Will do. As I said, I don't anticipate starting the kickstarter for about a year, though I want to do preliminary work (prototyping out some of the protocols and such) now.
John I agree that (1) and (2) are the most interesting parts. But I'm not sure that this is the right tool to build *everything* on top of. We should start with the platform and get people building stuff on top of it. -J On Wed, Dec 4, 2013 at 12:05 PM, John Blossom <jblos...@gmail.com> wrote: > Joseph, > > Thanks for chiming in. I'd be interested in getting crowdsourced financing > for this also. We don't have a major corporation funding our lifestyles to > enable such work, so we need something. > > I am in general agreement with your overall plan, though as I've stated > before, once you have 1) and 2) done right then there's so much more that > the platform could/should do besides an email replacement. I do think that > the "internet of things" is a key opportunity for such a communications and > data management model, merged with secure, network-independent > communications. Nkommo can't really move forward without that combo. > > As for the name, all things are possible once it's on Github, it seems. A > fresh start might be in order. > > Please keep me in the loop, I'd be glad to help push things in this > direction. Without funding, we're nowhere. > > All the best, > > John Blossom > > email: jblos...@gmail.com > phone: 203.293.8511 > google+: google.com/+JohnBlossom > > > On Sat, Nov 30, 2013 at 11:03 PM, Joseph Gentle <jose...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> I still really want to make the wave platform we've been talking about >> for awhile. I just don't have any time because I need to work to eat. >> >> So I've spent the last month thinking about running a kickstarter to >> fund the work. Christian's email was really timely. >> >> >> I want arbitrary JSON documents, or arbitrary embedding like we talked >> about a few months ago. >> >> I want a protocol based on real P2P algorithms rather than the hacky >> mess we have at the moment with trees of servers connecting via an >> XMPP extension >> >> I want the same fundamental protocol to work server-server or >> server-client. The OT stuff should work like git. >> >> No single person can maintain our 500k of legacy java code. I want to >> write a better version with much cleaner separation of OT protocol and >> application specifics. I still want a web client, but it should be >> written in pure javascript. >> >> Messages should be cryptographically secure from snooping. >> >> >> The way I see it, there's fundamentally three pieces that make up wave: >> >> 1. A set of OT primitives which allow peers to generate & interpret >> operations >> 2. A platform on top of (1) for exchanging operations between networked >> peers >> 3. An application on top of (2) which is trying to replace email >> >> These pieces should be separate from one another, and usable in other >> contexts. >> >> I have a clear idea of how we can make (1) and (2) work. The OT part >> we've talked about on the list and I've been slowly prototyping out >> here: http://github.com/josephg/tp2stuff >> >> I have a bunch of applications I want to build on top of a platform >> like this. For example, I want my text editor, compiler & unit tests >> to all talk to one another so my text editor doesn't need >> language-specific completion or syntax checking, and so my friends can >> jump in and help me code. >> >> I don't know what the best way to build (3) is - but I'm more than >> happy to build the platform that a new kind of email could be built on >> top of. Maybe the current WIAB design is totally fine for that part - >> though I want end-to-end encryption. >> >> I don't know when the right time to do this would be. I don't know if >> I should work alone or if we should put a team together (Hi Ali!). If >> I were to do this properly it would take about a month of prep to get >> a kickstarter together, and if it is successful I'd want to quit my >> job to do it. I think it'd take me about 6 months to a year of work to >> get a stable, secure platform working (probably closer to a year), and >> I'm also not allowed to stay in the US without an employer on my visa. >> >> The earliest this will probably happen is the end of the year. >> >> Kickstarter might also not be the right way to fund it. Cryptocat was >> funded in 2012 mostly by Radio Free Asia's Open Tech Fund[1] to the >> tune of ~$100k. A kickstarter would give us users (great) and >> publicity, but the right private sponsor might also work. >> >> Maybe the most contentious part of all, I don't think I'd want to call >> it wave. But it really would be the grandchild of what we've been >> working on all this time. >> >> Thats my thoughts. If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears. As I say, >> I'm keen to build this, but I'm too old to live on ramen in a granny >> shack. This thing we've been working toward has real value, and could >> be put to great effect if we can actually make it good. >> >> -J >> >> >> >> [1] https://crypto.cat/documents/report-1213.pdf >> https://www.opentechfund.org/ >>
