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Comment by redm | Hacker News Reader

It seems to me that CloudFlare should just sponsor servers for inclusion in the long-standing global NTP pools.

https://www.ntppool.org/en/

pool.ntp.org is a open source project (under Apache License) with a open group of contributors (volunteers). Basically the opposite of what Cloudflare is and stands for.

Sponsoring servers in pool.ntp.org wouldn't support Cloudflare's goal(s).

I don't think they were implying it would support Cloudflares goals, but it would be nice to see big companies helping to fund public services, especially when many companies profit from open source tech.

I agree with what you say but if a person sets up a for-profit company, their goal will always be to generate profits, not to be/do good. That's why we don't see Cloudflare supporting things like pool.ntp.org

Just wondering, do Apple or MSFT sponsor them? They also run their own respective NTP servers.

Apple and Microsoft run their own pools for their own OS clients. There is purpose and value in not having critical internet infra not held and operated by for-profit companies (see: ntp pool, let's encrypt, root dns servers, etc).

What Cloudflare offers the community is cool, but the world at large should be prepared for them to evaporate at any time (or, more likely, to be acquired by someone not as benevolent).

Target accuracy for pool inclusion is not sufficient for many use cases. I've personally seen tens to 100s of ms difference between pool members. With no quality filter that's strict enough, adding more to that pool doesn't help.

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