In the last decade, decentralized web-crawlable forums (the likes of vBulletin, phpBB, etc) have been decimated by the proliferation of monolithic walled gardens like Discord and Slack. Then Zulip comes along with features that feel like a throwback to the forum era (web frontend, public access option, threaded topic system, email notifications) but with modern sensibilities in mind (mobile clients, proper API, bots, push notifications). Zulip seems like the kind of project that has the potential to turn the tide and make discourse more decentralized again.
I fear that the introduction of any pricing for self-hosted installations like this will steer Zulip away from its potential as a ubiquitously deployed platform and toward a niche subscription model, as open as it may be, relegated to the odd enterprise with refined taste in communication platforms. Very unfortunate news.
There's a whole category of utopian developer environments and languages with far bigger aspirations than they were able to achieve but that still influenced others. Smalltalk being another example.
One of my favorite things about the old C2 Wards Wiki is that it's like an archaeological site where time is frozen in this period and you can browse through preserved arguments about how Smalltalk and Extreme Programming will take over the world.
I keep hearing about it and its influence, but I can't really figure out if it's active or dead or even If I can use it on a virtual machine or so. 9p.io doesn't seem to even load on my machine
I fear that the introduction of any pricing for self-hosted installations like this will steer Zulip away from its potential as a ubiquitously deployed platform and toward a niche subscription model, as open as it may be, relegated to the odd enterprise with refined taste in communication platforms. Very unfortunate news.