Docker has basically solved the deployment issue.

For 9 out of 10 self hosted programs you can have them up in ~5 minutes with a docker compose and env file.

There are whole OSes built around it, like casaOS which gives users a neat front end/dashboard for their self hosted stuff.

Also for cost eh idk. For $300 you can have enough hardware and storage to self host everything, even a Google photos alternative. Most people spend much more than that on subscriptions for storage, streaming, etc. I guess a UPS is necessary and adds a bit of cost. There are also plenty of pre-built kits for this.

I do agree that it isn't for everyone. Its finicky to get just right and security can be very annoying. Security is already a crapshoot though so I'm not sure that's necessarily a ding for self-hosted.

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jmcqk6 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

> For 9 out of 10 self hosted programs you can have them up in ~5 minutes with a docker compose and env file.

That is a very small part of operating. How about keeping it update and running? Data backed up?

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stego-tech 5 days ago | parent [-]

Docker is still too complex for the layman, and that's ultimately who we have to win over anyway. Big Tech makes it super easy to surrender privacy and sovereignty by giving them your e-mail and a password to create an account and use a new thing. Apps make it easy to do the same, but now for your physical location and device identifiers as well.

Until setting up a private chatroom for your family is as easy as downloading an app on your phone, people are going to keep going back to Big Tech. UX for IT folk and UX for the layman are entirely different beasts, and the UX for IT is only recently improving thanks to things like Docker and the containerization of software making it more widespread and commoditized.

	▲	subhobroto 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		> Until setting up a private chatroom for your family is as easy as downloading an app on your phone It already is - all my family and close friends are on our own Mattermost instance but it still has them have the same social apps everyone else has because two degrees out are not on our own Mattermost instance :) This is absolutely ok! As the cost of providing a service becomes less subsidized and starts to reflect the true cost to service a user, more and more people are going to self-host. Hopefully federated networks take off then.

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subhobroto 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Docker has kida solved the "run application" issue. The real stuff most people care about is the data those applications manage.

If you don't realize what this means (and I won't fault you for it) just imagine what would happen if the $300 hardware and storage were burned down in a house fire or stolen by a burglar.

I self host and have offsite backups on rsync.net and a sneakernet network of people where we exchange a few TBs of encrypted storage with one another to hedge this risk but even then there are scenarios where we could lose valuable data.