I found myself reflecting on the current state of self-hosted communication platforms this past week after seeing the official shut down of Skype. The amount of viable and well-designed software in the space is incredible, which makes it a bit disappointing to see the lack of traction they've gained amongst a sea of popular hosted services.
The actual process of self-hosting the software has never been the difficult part, especially when so many tools exist to assist with deployment. The real dilemma is – how do we convince others to use platforms that (at best) only a handful of their contacts use? Does it matter if a viable WhatsApp alternative exists if no one in our circles will use it? And how can we encourage adoption if 90% of the open-source repositories I come across have badges linking users to their Discord servers and not Matrix, Discourse, etc.?
The lack of interoperability seems to play a large role, and the platforms that have picked up on this – like Mastodon and the rest of the Fediverse – still feel clunky at times. Unfortunately, while I've tried to be intentional about supporting these projects, I still often find myself subconsciously avoiding software communities that don't have a convenient presence on Discord or Telegram.
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Meet FileBrowser Quantum, a massive fork of the popular web-based file management platform FileBrowser. Developed for those looking to easily manage files without the need for a bi-directional sync platform (Nextcloud, ownCloud, etc.), FileBrowser Quantum builds on top of its predecessor with a revamped interface and support for additional features including SSO (via OIDC), multiple sources, real-time updates and indexing, improved file listing options, and more.
FileBrowser Quantum can be easily installed via Docker and doesn't require any additional dependencies for deployment.
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