Chris Trottier
? BIG NEWS! ?
Cloud flare just released Wildebeest, a Fediverse competitor to Mastodon!
A key feature is that Wildebeest runs “entirely on Cloudflare”.
Is this an attempt to re-centralize the Fediverse—which, until now, has been built for decentralized social media?
https://blog.cloudflare.com/welcome-to-wildebeest-the-fediverse-on-cloudflare/
Futurist Jim Carroll
@atomicpoet Why subscribe to them evil intent?
It's exactly what we've been predicting. A cloud based instance that someone can spin up in an instant. It's fantastic. There will be more of this to come.
Chris Trottier
But Cloudflare entering the Fediverse space is also -- in many ways -- an improvement.
Hear me out.
Okay, Wildebeest now exists, and Cloudflare is trying to capture as many nodes as they can.
Boo ?
But Wildebeest also interoperates with Mastodon, Pixelfed, Pleroma, Calckey, Peertube, etc.
Yay ?
And because Wildebeest is open source, it's *still* better than Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc.
Chris Trottier
The other positive aspect of Cloudflare creating Wildebeest: it further validates the Fediverse.
Again, hear me out.
When some middle manager asks you, "Who supports the Fediverse?" -- you can now say that Cloudflare is on board.
That middle manager will be impressed.
And he'll be far more likely now to let you migrate your organizations projects to the Fediverse.
Futurist Jim Carroll
@atomicpoet "No one was ever fired for buying IBM"
Chris Trottier
Indeed, Cloudflare is one major Big Tech company that *loves* the Fediverse.
They don't want to claim the network effect or a social graph.
What's it to them whether or not a social media site has a proprietary API or is based on open protocols?
The Fediverse creates demand for Cloudflare, especially when unexpecting spikes happen -- and instance operators suddenly have to pay $5,000 during a surge in use.
Cloudflare sees money.
Cloudflare wants your nodes!
Chris Trottier
What I've been saying for months: just because you don't want something to be built doesn't mean it won't be built!
There's nothing about ActivityPub or Mastodon's API that prevents the existence of Wildebeest.
And in many ways, Wildebeest is not just inevitable -- it's the first of many Big Tech projects that are to come.
Even if you don't like this, it's near-impossible to prevent.
Are you all going to Fediblock not just Wildebeest but every Mastodon instance that uses Cloudflare?
Chris Trottier
If you don't want Cloudflare and Google and Microsoft to enter the Fediverse space, you have to engineer Fediverse software in such a way that small operators don't have a need for Big Tech.
Cloudflare is here specifically because so much of the Fediverse is expensive to operate.
When I post a link from this account, it shouldn't be tantamount to a DDoS!
Chris Trottier
Many people will jump for joy about Cloudflare building Wildebeest.
I mean, so much of the Fediverse already sits in Cloudflare anyway—so why not go with Cloudflare’s own solution?
Others will see this as a Big Tech attempt to seize the Fediverse.
They will point out that, while Cloudflare solves one problem, it introduces a whole new set of problems in terms of centralization of the Internet.
Specifically, the DNS and hosting aspect of the Internet.
Chris Trottier
In defense of Cloudflare, so much of the Fediverse is resource-intensive.
For example, when I post a link, I often take websites down.
I've also been told that the mere act of replying to someone taxes 4-core CPUs.
To someone who is unprepared, that's shocking!
So obviously, a service like Cloudflare is going to be in huge demand for running the Fediverse.
Futurist Jim Carroll
@andrewfeeney @atomicpoet Also, COBOL.
More than 50% of major global financial systems runs on .... COBOL.
Andrew Feeney
@jimcarroll @atomicpoet Although in fairness, if your business depends on mainframes as most of the world's financial sector do, there's literally no alternative.
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