>. So does <a href="http://tent.io/">Tent</a>. Anyone seen an implementation of <a href="https://buddycloud.org/wiki/Main_Page">buddycloud</a> lately? Me neither.
Yet Twitter's recent decisions to impose stringent API limitations on third-party developers have made the perils of centralization more obvious than ever. Folks are beginning to <a href="http://venomousporridge.com/post/30043951343/is-a-federated-twitter-even-possible">clamor for alternatives</a>. Unfortunately, the <a href="https://join.app.net/">places to which they're fleeing</a> just don't solve the problem that needs solving. It's a diaspora alright, but one that lands frustrated users right back where they started.
Diaspora* can still save us from abuses wraught by centralization. Opening now might be its last hope for becoming the decentralized social networking solution that finally caught on.