That’s the problem: it does not make money.
The fediverse mean that the different instances can federate, but every instance after all still has its server and its expenses just like every web service since… always. Forums, chats, socials…
So far donations or pro bono from whoever is managing an instance, but unluckily this is not sustainable if user number skyrocket.
A way would be to somehow make everything p2p but I don’t even know if it’s possible for what is needed.
Servers are expensive, either someone pays, or the instance closes.
As of now very few people are on the fediverse, so it’s cheap.
But if we expect hundreds of millions of people to use it… expenses will skyrocket.
True, but the amount of instances will probably scale too. You can have premium instances that cost a monthly fee, ones that solicit donations, maybe ones that run ads. But you’ll also always have the passion project instances being ran for a specific community out of the kindness of someone’s heart.
That’s the problem: it does not make money.
The fediverse mean that the different instances can federate, but every instance after all still has its server and its expenses just like every web service since… always. Forums, chats, socials…
So far donations or pro bono from whoever is managing an instance, but unluckily this is not sustainable if user number skyrocket.
A way would be to somehow make everything p2p but I don’t even know if it’s possible for what is needed.
I wouldn’t say that’s a problem, far from it.
Servers are expensive, either someone pays, or the instance closes.
As of now very few people are on the fediverse, so it’s cheap.
But if we expect hundreds of millions of people to use it… expenses will skyrocket.
The logical answer would be for more people to host their own instances in a similar ratio to present.
There’s a lot of work going into making instances easier to set up, too, so I think this will be possible.
True, but the amount of instances will probably scale too. You can have premium instances that cost a monthly fee, ones that solicit donations, maybe ones that run ads. But you’ll also always have the passion project instances being ran for a specific community out of the kindness of someone’s heart.