Nostr Web Client

Been reading up on the nostr protocol and comparing it to the DSP I wrote about in 2021. Many of the details seem to have been worked out brilliantly, but one thing that worries me is the reliance on volunteer nodes.

It would be nice if there was a business model for nodes and node competition at the protocol level.

As it is, I wonder if nostr can scale.

Tony Acid 8mo ago 💬 1

Cypherpunk Paolo Ardoino is building infrastructure that allows building decentralized apps that don't require servers to work ( https://holepunch.to ). Their first app using this tech is a messenger called keet.io

It's not open source yet, but they plan to release the code to the public once fundaments are solid. If it works well, it will allow to build any type of decentralized apps on top of it and with proposed structure (no servers required) economically, imho, it's more reliable than nostr.

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Discussion

JesterHodl 8mo ago 💬 1

Hasn't it been a tad slow to open-source though?

Tony Acid 8mo ago 💬 1

I guess this depends on how much of the fundaments they want to lay before public release.

Tony Acid 8mo ago 💬 1

For example, the Keet UX for now is not very good, so I can't even recommend it to anyone except early tech adopters. So if I was them (hole punch team), I would make it bit better before releasing the code. Building stuff that don't require servers have a lot unique challenges, so it takes time.

For now I'm just watching and cheering them. Idea is very good, but pending execution.

There are also some privacy issues as well, that needs to be resolved. All communication is encrypted, but because its p2p, there is a suspicion that peers leak their IPs to each other. On the other hand, privacy on Nostr is total downer. Still a lot of work in this space needs to be done.

JesterHodl 8mo ago 💬 1

I understand, still I think a good way to improve code is to open up.

If there are vulnerabilities, there's not much to hack at an alpha stage, so it would be a good trade off to open source.

From what I heard, Paolo is doing a lot operationally, maybe he's busy.

Tony Acid 8mo ago 💬 1

I just remember he said they plan open source it. I agree with you, sooner you do it, better, at least from security stand point. But I guess there are trade offs. Dunno. Observing the project for now...

JesterHodl 8mo ago 💬 1

I am too. Aside keet are there any apps using holepunch?

Tony Acid 8mo ago 💬 1

They recently released Node.js replacement that can be used in this no-server model. It's called Bare.

https://pears.com/news/introducing-bare-actually-run-javascript-everywhere/

JesterHodl 8mo ago

Just read about it, I didn't know about it. Thanks!