Bob Mottram 🔧 ☕ ✅
I think this is a near term threat for Software Freedom, and not one which many people are thinking about.

The threat is a return to mainframe computing. Giant server warehouses and very dumb clients with minimal local electronics which can be mass produced at minimal cost for the next billion.

In the demo they're running a game, but all the compute is happening in an Android VM in an Amazon warehouse. When you think about it, it's perfect disempowerment of the user, suitable for all kinds of unfreedom.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/sG-eHDBu3h4
android_in_cloud.jpg
Dec 5, 2018 at 1:31pmWeb
Show threadFlorianDec 5, 2018

@bob if they're aiming this at "the next billion" then, uh

I mean, surely doing things like running games or apps in ~The Cloud~ and only displaying audio and video on end points needs *massive* amounts of bandwidth

how do they propose The Next Billion get that

Show threadBob Mottram 🔧 ☕ ✅Dec 5, 2018
@theoutrider I don't think so right now, but it would be a logical way for things to go.

- Minimum cost of end point
- Total control of "intellectual property"
- The user can't really do anything with their device because they're not runnin an operating system locally
- Everything becomes SaaS
- 100% surveillance
- No ad blocking

Games are the outer limit because they usually need realtime response, but most apps don't and so the bandwidth requirements might not be so great. There could be some screen display primitves stored in ROM on the device and the rest is delivered by the cloud.
Show threadFlorianDec 5, 2018
@bob I mean, completely disregarding ideological factors and concerns about surveillance, it's a really obnoxious idea even at a technical level because it'll result in a mass of devices that are basically nonfunctional without an internet connection and Don't Do That Maybe
Show threadFlorianDec 5, 2018
@bob not to mention what happens when Google inevitably shut down the service because of Reasons as they are wont to do
Show threadBob Mottram 🔧 ☕ ✅Dec 5, 2018
@theoutrider Another selling point they could use would be "Your device never becomes obsolete" or "zero end user upgrades". Any upgrades happen in the cloud and the user doesn't need to be bothered with notifications about that.

They could even have different classes of users with different user experience, depending upon subscription rates.
Show threadckeenDec 5, 2018
@bob

You have just described a chrome book with a software ROM I guess...

@theoutrider
Show threadBob Mottram 🔧 ☕ ✅Dec 5, 2018
@ckeen @theoutrider Yes. The Chromification of everything.
Show threadNobody [LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1)]Dec 5, 2018
@bob Except there will always be some local processing because they'll still use #JavaScript to handle the data-collection ("spying on users").
Show threadVertigoDec 5, 2018
@bob we already have mainframe computing via web apps and most mobile apps (which are frequently just thin wrappers around an HTML widget with additional tracking built in) already. Virtually zero processing is done locally anymore.
Show threadTomas SA2TMSDec 5, 2018
@bob But you can just as well run this stuff on your own machine. Running it on Amazon's hardware is just work specialization (putting more money going into Bezos' pockets aside)

"Cloud gaming" has been attempted before, and latency tends to kill it. But that said, this is why the AGPL and possibly the SSPL are important. This is already a concern on the Web, as @vertigo points out.
Show threadBob Mottram 🔧 ☕ ✅Dec 5, 2018
@tomas @vertigo

It is, and the evolution from what we have now will be that you don't need an operating system on your phone or laptop-like-thing. You only need some receiver electronics to link to the remote computer. The end point cost goes down and battery life goes up, but you no longer have even potential control of your computing.
Show threadVertigoDec 5, 2018

@bob @tomas Yep. 5G networking intends to provide yet more bandwidth (how it deals with latency is an open question), so this is only going to get worse with time.

Though our levels of pessimisim may differ, we are in broad agreement. The age of utility computing (as foreseen by GE and the Multics project) are truly upon us at last.

Show thread@hDec 5, 2018

@vertigo Glass full view: faster bandwidth paired with supercomputer-carrying users renders servers redundant.

Provided that you run the right software.

@bob @tomas