[OpenAFS] New OpenAFS-related project

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 20:37:37 +0200 (EET)

Hi list,

before digging into technical details in the following messages, I'd like
to introduce you to a OpenAFS-related project that you may find
interesting.

It started some ten years ago as a quest for better means to interact with
computers and devices they control. This further deepened into
requirements of persistent data and functionality, and ability to share
them with others in an easy and compatible way.

These led to some fundamental notions:

- Whereas software and hardware platforms come and go frequently, the
essence of knowledge and methods are likely to last from generations to
generations.

- To be able/willing to build on top of somebody else's work, you need to
trust its future existance and predictable behaviour.

- There are lots of great free software and utilities out there even
today, but due to incompatibilities and overall complexity to setup a
working environment, they are often out of the reach of most of us. Or
it's just not worth the trouble. You'd rather contribute to your own field
of expertise.

This project called Finndesign Liitin is addressing these issues in a new
way, yet trying to keep it very simple to the user.

The role of OpenAFS, along with Kerberos and OpenLDAP, is to provide the
foundation or "stage" if you like. It has to be

   - Instant
   - Global
   - Secure
   - Expandable
   - Extremely easy and transparent to the user

The last bullet can be further broken into things like

   - Single-sign-on
   - Compatibility built-in
   - Seamless distributed computation
   - Background activities like automated backups and other things the
user needs but shouldn't need to worry about him/herself

Simply put;  you just log into a ready-made environment, and will have
access to all personal and public data and methods in a compatible and
persistent manner.

A proof-of-concept level prototype has been operational about a year now,
and the project has moved on to 'dog-fooding' phase to test its usefulness
in practice. Since the project is made from industrial designer's point of
view (usability and visual design), there are many issues needing other
fields of experties. But more about those issues later on...

Please, have a look at the project page for details at
http://liitin.finndesign.fi
The project page may not cover all the details, so I'd be glad answer any
questions.

Best regards,
Jukka