An introduction to IPFS
So, the same question and point of criticism that I&#x27;ve brought up in past discussions about IPFS, and that so far has not yet been sufficiently answered by anybody:<p>The claim is that IPFS could replace HTTP, the web, and so on. The only thing I see, however, is a distributed filesystem, which is only one part of the puzzle. Real-world applications require backend systems with access control, mutable data, certain information being kept secret, and so on - something that seems fundamentally at odds with the design of IPFS.<p>How would IPFS cover all of these cases? As it stands, it essentially looks to me like a Tahoe-LAFS variant that&#x27;s more tailored towards large networks - but for it to &quot;replace HTTP&quot;, it will have to not only cover <i>every</i> existing HTTP usecase, but also do so without introducing significant complexity for developers.<p>Seriously, I&#x27;d like to see an answer to this, regardless of whether it&#x27;s a practical solution or a remark along the lines of &quot;this isn&#x27;t possible&quot;. I&#x27;m getting fairly tired of the hype around IPFS, with seemingly none of its users understanding the limitations or how it fits (or doesn&#x27;t fit) into existing workflows. I can&#x27;t really take it seriously until I see technical arguments.