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diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..925036c --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,80 @@ +What is Shard? +=============== + +*WARNING:* This is a primer on what I want Shard to become. As of today I'm only +starting work on this project and there is almost nothing to see. I hope this +will evolve and approach at least a significant portion of the goals identified +below. + +Shard is a decentralized communication system adapted to public and private +discussion and collaboration. + +The system is based on distributed objects called "shards" of different types +that users share and collaborate on. + +Shards are made to be usable offline or on small networks disconnected from the +broader Internet, with updates becoming synchronized automatically whenever +peers are able to communicate. + + +Shard compared to other systems +=============================== + +Shard is born from the synthesis of ideas already found in other networks, but +aiming to fix some of their shortcomings. + +Shard vs. ZeroNet +----------------- + +Just like ZeroNet, Shard will enable users to run public applications with +distributed collaboration. We wish to improve on ZeroNet in the following +significant manners: + +- Full support for one-to-one and groupwise private communication and + collaboration. Examples of such in ZeroNet are quite limited, for example + ZeroMail enables user to exchange private emails but requires all peers + participating in the ZeroMail system to store all messages sent by + everyone. We want to make this work better by only requiring participants + to store the private information. +- Collaboration on very large databases. We wish to be able to store big + collaborative databases (e.g. wikipedia) in a distributed way, so that + it can be run in a decentralized fashion without requiring everyone to store + a full copy. +- Performance improvements. This is done by using a language that is by + design well adapted to network programing with many things going on at once + (Elixir/Erlang), as well as by optimizing our data stores to enable fast + querying. + +Shard vs. Secure Scuttlebutt +---------------------------- + +Just like SSB, Shard will enable users to work off grid and exchange data +when they happen to communicate. We wish to improve upon the following +aspects of SSB: + +- More granularity on what peers store or not, by splitting a user's + contribution in different "shards" that correspond to different topics. + Users can still chose to replicate the shards that their friends use so + that they have more options to synchronize and backup their data, but + this is not required as it is in SSB where you have to replicate all the + data of your friends and their friends. +- Decentralized discovery: we don't want to rely on centralized servers such + as SSB pubs. We want to use DHT technology as a primary means of discovering + new people and finding contents. +- We wish to be very general from the start, and not limited to social-media-like + conversations. +- We want excellent support for one-to-one and groupwise communications. + +Shard vs. Matrix +---------------- + +We aim to be much more general than a chat room, supporting collaborative +edition, file sharing, any kinds of databases, etc. + +We also aim to work in a completely distributed fashion and not require +federation servers. + +Shard vs. Mastodon / GNU Social +------------------------------- + +Same remarks than for Matrix. |