Data & portability
Open file formats, an interoperable ecosystem, and self-hosting options ensure we have the power to manage our digital assets on our own terms.
What if this platform (or any platform) stops its service tomorrow? Or change their pricing? Or terminate our account for some reason? Or what if we found a better platform that we want to migrate? Even if they're well-funded, these questions have been bugging me for a long time now. I don't want to get stuck when a shutting down, transition or an acquisition happens.
I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. However, I had no clarity on how to address this concern. So, I started to save interesting takes on this subject. I found a few philosophies and some interesting thoughts.
The philosophy
Over time, I gathered valuable perspectives that helped me make connections and see patterns in this particular issue. However, the picture wasn't clear until I faced the problem.
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Steph Ango
“File over app is a philosophy: if you want to create digital artifacts that last, they must be files you can control, in formats that are easy to retrieve and read. Use tools that give you this freedom.
File over app is an appeal to tool makers: accept that all software is ephemeral, and give people ownership over their data.”
File over app (Jul 1, 2023) -
Andrej Karpathy
“TLDR: This is what software could be: private, secure, delightful, free of dark patterns, fully aligned with the user, where you retain full control and ownership of your data in simple, universal formats, and where tools can be extended and composed.”
Love letter to Obsidian (Feb 25, 2024) -
Jordan Singer
“Waiting for the day that design infrastructure companies are a thing. Think what Twilio’s infrastructure enables developers to build as to what a theoretical design infrastructure company could enable for teams building design apps and tools. Wanna build the next Figma? Use [X design infrastructure company]’s infra and APIs.
We’re all working on a 2D canvas with support for colors, styles, etc. Do we need to reinvent the wheel with every new tool?
Imagine a standard underlying design document representation that can easily be transported between the apps that live on X infrastructure. Design tools working more collaboratively together with each other instead of being private sandboxes.”
In a tweet (Jan 18, 2021)
Software data ownership and portability: read the full article on my blog or on Substack .