A few days ago I watched Dan Abramov's new talk, "Web Without Walls". It's a great talk, as always! But there are a couple of things I'm uneasy about.

Let me explain:

First of all, it's ironic that my comment on YouTube seems to have been swallowed up by the algorithm 😅. If you open the video, you won't find it unless you sort by "newest comments". I wonder why it doesn't show up in the default "top comments" view, not even at the bottom :/.

(by the way, if you haven't seen the talk, here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1sJW6nTP6E)

This is what I wrote:

25:20 If you're interested in a "galaxy brain" solution, check out the Solid Protocol. It is very similar to what Dan explains in this presentation, but it has universal formats, and it was created by the person who created the actual web (Tim Berners-Lee).

Besides the universal data formats, I also prefer Solid because of its focus on private data. The AT protocol seems more focused on public data and social interactions. If anything, I see it as an alternative to ActivityPub, not Solid.

But there are also some things I like from Bluesky. I really like what they did with encryption, and the way users control their identities seems a lot more straightforward.

Solid has been around for a while, long before Bluesky, but it hasn't managed to pick up any traction. I wonder how Bluesky managed to attract talented developers like Dan and others. It can't just be "the money"... right?

And in case you're wondering, yes, the Bluesky team did know about Solid. Before announcing the AT protocol, they did an "ecosystem review" in which they studied all the existing solutions they would proceed to ignore: https://gitlab.com/bluesky-community1/decentralized-ecosystem/-/blob/master/README.md