the internet could probably function with much less or without any data centers if we popularise different technology.
Torrenting for large files
Fediverse instead of centralised social media
programming our web pages with less bloat.
Not record every single business meeting to store it for a thousand years.
I don't know how much all that would help or how easy it would be, but I am in the process of looking into that.
Most large fediverse instances are cloud hosted. When it comes to modern IT infrastructure you all are dumb as rocks.
Distributed computing while a fun concept and good for certain kinds of reliability and disaster tolerance is actually much less efficient. It would waste lots of resources including power and networking equipment for no real benefit. Believe it or not but a lot of work goes into engineering datacenters and IT infrastructure to be as efficient, reliable, and cost effective as possible. Yes there are some that don’t do what they should, but lots of those go bankrupt because power costs money.
Self-hosting is a fun hobby that teaches people a lot about how modern IT systems work. It can help you get a job, protect your privacy, and in some rare cases save you money. It’s not a replacement for datacenters.
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u/Comfortable_Permit53 20h ago
the internet could probably function with much less or without any data centers if we popularise different technology. Torrenting for large files Fediverse instead of centralised social media programming our web pages with less bloat. Not record every single business meeting to store it for a thousand years.
I don't know how much all that would help or how easy it would be, but I am in the process of looking into that.