cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/24735701
See also:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_(protocol)
It is similar to the old gopher: text files, links, and images form a hypertext optimized for reading. Text is formatted like Markdown - but even simpler.
Clients display text, like an eBook, or images / media.
Servers can run on a PC or Raspberry Pi which needs half a Watt of power. No FAANG companies needed. No expert knowledge needed - not more difficult than running a file sharing client.
I think it is the right thing for defense of democracy and sharing your voice in the digital realm.
Edit: If you see comments here which kinda miss the point, appeal to emotions, have faulty logic, or depart from entirely incorrect assumptions: Please keep in mind that big US tech companies can’t say “that’s bad, how will we shovel money with this?”. Please use your critical thinking skills - they are much needed here!
deleted by creator
https://codeberg.org/boredsquirrel/dupes
The Gemini Protocol was there way before
NGL, saw the name and almost just ignored it
Yeah, I can for my life not think of a reason why Google named it like that.
(The Gemini protocol discussed here is from June 2019, the Google language model and chatbot initially called “Bard” from 2023.)
Funny enough I wasn’t too sure what this was about either, figured it was about Google’s AI or maybe it was a protocol for decentralized cryptocurrency blockchain tech. The Gemini cryptocurrency exchange has been around since 2014 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_(cryptocurrency_exchange)).
There’s just too many things named Gemini.
There are just too many things named Gemini
Here is a mnemonic for that: The port number of the open source Gemini protocol is 1965, which is the year of the first crewed flight of NASAs project Gemini, the first humans in space.
Sounds interesting, what is the benefit of this compared to HTTP though? You can still host text or basic html that way and it works on any web browser.
can work on any web browser
Gemini can have competition of browsers: it’s feasible for one person to create a Gemini client completely, correctly and securely.
There are only ~2 web browsers left and making a new one at all is near impossible (forks with minor size changes are great n’ all but not meaningful enough to stop Google basically being in control).
There are only ~2 web browsers left
And the only widely used browser not owned by big tech has about 2.2% market share now. And it is falling.
Gemini does less than nothing to solve this though?
One problem is that with this monopolization of the web, browser vendors like Google can yank the standard in any direction they like (for example for more tracking and more ads, or surveillance). And you can’t make another browser because the protocol and features are needlessly way too complex, so it is legally an open standard but practically not. In the end, everyone will have to use Googles browser and suffer the included tracking.
aye I’m with you, though for practical purposes currently Gemini seems a lot like throwing the baby out with the bath water
That might be the right thing if the bath water is toxic.
This reminds me of RSS, designed for reading and pared back to the minimum required to deliver the message and nothing more.
A work of Aaron Swartz, if I remember correctly. Don’t forget him.
I’ll just pop in here to add a link to my favorite Android Gemini browser: Rosy Crow
It’s fully featured, even supporting tokens for authenticated sessions.
Eh. Trying it out. No integrated image viewer, IPv6 seems broken, no commits in 6 months.
Neat. That’s going nowhere. Less formatting than even markdown… Hey kids you like plain text files right?
Hey kids you like plain text files right?
Me, who grew up reading/referencing text files daily on gamefaqs for cheats, secrets/eggs, and walkthroughs when stuck on various games: Yeh.
Neat.
