[kordless]

Software is the result of business models. Business models are the result of risk management around desired outcomes. Making more money, for example. Making more money is the reason we've had bubbles and new business layers appear. MSPs were the precursor to SaaS, for example.

Software sucks because business models must frequently be addressed before customer's needs are addressed. Of course this is a simplification of the process, but no company continues writing software if their business models for that software fail and they run out of money or is threatened with shutdown if they don't comply with the government.

To "reinvent" the "web" (or what I call the Intercloud), business models must be removed from the equation. New models of work storage and exchange must be created to allow developers to write code for the people who need it. When a user relies on a feature, there should always be a clear path for them to a) continue using that feature for as long as they see fit and b) enter into a contractual agreements with a developers to develop new features they need. This should be able to be done without a corporation or business model getting in the way.

It also implies all the software down the stack is reinvented in the same way to support this new methodology. Deployments/installs, for example, will need to be done differently moving forward.

This is obviously bad news for the "startup" scene, but good news for humanity. Things are getting complicated and clearly don't scale well doing it the old way. It's time for a change.

[adevine]

Wat?

> To "reinvent" the "web" (or what I call the Intercloud), business models must be removed from the equation.

This goes into my "and everyone gets a pony" set of solutions.

[kordless]

Actually, I think the entire software model needs to be peer-to-peer, no businesses or brands involved. I spent a considerable amount of time thinking about this and building a prototype of one solution that does immutable software deployments using the blockchain. This may elicit another "wat?" from you, but I assure you it's been vetted with peers and it appears to be a sound approach. That's not to say my hypotheses are correct, or all the software is done for this yet.

You may also want to check out IPFS and Sandstorm for other examples on this topic.

[Spivak]

When writing the best possible software is often opposed to the interests of business we're stuck. Either you change how money enters the equation or we live with shitty software forever.

Not saying people shouldn't be paid, but how we currently pay for software is broken and creates not just wrong incentives, but completely backwards incentives where going directly against the interests of the users is the most profitable path.

[coldtea]

You do understand that's how the original internet was invented and built right? With government grants and public/military research.

[chc]

> To "reinvent" the "web" (or what I call the Intercloud), business models must be removed from the equation. New models of work storage and exchange must be created to allow developers to write code for the people who need it. When a user relies on a feature, there should always be a clear path for them to a) continue using that feature for as long as they see fit and b) enter into a contractual agreements with a developers to develop new features they need. This should be able to be done without a corporation or business model getting in the way.

Isn't all of this already possible to do with the Web as we know it, and people just don't do it that way due to general lack of interest on both consumer and provider sides?

[barkingdog]

I think you're going to catch undue flak for this, but yes. I am bullish that BI and blockchain can go a very long way towards this goal. Sometimes, I worry that the barriers standing in the way are societal, not technical; the hard things about the hard things, so to speak. But, then I imagine I am perhaps trying to separate two things that are intrinsically linked. It's going to be interesting seeing how things evolve. I certainly wonder when the time will be that the world is ready for this in a mainstream manner.

[bobajeff]

Sounds like you already have a solution in mind.

[andrewfromx]

Yes! Working on code for the sake of building something vs. money. Re-think the question, is money a resource: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11828947