Self-hosted messenger that doesn't use phone numbers

github.com

4 points·abeam··4 comments

Interesting concept, but I have a few questions:

1. How scalable is it?

2. What is the expected messaging latency?

3. Data loss protection?

Thanks for the interest!

1. Because it's decentralized, the complexity doesn't increase by having additional nodes on the network. The complexity does increase to a small degree as seen by your node as you make contacts. I guess my answer to your question is it's very scalable.

2. I have a notification loop that runs once every three seconds. The result is the latency is about 1.5s from when I send a message to when it shows up on my contact's phone.

3. Because it's a self hosted network, the data loss protection is up to the person running the node. I added a cron script to backup my node node once a day, but someone might want something more frequent...or less.

Cheers.

Very interesting. Have you considered the possibility of monetising encrypted backups? Allow people to backup their node on a cloud service you provide. Keep the data encrypted in a manner that only the owner can decrypt. This would give users mental peace, and could be a monetisation source for you.

That's a really interesting idea; I hadn't thought of that approach. My super long shot idea is that enough people would use app that a router company would be interested in licensing the node and app software and providing a self hosting solution for the common consumer.

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