Comment by rglullis
6 years ago
> Couldn't the same argument be made about why it made no sense to create the Linux operating system, since there was no business case to do so?
But there is a case to do so: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/06/12/strategy-letter-v/
> we can be more nuanced here and keep a lot of the business benefits while caring more for users.
If you are talking about "business", then we should not talk about "users" but "customers". And it so happens that most "customers" (so far, at least) consider it more valuable if the business also is responsible in keeping (and securing) the data. For these customers, putting the responsibility of controlling the data on them is a burden, not a privilege.
Customers vs users is a very interesting perspective - and yep, it seems very understandable that a 'customer' (or user) might not want to take on the liability of their own data storage.
I'm stretching a bit here, and haven't mused on your thoughts a ton, but perhaps one reponse is that this shift places demands on ensuring that local storage defaults - and the security of the delivered software - are adequate to keep the data safe in the hands of a layperson user/customer, and that that needs to distribute the cost and attacker opportunity away from massive centralized data silos enough to make the markets (and users, customers) follow.
Another angle would be to (optionally) assign another organization/entity as your storage provider - I think the 'Solid' project was suggesting something along these lines.