StrypeyMar 18, 2019

Asked #Reddit: If you could design any website, app, or any other digital tech, and have a team build it, what would it do and how would it work?
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/azvclg/if_you_could_design_any_website_app_or_any_other/

Would be great to have some more answers here. I'm trying to get across the idea that users don't have to be passive consumers of digital tech, but can play an active role in envisioning its development.

r/AskReddit - If you could design any website, app, or any other digital tech, and have a team build it, what would it do and how would it work?

2 votes and 10 comments so far on Reddit

Show threadSteven Roose
@strypey For some years already, I decided that if I'm ever that rich thst I can have a team work on something random, we desperately need a well-integrated personal-organization suite based on open standards. Basically self-hosted Google. E-mail, chat, calendar, contacts , notes, files.
Mar 18, 2019 at 9:08amWeb
Show threadStrypeyMar 18, 2019
@stevenroose this is a project a lot of people in the #OpenAppEcosystem group would support, and are to some degree already working on:
https://www.loomio.org/g/exAKrBUp/open-app-ecosystem
Open App Ecosystem

Welcome !<br><br>This is a neutral group to talk about how we can build a suite of interoperable, open source tools which support transparent, democratic, and decentralized organizing.<br><br>It's not a working group, but becomes a resource where all creators can gather to exchange information about their projects and practices.<br><br>Also, if you have an idea or if you want to work on something concrete you can start discussing it here. At some point it's good to create your own loomio's group (or whatever you want to use) to work on your project.<br><br>Don't hesitate to go on this github page to know more about it.<br>

Show threadSteven RooseMar 18, 2019
@strypey Some years ago I had a phase/period I was very much into self-hosting infrastructure. I concluded that even for a geek computer scientist, it's just too dangerous. I really can't afford my communication to be down some random day when I'm not physically near the server. Also UX is horrible. Some central project needs to implement the entire thing to have decent integration.
Show threadSteven RooseMar 18, 2019
@strypey I had an LDAP setup to be using the same credentials across different apps, but still integration is nowhere. No calendars that can use the e-mail server to send invites, not e-mail/chat providers that can integrate your CardDAV contacts.
Show threadSteven RooseMar 18, 2019
@strypey But especially the UX difference between Gmail and the best self-hosted e-mail solutions is striking. Labels, filters, search, threading, ... Can't do e-mail without.
Show threadStrypeyMar 18, 2019
@stevenroose yup, these are the challenges. I think community-hosting is more viable than self-hosting as a large-scale replacements for the #DataFarms. I don't use GMail anymore (not for my primary email addresses anyway), and the replacements have come a long way. I used #RoundCube (on RiseUp.net) and #RainLoop (on Disroot.org), they're not bad for hosted web apps, and #MailPile is worth checking out as an in-browser client on your own device (dunno if there is a mobile version).
Show threadSteven RooseMar 19, 2019
@strypey Yeah RoundCube and MailPile were the ones I was talking about ("the best self-hosted solutions"). RoundCube had a sieve plugin IIRC so in theory it could do filtering even. No labels, though.
The IMAP protocol is just not made for labels. I used to try poke people related to the IMAP spec to consider an updated version with labels. When you use IMAP dirs as labels, clients like Thunderbird will start downloading all e-mail multiple times.