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backus's profile
John Backus
John Backus
John Backus
@backus

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John Backus

@backus

Seeking alternative compression. Hopefully wrong on average. Shameless. Started @getcognito and @bloom

San Francisco, CA
Joined August 2012

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    John Backus‏ @backus Jul 4

    Why do we decentralize? Sometimes, it saves money. phone companies paid $20B a year to facilitate long-distance calls. Skype had zero marginal cost since users connected to each other directly.pic.twitter.com/YDOpPDHr1Y

    9:23 PM - 4 Jul 2018
    • 8 Retweets
    • 35 Likes
    • Hannah Konitshek CRYPTOTIGGER Sar Haribhakti Joh ⚡️Hopkins Calvin Chu Gopi Vikranth Pmarca's Likes Marc Andreessen
    6 replies 8 retweets 35 likes
      1. John Backus‏ @backus Jul 4

        From "The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations" http://a.co/a5FX1HC 

        0 replies 0 retweets 6 likes
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      1. New conversation
      2. Jay Fent ☎n‏ @jfenton Jul 4
        Replying to @backus @alfiedotwtf

        This was only true in the early days of @Skype - it became far more centralised, particularly after MSFT bought them. Most (all?) calls relay via their supernodes today, in particular to cater to legal (and other) intercepts.

        1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
      3. John Backus‏ @backus Jul 4
        Replying to @jfenton @Skype

        Yeah you’re right it changed. Still interesting as an early stage tactic if it gives you arbitrary scale at no cost. I mainly just wanted to point out that it can be for non-ideological / legal reasons

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
      4. End of conversation
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      2. jeet 🐊‏ @jeetsidhu_ Jul 4
        Replying to @backus

        This looks like traditional low-end pricing disruption? What's the connection to decentralization?

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      3. John Backus‏ @backus Jul 4
        Replying to @jeetsidhu_

        Connecting users directly for calls means there is no expensive and costly centralized infrastructure. Skype is able to disrupt via price because they have no costs per call at all. Usually decentralization is an ideological or a legal thing, but Skype is an exception.

        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
      4. End of conversation
      1. GrzegorzWierzowiecki‏ @GWierzowiecki Jul 6
        Replying to @backus

        Technically it's a bit more complicated : telephone companies used protocol that required setup and lease (!!!) of communication channel between callers. Having lease provided throughput guarantees. Skype used protocol (internet) based on "best effort" no guarantees...

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      1. Toxic Megacolon‏ @bizzyunderscore Jul 4
        Replying to @backus

        But.. skype vs PSTN is apples and oranges. Skype would be worthless unless it was running over the same infrastructure the PSTN built. The only thing Skype figured out was how to externalize all their costs on other businesses.

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      1. Joh‏ @Joh16530775 Jul 4
        Replying to @backus

        Furthermore if "it" decentralizes , what are the advantages of being anonymous/ must it be anonymous at Base Layer and at end user level? Bittorrent eg and perhaps btc

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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