Hi,
I stumbled over Maidsafe a few days ago and have read quite some stuff here and on the git, but still I’m not entirely sure what, at this state, I can actually do with it or not.
This is what I have gathered up to now, please tell me if I’m right or got some or all of that wrong:
- Currently, I can download an build the code. Apart from bugs, I theoretically have a functioning vault.
- But there is no network I could connect to. There is some test network up among the developers, but nobody else can connect to it.
- Even if I found some people who’d like to try and build a network with me, there’s currently no documentation on how to do that. EDIT: Just found this: Instructions of setup local network manually Don’t know if that’s still the way to go, but there is some documentation on that after all.
- If I could build a network with some people, there’s currently the Drive application that could be tested, which provides some kind of API that can already be used with some third party software that provides something like local storage.
- Apart from some ideas and plans, there’s currently no app being developed, i.e. nobody but the core devs is currently writing real code for the network, partly because the API is not ready yet.
I’m sorry if that sounds a little harsh, this post is not intended to criticize. I just find it a little hard myself to actually find out what the state of the project is, especially because what I first heard was something along the lines of “Everything is basically ready, they’re just testing a bit now and will release soon.” What I found looks much more like work in progress.
But still, I’m excited about it, and I especially think that the built-in incentives might be the key to the mass adoption that so many similar projects lack.
Even at its current state, I’d love to participate with an actual node on one of my servers, if possible, hence my interest in what I can do right now. Am I right in my points above?
I’m a bit sad about the build requirements, though, more or less bleeding edge stuff you won’t find on a normal Debian stable server. Even when joining a network will be possible (before binary releases), that will make it hard to run nodes where good network connections are actually available. I hope at least the binaries won’t depend on stuff you won’t find in a stable server distribution for at least two years to come?
So far my first thoughts. Please correct me wherever I’m wrong!
Thanks, phrphz