On Self Hosting and Having Multiple Devices

I grew up in the eighties, and 90s, and so computing, open source software and the world wide web grew up with me. In that time we went from going to magazine shops to buy mags, and cd shops to buy CDs, and book shops to buy books. We also took photos on rolls of films and then took those rolls to La Combe or the Garden Centre to have the films processed, and then we put them in albums.

When we had VCRs and VHS tapes we would either record things from terrestrial TV or satellite TV to VHS. We would have shelves, and furniture to store all of this physical media.

Shifting to Digital from Physical

With time we began to have feature phones with cameras, and then digital photo cameras. We went from using VHS tapes to having digital satellite receivers paired with PVRs. We went from using physical mediums to digital mediums and with time our habits changed.

For a long time we took photos, and if we scanned them, or if we digitised video tapes, then we would have electronic versions, stored on hard drives in our homes. For years we went for walks and took pictures with digital photo cameras, and eventually mobile phones, and then we would transfer them to our computer’s hard drive, before uploading them via Picasa and other sites to share on the web via Flickr and other sites.

Wired Synchronisation

When I went for scuba dives and hikes my Suunto Dive computer or Suunto GPS watch would track my activity. When I got home I would remove the watch from my wrist and I would sync that data to Sports Tracker, and eventually MovesCount, and then back to Sports Tracker, Strava, Komoot and a multitude of services.

With the Ambit 2 and the Ambit 3 we would go for a hike, and then sync the data by connecting the watch to the computer. With the Suunto Spartan Wrist HR Baro watch, and other watches our data was synced automatically from our watch to the app, and then to cloud services. We no longer charged our device after every outing.

Seamless Syncing to Cloud Services

Over the years, as mobile phones improved, and as projects like Picasa and iPhoto gained maturity so culture shifted. We shifted away from desktops with easily upgradeable storage to laptops with half a terabyte of storage. As all of our devices synched either to Google Photos, and Google Drive, or with iPhotos and iCloud, so we dropped the habit of storing things locally.

This was for two reasons. The first is that we had terabytes of data now and only half a terabyte on our laptops, and 128gb on our mobile phones. We can get iPhones with more storage but that takes you from 3 CHF per month to 10 CHF per month with iCloud for two Terabytes. With Google One it costs 100 CHF per year for the same amount of storage. With Kdrive it costs 67 CHF per year for six terabytes. With kDrive you can easily back up to the cloud, and seamlessly back up at home.

Backing up to the cloud became so simple and intuitive that a generation grew up, never thinking of hard drives and local storage, because they’re cloud native.

I saw an article “I finally understand why people self-host their media” and it illustrates the paradigm shift from my childhood to today.

When I was playing with self-hosting, and learning about Photoprism, Immich and other self-hosting solutions I thought about the shift from computer applications that ran on our desktops, stored on our personal computers, towards the age of the laptop and cloud based apps.

In essence, as we moved from using our desktop when we were home, to laptops at university, and then all the time, so we dropped the desktop, and local applications.

A Multi Device Life

In this day and age we might have an Apple laptop, a linux laptop and two or three phones that we have, from years of using phones until the battery begins to fail and then replacing them. This means that our decentralised media consumption habits, via phone, laptop, fitness watch and more, encourages us to shift from desktop apps to self-hosted apps on servers. Instead of having a single computer with ‘huge’ amounts of storage we’re using phones with 128gb of storage and laptops with half a terabyte.

If you’re curious about why I keep bringing up 128gb of storage, it’s because this is the most affordable option for iPhones, and it can still be backed up to iCloud without investing in the 10 CHF per month plan. With a 200 or 500gb phone you would need to upgrade to a more expensive cloud solution if you don’t self-host.

On Streaming Films, TV, but Not Music

Years ago I streamed music, until I realised that whereas I would spend 30-90 CHF in a year on music, at most, I spent much more on streaming services. That’s why I dumped streaming services. It’s cheaper to buy an “album”. You also listen to the same songs, over and over again, so it makes sense to own them rather than stream them.

With film and television it is different. For 40 CHF or more you buy a film or TV series, watch it once, and then it’s gathering dust, and degrading gradually over time.

I was going to expand on this topic but it’s simple. Self-hosting TV series and films costs more money than it saves.

And Finally

When I was learning about Linux and self-hosting I eventually thought, “but self hosting is just running an app locally, like we used to do before. The only difference is that the app is on a server, rather than our main computer.”

I believe that the shift from iPhoto and Picasa to cloud based solutions and self-hosting reflects a shift from a desktop and laptop centric use case to a more diverse one, where cloud based apps simplify our technological flow throughout the day.

Now that I use a Mac Mini certain habits might change. It’s easier to keep an HD plugged permanently.