Yes! I think my question is: Is there a reason for a business to ever take on that hurclean task? Could they break even after developing everything you described and then selling Support as a service. And would more of the people pay to get away from the big tech companies?
I'm not actively doing any of this, I don't work for any company in this space, but I wish I could see a way to make this happen.
Imagine this scenario:
You go to a store, buy a little server in a box, something the size of an Apple TV or a Roku.
Bring it home, plug it in, fire up its home page on your phone, tablet or PC.
That has a really simple, slick UI which walks you through its set up without asking any technical questions, including enabling services you want to use, getting it connected to the cloud for away-from-home connection and cloud backups (if you want).
It automatically sets up a Wireguard VPN for you, takes the most secure options with each of the apps you enable. Ties it all to one password or passkey for you. Sets up certs, etc... the right way, without bothering you at all.
On your phone (mobile first, eh), you use the app as a launcher for the apps you chose to enable (things we all know like Navidrome, Immich, Paperless, etc...). They work the same at home and on the road.
On your home devices (any kind of PC, Apple TV, Roku, Android TV, music streamers, and so on), you install and run apps which all connect to your little server instead of going outside your home.
Enjoy your media, backup your documents, chat with friends and family, etc... as you like.
ETA: And share whatever you want with whoever you want. Send your sister some pictures, let your kid at college watch one of your movies. And so on.
I can dream, at least.
Sure. Like Apple says, "It just works" and people love that.
The challenge, imo, is that there's always the variations on home networks, nat, firewalls, etc... maybe someone partners up with Tailscale or a similar service to get the services through people's home router.
Totally make sense. But, can you imagine a way for a company / non-profit to make it easier for people not able / willing to learn to fix things themselves?
My thought is it could happen, if structured correctly to keep the public good as its aim.
Sweet! Tell me more about how you're trying to do that and how you're seeing reluctance, please.
pay a friend or a local small business for hosting for them
Interesting idea. I wonder if there's any such local / regional service out there. I imagine they would have to have "real people" customer service to make that work. Not sure what that would be worth to most people / cost to run as a business.
I know it's been 2 months but I just stumbled upon your question.
backrest
headscale
emulatorjs
it-tools
webtop
...
Oooohhh... some really interesting and new-to-me apps in your list! Thanks for sharing.
"Everyone poops"?
All good. I'll just continue to mock their progress for now.
The only part of Apple's approach worth copying would be the ease of use of their software, imo