[Freedombox-discuss] Kickstarter's initial goal was reached

[Matt Willsher]

On 23 February 2011 16:39, Clint Adams <clint at debian.org> wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 04:19:17PM +0000, Matt Willsher wrote:
>> are investing a reasonable amount of time even at this stage. What are
>> we contributing to and is there really any point in discussing the
>> this device if key decisions have already been made behind currently
>> closed doors? Or should I just wait for the FAQ?
>
> I think ceding control over a hypothetical device to a single entity
> might be missing the point.  Luckily people have been working on secure
> networking, distributed decentralized naming, data storage away from
> the "Cloud", and making these technologies easy to use.  Hopefully they
> will continue to do so irrespective of specific hardware platforms or
> the actions and inactions of the FreedomBox Foundation.

That is certainly true given that goal of the project is decentralisation.

> What I would like to see the foundation do is push a specific,
> well-integrated software platform on a specific class of hardware,
> and get enough critical mass for it to be really cheap for the
> masses.  That should then cascade into more effort improving
> the software and protocols on various platforms, and empowering
> users everywhere.

I agree with this and it is why I have been spending time on it. I
think it is a worthy goal. However I'm unclear as to how the
Foundation sits around this and why it needs $500,000. That's a lot of
money with little justification as yet nor any sort of prototype. This
for a project that is apparently relying on the good will and
development time of volunteers.

> I am happy to run pure, unadulterated Debian on my plug computers,
> but easy federation with people's mass-produced devices would be
> a good thing.

Yes, and maybe I'm looking the wrong place to scratch an itch. I think
maybe I'm more looking for a framework to build on.

That's a good response Clint. Thank you.