I saw that and was glad that people supported a similar idea. I think this is better though - it opens up that portal for everyone. It also opens it up in a way that people in the open source community can build on it (extra modules that is).
I wanted this as well. But, the business model might be hard to sustain. Most of us might use it for prototyping and then move to server-side for production. Or, the original API provider might support CORS sooner or later.
This actually is the idea I've been working towards for the last couple of months.
The backend is mostly sorted, but it would take another month or so to get a working product out the door.
Does HN think this is still a viable idea if the Big G has entered the game as well?
This is great. I think it would benefit from having a large catch-all public server ehich people could use if they don't want to set up their own, shile retaining the choice to do so. That would improve the UX substantially, I think, although the cost may be too high.
Guys, that's exactly what we need! Just launch now, seriously. Building a backend for an email client is such a pain and I can imagine how this could save lives. But we'd love to be able to put it on our servers. Good luck and hope to try it out soon!
I don't know of any existing systems that offer everything you're looking for. Maybe we can start with something that meets most needs, and build on it? e.g., start with Reddit's code base.
Building from scratch would be less desirable, and risky -- in terms of potentially killing the project before it even launches -- but it would also get you exactly the package you want.
Looks great, has potential: nice design, self hosted, responsive UI, open source. Maybe create a companion offline app for smartphones/tablets that would sync with the server?
That's an awkward one. Much as it would be nice to be on other platforms, I really want to build an app that I want to use daily and has a great user experience. I wouldn't be so keen on building for a platform I don't use. The JSON feed format is pretty basic, so maybe someone else could provide a Linux client with similar features.
Not OP but damn, I'd like that. Then maybe we could go back to native programs instead of Electron-whatever and use the web for stuff that has proved to actually work well on the web.
Couldn't agree more, and Gemini sounds very interesting. Even if it probably won't be a huge thing, it's nice to know that there are people who haven't just decided to roll over and accept the current state and direction of the web. I'm a pretty novice programmer, so I think I'll try and implement a client to try and evaluate for myself how simple it is.
I would very much love to! However, this seems like a 6+ month project; I can't afford that, and I don't see any way this could be profitable. I've been speculating lately that this is a primary reason that services like reddit/twitter/etherpad have been replacing open protocols.
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