* Skynet: https://filebase.com/blog/drag-and-drop-files-onto-the-decen...
* S3 compatibility: https://filebase.com/
We just need a standardized way of mapping ENS names to IPFS CIDs to serve entry point for dApps that are running completely decentrelized.
> "dApps that are running completely decentrelized"
ENS is basically a GoDaddy-like registrar but with blockchain and with all the .eth names still controlled by 7 keyholders in a 'DAO' with four of them only needed to override control (but not totally remove) the .eth TLD. Putting in 'trust' defeats the whole purpose of 'complete decentralization'.
At least with Handshake [0], one totally removes 'trust' from the equation which I can already see ENS anchoring (or already has anchored) their TLD on Handshake.
Then add in the fact that it’s a judgement proof blockchain and you’ve got a system that’s awesome for squatters, flippers, and rent seekers while being terrible for real businesses that want to build real value. How do I stop someone from typo squatting or violating my trademarks?
I’m always surprised by the number of people that want lawlessness.
My point is that we need adoption for decentralized naming, routing/locating, hosting/"pinning". Be it a combination of ENS/Handshake/IPFS/Sia/Filecoin/BitTorrent/Ethereum or any combination of stacks.
I like the notion of having an IPFS capable store with support for pinning at a reasonable price. When I looked into this a few years ago, this was a bit of a mess. There was a half-assed s3 plugin with some severe limitations that was a bit sketchy to setup and not a whole lot else in terms of what to do, best practices, or anyone offering commercial support for this. I liked the idea but our conclusion at the time was that we'd have to build out our own storage solution to be able to use this. I walked away from this company ultimately and haven't really looked at the whole space again since. Filecoin, which people were pitching at the time seems to have largely gone silent. Is that still a thing?
So, if this is legit, I could be a potential customer for this. One of the issues I have with using s3 for personal storage is just that it is so expensive to use at scale. Basically the cost of storing what I want backed up would be the equivalent of buying a new hard disk every few months. Plus I need to baby sit and micro manage the whole setup. Both are bad things. I need something turnkey that "just works" that has a reasonable cost.
So, liking the idea.
But I have some concerns:
- I never heard of Filebase before. How long have they been around and what is their track record? Maybe a blunt question but I'd need to know before trusting something like this with my backups.
- Not to excited about the NFT and web3 stuff they seem to be pitching. Is that needed? Is this some kind of blockchain thingy or is there a serious business that works with normal money and invoices. In that case, maybe start acting more like a trust worthy SAAS company. Seriously, this stuff scares away corporate customers like nothing else.
- They mention they use the Sia storage network. It lists a price even lower than the Filebase price of 2$/TB/month but it looks like it doesn't have any commercial operations around it. What's the relationship with Filebase.
- How many people actually use this and how robust is this sia network?
- I looked at the sia github and that doesn't instill a lot of confidence. I maintain several tiny projects that managed to get more stars than siad or sia-core.
So, a few red flags here. I don't mind being an early adopter of stuff but I'd like to know what I'm getting into at least. This all looks a bit sketchy and too good to be true.
I'd recommend the founders to
- park the web3/nft stuff; this will re-assure corporate customers and be good for business.
- add a page to the website detailing a bit what this company is, where it comes from, and who is behind it. I was able to figure out from the terms of use that the company address is in Boston at least.
- if you have notable customers, maybe add some kind of logo wall. I actually suspect the answer might be no at this point.
- publish some details on the size of your network. Numbers of TB stored, usage statistics, etc.
1. We've been building Filebase since 2018 and have been live in production since 2019. We are relatively well known in the Sia and decentralized storage ecosystem. IDC, 451, and GigaOm have all done reports on us.
2. We are targeting web2 and web3 developers. You can safely ignore all of the NFT and Web3 mentions. Most customers today use us as a S3 compatible storage service.
3. Storing data directly on Sia absolutely costs more than $2 per TB. Their website is unfortunately outdated and that same number has been listed for years. Sia is a decentralized storage marketplace - hosts set their own pricing and compete against each other. Filebase goes to this marketplace and acquires storage capacity.
4. The Sia network is one of the leading decentralized storage networks today and has been live since 2015. I can't speak for the entire network since it's decentralized, but for Filebase specifically, we have over 10,000 users and are about to approach 1 billion files processed.
5. A Filebase website re-design is coming soon and will include your suggested ideas of metrics and logos.
Sia/Skynet Discord: https://discord.gg/sFCT3Ar
Sia/Skynet Blog: https://blog.sia.tech
Their Discord is very active.
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Access denied
Can't you just re-pin whatever files that were lost? Surely you'd keep a copy of anything that was actually important, even if just offline on a hard drive.
This reads like the infamous Dropbox comment. :)
Filebase isn't really for people that can - and want - to do that. Its for people with non-engineer management that want a dramatically cheaper S3.
https://blog.cloudflare.com/introducing-r2-object-storage/
This is taking into consideration bandwidth, which Filebase does charge for.
So now I went around just looking for old links to files on the network, on places like Reddit and old guides, to check if they'd survived a couple years. Sadly all of them timed out, even the first link on the 'video' category on the Sky App Store. I looked up the error ('failed to create Skylink') and nothing of help turned up to even realize what the problem is.
Hopefully things work out in the long term but I haven't been convinced yet of Sia's usefulness in practice.
Arweave seems to be a better long-term solution.
Edit: https://investors.dropbox.com/node/9146/html says she stepped down last year.
I must have missed the trial, how many years did she get?