RE: [projectvrm] Why we need to escape the Land of the Silos

["T.Rob" < >]

If the implementation matches the description, it's wicked good stuff.

Essentially it uses the same technology Amazon uses (called a distributed
hash table) to store distributed redundant data in a way that is fault
tolerant, scalable and fast.  The main difference is that Space Monkey
encrypts the data elements before spraying them out to the network.

There are a few bits and pieces of their implementation I do not understand
yet, but I'm taking it on faith for the moment that there's no water stains
on their cocktail napkins that contain the engineering drawings, and that it
will actually work as advertised and at scale.  When I get mine, I will
probably simulate a brick-and-rebuild so I can test the data restoration.
Hopefully by then they will have explained some of the clockwork in more
detail as well.  I'll be sure to post something on it once I have a unit to
play with.

-- T.Rob

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joyce Searls 
> [mailto:
 ]
>  On Behalf Of Joyce
Searls
> Sent: Sunday, May 19, 2013 2:08 AM
> To: T.Rob
> Cc: 'Johannes Ernst'; 'Bill Nelson'; 'ProjectVRM list'
> Subject: Re: [projectvrm] Why we need to escape the Land of the Silos
> 
> T. Rob,
> 
> Wow. Thanks for confirming exactly what I was hoping for Space Monkey.
Being
> almost completely non-technical, I thought that I might have been reading
too
> much into what the Space Monkey value proposition was, but if you think
so...
> I'm glad I bought one.
> 
> 
> Joyce
> 
> On May 19, 2013, at 5:55 AM, "T.Rob" 
> <
 >
>  wrote:
> 
> > +1.
> >
> > I *definitely* don't expect people to go to the extremes that I did and
we
> know that functionality and ease of use sell.  I would expect that
whatever first
> gains traction will be commercially hosted and that the availability of
such
> solutions will encroach on in-home solutions due mostly to complexity.
What's
> more, in a fast growing market I'd expect many vendors will take advantage
of
> consumer confusion and ride the wave of VRM, but selling products that are
not
> very VRM-y but still offer compelling features and ease of use.  This
would
> further skew the market away from self-hosted solutions.
> >
> > As noted in the earlier reply, our job will be to make the
infrastructure drop-
> dead easy.  For example, the Space Monkey product duplicates the storage
and
> encryption pieces of my in-home solution but does so in an appliance form
> factor.  Plug it in, mount a share and all the cloud backup is taken care
of.  So if
> someone built a Personal Cloud app that used Space Monkey as the back-end
> storage, the result is pretty darned close to a consumer-ready solution
that
> could be hosted in-home and compete head-to-head with commercial hosting
> for ease of use.
> >
> > -- T.Rob
> >
> >
> > From: Johannes Ernst 
> > [mailto:
 ]
> > Sent: Saturday, May 18, 2013 11:41 PM
> > To: Bill Nelson
> > Cc: ProjectVRM list
> > Subject: Re: [projectvrm] Why we need to escape the Land of the Silos
> >
> > The important point is the *option* to self-host. It keeps everybody
honest.
> That doesn't mean that everybody or even the majority of people ever will.
> >
> >
> > On May 18, 2013, at 20:12, Bill Nelson 
> > <
 >
> >  wrote:
> >
> >
> > Thanks for the clarification, Drummond.  Won't the self hosting aspect
make
> this by its very nature a limiting factor in the adoption of personal
clouds?   It
> does require some level of technology knowledge even to install network
> storage at home.
> >
> > Sent from my iPhone
> >
> > On May 18, 2013, at 8:49 PM, Drummond Reed 
> > <
 >
> wrote:
> >
> > Bill, it's a fair question since a personal cloud is by definition
something you
> control, even if it's hosted by a third-party service provider (actually,
in VRM
> terms, I believe that would be a "fourth-party service provider").
> >
> > Anyway, the simple layman's definition I would offer of "self-hosting" a
> personal cloud is when the owner is running it on hardware he/she
personally
> physically controls, e.g., on their own home network.
> >
> >
> > On Sat, May 18, 2013 at 5:42 PM, Bill Nelson 
> > <
 >
wrote:
> > I am coming into this conversation late and I am sure that this was
discussed at
> the IIW, but what are you referring to when you say 'self host'?    Does a
person
> need to have their own storage array at home?   Or are you referring to
people
> having their own Dropbox (or other cloud storage) account?
> >
> > Please enlighten this unintelligent haggard.
> >
> > Sent from  my iPhone
> >
> > On May 18, 2013, at 7:48 PM, Drummond Reed 
> > <
 >
> wrote:
> >
> > +1. I think it's this simple: if you don't have the option to self-host
it, it's not
> really a personal cloud.
> >
> >
> > On Sat, May 18, 2013 at 2:44 PM, Doc Searls
> <
 >
>  wrote:
> > The key is to make personal clouds that are truly personal - in the
sense that
> nobody else can hack into them. If we want to put our clouds in services
that are
> not ours, that's fine - and I am sure will be a good business. But the
ability to
> self-host needs to be a prime requirement.
> >
> > Doc
> >
> > On May 18, 2013, at 8:40 PM, Drummond Reed 
> > <
 >
> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Dan, great stake in the ground. The issues you describe become magnified
x10
> when it comes to personal clouds, so as an industry we need to drive an
even
> bigger stake in the ground on this topic -- one that will restrain
governments all
> around the world, not just the U.S.
> >
> >
> > On Sat, May 18, 2013 at 12:28 PM, Dan Blum 
> > <
 >
> wrote:
> > I've sniffed a whiff of the same stench from here in the land of the
free. Some
> time ago I heard about an Air Force RFP for software to create artificial
"friends"
> for use on Facebook, probably for background investigation purposes. With
> friends like these...in the electronic age, we've lost much of the freedom
we
> once had.
> >
> > Please see my blog entry The Constitution and the Cloud in which I
explore
> these issues.
> >
> > Thanks!
> > Dan
> >
> >
> >
> > On Fri, May 17, 2013 at 2:50 AM, Doc Searls
<
 >
> wrote:
> > ... especially the ones that allow news like this to happen:
> >
> > <http://www.thoughtcrime.org/blog/saudi-surveillance/>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >