I like open source software as much as most people on HN, and have worked with it for most of my career. But help me understand how a decentralized FOSS model gets ordinary lawyers, reporters, and congressional campaign staffers the level of security that iOS does? What are the mechanisms that assure safety for users?
The closest I can come to seeing something like this work is a Chromebook, and Chromebooks are locked-down and get their security model from a central authority.
> What are the mechanisms that assure safety for users?
What are the mechanisms that assure safety for users of iOS? I understand that it's had a good track record so far, but the proprietary closed nature doesn't inherently inspire trust. Surely a decentralised FOSS model done right could be secure for lawyers &c.
As the old saying goes, "if you could have invented a secure open source desktop chat app, you would have developed a secure open source desktop chat app."
In practice, empirict results win over theoretically optimal designs.
I think that’s unfair; the Ghost.io post from a day or so ago is a good reminder of just how much harder it is to do things when you have to make them work in a decentralized fashion. Decentralization makes everything harder.
You're right and this is just the classic walled garden tradeoff - freedom for convenience. Depending who you are, this might be acceptable, and it's good that we have choices.
The closest I can come to seeing something like this work is a Chromebook, and Chromebooks are locked-down and get their security model from a central authority.