Welcome!
Yes, there is a lot to go through, and as there are many new paradigms proposed here, it can certainly be a bit confusing at first. And second, and third…
- Correct. The concept of “deleting” data is really best though of as “forgetting where it’s stored”.
If you’re the only one who know about it (has the “data map” of it’s “chunks”) then it’s pretty much irretrievable. But no one can “delete” data off of the Network. Anyone who has valid access to that data is able to retrieve it at any time.
- As @polpolrene mentioned, Apps are run local on the client’s machine. Even when (in the far future) distributed computing is implemented, that would only constitute CPU cycles, not RAM!
Basically there’s no back-end. Everything is front-end driven and started and stopped by the user on their local machine.
- You certainly have the ability to create a closed-source application that requires a subscription service.
I have argued before on these forums that such a business model would be unsustainable in a climate such as the one we are creating, and that there are other, more prosperous ways to obtain income - at the same time as creating the opportunity for more customers by refraining from such a business model. Take a look at the micro paywall thread for a jumping off point.
EDIT: A point I’ve been mulling over for a bit: If you’re accessing the same data with different apps, would you pay to use an app over a similar one (functionality and feature-wise) for free? The thing is, no one pays a subscription to use Chrome, FF, IE, etc…
However that’s not to say that devs need to rely on the Network alone for payments, indeed, I would say that there will be much income generated from the users going to the App. It’s just a new paradigm of old business models. “Blocking” content to “extort” a subscription fee from users is not likely to go over very well (but I could be wrong!)
I would also argue that it is capitalistic from the point of view of the Network - if we’re going for a Pay Per PUT app reward mechanism. But that’s another conversation for another time. Of course, you can always get started here. But I digress…
- Oops! I already got to this one. It’s like the WWW - the protocol is FOSS, the applications need not be.
However, knowing this community, the popular ones will most likely be FOSS…