First impressions are important. Just as I was excited to hear about a decentralized, privacy-aware social network back in May, I am now worried when it's made available for us to watch its course.
The fact is, the implementation is obviously problematic. I won't go as far as saying that the design is flawed, although some security vulnerabilities are certainly pointing that way. It's obvious that Diaspora's developers are inexperienced, and therefore could use all the help they can get from us. This is one point in favour of an early release, in my book. On the other hand, early design and implementation decisions have profound implications during the lifespan of a project (this is especially true when it comes to security), and I will not trust my personal details to Diaspora in its current form; the project still has a (very) long way to go before being technically up-to-date.
The fact is, the implementation is obviously problematic. I won't go as far as saying that the design is flawed, although some security vulnerabilities are certainly pointing that way. It's obvious that Diaspora's developers are inexperienced, and therefore could use all the help they can get from us. This is one point in favour of an early release, in my book. On the other hand, early design and implementation decisions have profound implications during the lifespan of a project (this is especially true when it comes to security), and I will not trust my personal details to Diaspora in its current form; the project still has a (very) long way to go before being technically up-to-date.