Way-Stop on the Search for the Once and Future Web

Man standing on mountain overlooking landscape

This is an era of transition and transformation. My blog now has a new home, here on Write.as. That's because I spun down its old host, DashKite's Byline, along with the constellation of DashKite testbed products.

Photo Credit: Tim Bogdanov

DashKite's original goal of building a social network that prioritizes humans is important. But, as Dan and I worked over the years, we found that so much of the current Web stack has structural problems. Fortunately, many people like us are working on the Open Web, in standards bodies and working groups and companies worldwide. Once we pull out this current, harmful application layer, the underlying Web architecture is waiting for us, like hardwood flooring beneath old carpeting.

Coming to this understanding has been an evolution. I've been working on DashKite's technology stack for three years now. And in that time, I've built some really awesome stuff. I initially did this work in the service of making DashKite products easy to build, deploy, and manage. And I accomplished that. But also, I think the technology I created with Dan will change how the Web works.

In light of our newly realized capacity, we have new opportunity. Byline and its sibling products were a valuable proving ground to refine our approach, but they are not our end goal. A phase change is coming to democratize how we assemble the Web, and DashKite intends to be a leader in that space.

But there is still much to be done, and we only have so much time.

This calls for focus. Maintaining Byline or the others pulls resources from working on no-code. It takes focus to choose not to work on a traditional product category, like blogging. Instead, we're targeting Web development as a meta-problem and leaning into what makes DashKite unique and valuable.

This calls for patience. While we are leveraging utterly amazing features in the Open Web, there is still a fair amount of work ahead of us. Years of it. But if we're right, the result will be more than worth it. Being a dreamer is a calling to persist.