In my spare time I've been working on something I currently call Distos (Distributed Operating System).
My goal is to create a sort of log database merged with an app platform which maintains an encrypted and authenticated log structure that powers functions in developer code that update/manipulate local stateful resources. The apps on a user's device get access to resources managed by the platform like KV stores or Sqlite databases. The App uses these log messages, which are filtered and provided by the platform, to update these stores locally and creates new logs on the user facing clients in order to make things happen both locally and remotely once the logs are synced.
I am convinced that "logs" are the future for personal data.
Take a look at Scuttlebutt [0] which works on very similar principles of authenticated log replication.
Also note that Lotus Notes [1] has been doing all this replicated encrypted app platform stuff since the early 90s.
I am working on a log-centric bitemporal database at JUXT which I think intersects with this problem space as well, see my recent tweet relating to the article [2].
[0] https://www.scuttlebutt.nz/applications
[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20170228160130/www.kapor.com/blo...
Yes Scuttlebutt is a big inspiration among others. I believe the primary change/improvement I'm making is that it runs on the device and is also focused on the user's data instead running on a server or doing distributed social networking.
Reading [1] makes it seem to me like I might just be reinventing Lotus Notes.
Only a few of us run servers, most people just run Scuttlebutt on their device so that they can their data as well as their friends' data:
- Windows, macOS, and Linux: https://github.com/ssbc/patchwork
- Android: https://gitlab.com/staltz/manyverse/
- iOS: WIP