= On "local-first"

Beyond the CRDT silver bullet

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== Part 1
=== Exposition

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== Target
...
* documents
* files
* personal data repositories
..
Not: banking services, e-commerce, social networking, ride-sharing, etc.

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...
== 7 ideals for local-first software

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...
== 1 - no spinners: your work at your fingertips

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...
== 2 - your work is not trapped on one device

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...
== 3 - the network is optional

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...
== 4 - seamless collaboration with your colleagues

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== 5 - the long now

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== 6 - security and privacy by default

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== 7 - you retain ultimate ownership and control

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== Towards a better future
....
[.lead]
CRDTs (Conflict-free Replicated Data Types) as a Foundational Technology

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== Use case
----
# in node A and node B
s = "Hello, World"

# in node A
s = "Hello, Alice"

# in node B
s = "Hello, Bob"

----
How to reconcile those?
* Hello, ABloibce
* Hello, AliceBob
* Hello, BobAlice
* Hello, Alice
\...

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== Existing CRDTs differ
* performance
* storage
* compression
* metadata overhead

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...
== Hint towards the "automerge" CRDT

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......
[.lead]
@show comparison table, page 9

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== Part 2
=== Critique

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== Software license
...
[.lead]
@"In our opinion, maintaining control and ownership of data does not mean that the software must necessarily be open source."

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== Example 1 - intentional restriction
----
#!/bin/sh
TODAY="$(date +%s)"
LICENSE_EXPIRATION="$(date -d 2020-10-27 +%s)"
if [ "$TODAY" -ge "$LICENSE_EXPIRATION" ]; then
	echo 'License expired!'
	exit 1
fi
echo $((2 + 2))
----
----
# today
$ ./useful-adder.sh
4

# tomorrow
$ ./useful-adder.sh
License expired!
----

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== Example 2 - unintentional restriction
----
# today
$ useful-program
# ... useful output ...

# tomorrow, with more data
$ useful-program
ERROR: Panic!  Stack overflow!

----

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..
== local-first *requires* free software

Otherwise "The Long Now" (ideal nº5) is lost

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== Denial of existing solutions
..
[.lead]
@"In principle it is possible to collaborate without a repository service, e.g. by sending patch files by email, but the majority of Git users rely on GitHub."
Solution: either GitHub+CRDTs or git send-email

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== Plain-text formats
[.lead]
@"Git is highly optimized for code and similar line-based text file"
It even pulls software to the plain text directtion, e.g.:
* delivery-templates
* common-core.protocols.config
Why not exploit that more?

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== Ditching of web applications
..
[.lead]
@"The architecture of web apps remains fundamentally server-centric
// FIXME: links
Disagree.  Contrast PouchDB with Android Instant Apps

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== Costs are underrated
* storage
* backups
* maintenance
Example: blog vs vlog

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== Real-time collaboration a bit overrated
It is only possible on the presence of reliable, medium-quality network connection
..
[.lead]
@"X also works when inside an elevator, subway or plane!"

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== On CRDTs and developer experience
[.lead]
@"For an app developer, how does the use of a CRDT-based data layer compare to existing storage layers like a SQL database, a filesystem, or CoreData?  Is a distributed system harder to write software for?
[.lead]
YES.
// FIXME: link
See "A Note on Distributed Computing"

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== Conclusion
Why this is a "paper I love": it took offline-first and ran with it.
But a pinch of CRDT won't make the world local-first.
The tricky part is the end of the sentence: "in spite of the Cloud".

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== References
// FIXME: links
. "Local-First Software: You Own Your Data, in spite of the Cloud", by M. Kleppmann, A. Wiggins, P. Van Hardenberg and M. F. McGranaghan
. The Morning Paper article
. "A Note on Distributed Compiting", by J. Waldo, G. Wyant, A. Wollrath and S. Kendall
. these slides: euandre.org/slide/
. prose version of this presentation
. view source