What is the small web? (2020)
I am definitely getting old because such idealism only ticks me off these days.<p>Make a hardware box that serves as a router, switch AND a home server, sell it at competitive prices, have it preloaded with a hardened Linux containing everything needed (including NAS, VPN, home media organizers and whatnot), make it automatically discover other such nodes (and maybe configure lend-able bandwidth and disk space while you are at it; decentralization!), and <i>then</i> we&#x27;re talking.<p>Make it 100% transparent, automatic, fault-proof and as speedy as you can so that the regular Joe and Jane can just install it at home because they heard it&#x27;s a router and a home server in one and it&#x27;s costing less than other similar solutions. Tell them it can stream from YouTube and 10 other apps.<p>Make the regular people tempted to buy it! Only THEN will the &quot;small web&quot; or any such adjacent sentiments take off. Ain&#x27;t ever happening before that.<p>Enough with the &quot;raising awareness&quot; stuff, seriously. We on HN &#x2F; Lobsters and a lot of people on Reddit are quite &quot;aware&quot; already. We get it. But 99% of us have families to feed and seriously can&#x27;t squeeze the effort unless we&#x27;re willing to forfeit the precious 5-10% free time a time a day that we get as busy adults.<p>Make something that will bring the regular people on board. Before that you are just a small fly in an airplane hangar trying to buzz and make a difference.<p>Ain&#x27;t happening, dude. Roll up your sleeves and start inventing the future. If you have the time to craft such an article then you likely have the time to start working on the practical aspect as well.