An introduction to IPFS
So, the same question and point of criticism that I'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's more tailored towards large networks - but for it to "replace HTTP", 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'd like to see an answer to this, regardless of whether it's a practical solution or a remark along the lines of "this isn't possible". I'm getting fairly tired of the hype around IPFS, with seemingly none of its users understanding the limitations or how it fits (or doesn't fit) into existing workflows. I can't really take it seriously until I see technical arguments.