Remember when Google’s motto was “Don’t be evil”?
Comment on Tailscale addressing concerns over potential enshittification of the platform
ambitiousslab@lemmy.ml 1 month ago
I have read so many posts like this, that try to explain why their company is a special case and why it could never happen to them, only to see the same thing happen again and again.
Tailscale are trying to insert themselves into the stack and become the go-to choice for this kind of networking. When their customers are dependent on it, of course they’ll start extracting rent and capturing as much as they can.
That’s their right, but it’s also a little condescending to pretend otherwise.
maxwells_daemon@lemmy.world 1 month ago
thelittleblackbird@lemmy.world 1 month ago
I really don’t see how the enshitification could work when we have the fee version of the central servers Headscale
So yes, it could be a pay wall for some advance featuresike funnels and so on. But the primary use is secured…
TheHobbyist@lemmy.zip 1 month ago
- Tailscale has an employee who is contributing to headscale. I think this is helpful and they could decide to stop this collaboration the moment they feel it is counter productive.
- they may decide to start adding undocumented/proprietary/“secure” elements which prevent headscale from working.
There is no guarantee headscale can keep working the way it does or that it is allowed to keep existing.
thelittleblackbird@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Honestly, this seems more than your assumptions and fears than anything else.
Clients are open source and foss, the moment something strange is in, Headscale could adapt.
If they finally goes to full close source, then the community will fork (emby - jellyfinn drama).
Your arguments don’t hold together, for the good of the community
TheHobbyist@lemmy.zip 1 month ago
I feel you are a bit out of touch when the topic is specifically enshittification and that it is based on the history of companies turning against their users, showing little good faith. It is also not something which is sparing open source projects (remember bitwarden’s attempt?). So sure, I’m not going to deny that I’m making assumptions and that I am concerned it may one day happen. But it is grounded in reality, not some tinfoil hat stuff.
Jason2357@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
Their brilliant idea was to combine the amazing Wireguard with all the ideas from the VOIP world for performant p2p connections of mobile devices. That gave them a head start but especially with headscale existing, anyone can replicate that. Now, their business depends on being the slickest option for managing authentication, users, devices, and ACLs for businesses. The writing is already on the wall for selfhosters - we don’t really need all those features.
illusionist@lemmy.zip 1 month ago
The article also doesn’t address how tailscale could enshittify and that they won’t do it.
Schmoo@slrpnk.net 1 month ago
extracting rent
That’s their right
lemmy.ml
Have I discovered a rare pro-capitalist user of lemmy.ml?
whostosay@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Ur dumb.
Have you ever thought about how we’re different though?
ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.com 1 month ago
Yeah, this post started as a reassurance that Tailscale wouldn’t enshittify. But it turned out to just be an argument about how to avoid enshittification that boiled down to two principles:
Both are partially right and partially wrong.
For #1: Yes, making your product worse eventually harms the company. No, you can’t expect CEOs to accept that as a reason to not make their product worse because even if it harms the company, short-term incentives that lead to enshittification are eventually going to become irresistible. His comment about reaching “zen” with leveled growth and profit will never stop VCs from calling in demands and favors.
For #2: Yes, founders typically “get it” more than their VC- or failure-initiated replacements. No, that doesn’t mean founders are uniquely resistant to enshittification. This is your point too, and it’s why I don’t believe this person - they lose all credibility here because they doesn’t acknowledge they aren’t special. Every tech bro out there thinks they’ve cracked the code to permanent tech hegemony. That exceptionalist thinking turns into enshittification, since the product-worsening or overcharging is easier to justify as temporary/justified/rationalized (until it isn’t).
And “all of this” doesn’t explain why Tailscale specifically gets immunity if the principles are true.
So interesting post, and a lot more self-awareness than most founders which is still a little reassuring, but a lot of warning signs too.
wise_pancake@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
Definitely agree with you
From my experience most companies enshitify before the IPO to juice the metrics and boost their valuations (I.e. their payout).
The fact that they aren’t doing that yet that is a positive sign.
But founders aren’t immune to suffering from billionaire brain rot and years of exposure to the constant sycophancy and wealth seems to turn nearly everyone into a greed driven money soulless vampire.
Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 1 month ago
I always see it after. Because then the suits take over and it becomes a mandate to increase profits quarterly for the share holders. IPOs want to show happy users to sell the idea of future revenue from milking those users.