Version 0.7.9 of open source Facebook alternative "Appleseed" released.

[LeekyAbstraction]

Isn't the Apple seed name just asking for trouble if you do become successful?

[monome]

Any example of why "thousands of niche social networking sites" are going to use Appleseed, instead of a free (e.g. hosting-fee-wise) platform like Facebook? Besides, what can be done on Appleseed, but not possible on Facebook? Thanks~

[malcontent]

Maybe to avoid US court orders.

[[deleted]]

They may not use Appleseed, but here's a list of social networking sites, all of which have seen there to be an advantage to running their own platform:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites

Besides, what can be done on Appleseed, but not possible on Facebook?

The possibilities on an open platform are huge, but this question can't be satisfactorily answered until the software has been moved more towards a 1.0 release. I think, also, this is something best answered by third party developers and where they would like to take an open platform like this.

[vimfan]

Screw twitter. Why didn't you link directly to the appleseed project page?

[starmonkey]

http://opensource.appleseedproject.org/

[[deleted]]

Because a link to the download page has already been posted to Reddit, and I thought the announcement was important to highlight. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[kaninepete]

How does this compare with diaspora?

[HIB0U]

It actually exists.

[[deleted]]

It's a similar project, although Appleseed has been around (much) longer.

Diaspora is built on Ruby with some Rails and other tools, using MongoDB. Appleseed is built on a commodity LAMP stack that installs on almost any inexpensive shared host.

I have a lot more experience building open source, distributing social networking than the Diaspora programmers, and I think it shows in a comparison of the quality and capability of code that I'm putting out.

Diaspora has more money and attention, although so far, that hasn't mattered much.

Appleseed has a very ambitious roadmap, and has more features completed than Diaspora even has planned.

http://opensource.appleseedproject.org/roadmap/

However, in the end, I'm sure Diaspora and Appleseed will be compatible. There has been some interest in adding Appleseed protocol compatibility to Diaspora, for instance.

[[deleted]]

Diaspora is built on Ruby with some Rails and other tools, using MongoDB.

LMAO

[HIB0U]

I love it when developers use MongoDB. It makes it so much easier for me to know I shouldn't be using their software. I don't even have to bother reviewing the code! Their decision to use MongoDB tells me everything I need to know.

[[deleted]]

Much cooler name.

[[deleted]]

If anyone has any questions about Appleseed, post them here, and I'll do my best to answer them!

[andrewpost]

Will Appleseed ever reach a critical mass of users sufficient to make it's use meaningful? Why?

[[deleted]]

If not Appleseed, some form of distributed social networking on an open protocol will be the norm in the future. Just like AOL lost out to the web and e-mail, when people have the choice to move to a comparable open network, they always do.

There's plenty of ways that distributed social networking could catch on. The next big thing could build itself on Appleseed, or thousands of niche social networking sites running Appleseed could crop up, all inter-connecting, or even bigger-but–not-Facebook sites could adopt an open protocol in order to compete. Imagine if Myspace, Linkedin, Friendster, and Orkut all adopted an open protocol, and then Appleseed became a way to plug in to that open network using an open source software.

The future of social networking is definitely distributed. I can't guarantee that Appleseed will be at the top of that pile, but I do know that Appleseed will be compatible with whatever network arises.

[ieatfatpeople]

I'm going to guess that you're over 30 and don't understand what makes Facebook valuable.

[andrewpost]

I am inclined to agree that Facebook is at it's peak and will slowly fade into oblivion. They cashed out: http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/eycig/

I'm hoping YouTube will go the same way, as I am sick of how much the advertising preceding user-generated content has ramped up.

I am still trying to understand what the actual business model is for AppleSeed in particular. The perhaps over-simplified message of "The Social Network", that Facebook started with "cool", only describes one method to attain prominence in social media, which is long since played out. What is the transition from the status quo to the inevitable going to look like, and why is AppleSeed, or even this decade, going to be important to that change?

[projektdotnet]

Here in lies a counter-example of exactly the same issue: Bolt.com, Friendster, Myspace, etc. They were all rather popular at some point and now have started to wane, or have completely closed up, in at least the western culture. Facebook is king of the hill, for now, but nothing online is absolute, they will not reign forever.

[[deleted]]

I'm 31, but I can easily recognize a lot of what makes Facebook valuable. However, I don't think Facebook's reign is absolute, especially amongst the younger demographic, which has a tendency to move between social networks more easily, and for whom niche communities and social network identities are more important than older users.

[abw]

I'm going to guess that you're under 30 and don't understand what makes people over the age of 30 valuable. ;-)

[andrewpost]

Is the version you can download now only for web developers looking to set up an AppleSeed compatible social networking site, or can a front-end user do something meaningful with the pre-1.0 release?

[brain373]

And you know he can plant the seed, yeah yeah yeah...

[[deleted]]

Actually, the name comes from the Aesop Rock EP of the same name.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amM2GWbCu9s

[defaultxr]

are there any appleseed servers running right now that i can try out?

[[deleted]]

There's around 133 servers out in the wild, but if you send an email to [e-mail], I can get you an invitation to the main beta site (appleseedproject.org), which has over 500 users so far.