The internet was built as a way to connect the wold in a decentralised network that would be resilient to loosing nodes in gas of a war.
When i say the 'Internet', I am of course talking about the network itself. The system based on the 'Arpnet'. The "World Wide Web' is a different thing altogether. The 'World Wide Web', could be called the GUI of the internet. This is anything but decentralised.
WWW web users we use centralised systems for everything from 'Resolving IP addresses', to checking our email.
The question i hear a lot is, "can a decentralise system deliver the same performance as a centralised one?'
The answer is, that a decentralised system built from the ground up would be able to 'Blow a centralised system out of the water'. In terms of speed, security, and cost a decentralised network could be the best solution.
The way that the web works today was right for its growth, however now we have enough infrastructure to move to a better system. I am of course talking about a decentralised network.
The way the web works now is very inefficient. If I want to watch a movie from 'netflix', or a get data from 'Wikipedia', my computer talks directly to their servers. The information is sent back to me from the central location. This happens even if 10 people in my street is requesting the same information . The central system will send it to us 10x.
A decentralised system would allow the user to only travel as far as needed to get the data. If my next door neighbour had requested the same clip from netflix, then the network would look locally for that data instead of a central system.
Its been noted that decentralised systems are less prone to DDOS attacks, as there is no central point to attack.
Bandwith, and cyber security are expensive to maintain, I can imagine that a lot of companies will find it an easy jump into this when the cost benefits become clear.
So in principle, this sounds great. However you may be asking if anyone is making waves in this new internet paradigm?.
The answer is without doubt 'Yes'.
Most new cryptocurrency's offer decentralised Apps or Dapps. But the most interesting work is in the IPFS(Interplanetary File System). This protocal attempts to rewite the web as we know it. The basic idea is to do away with the 'Location' based websites that we visit. Instead it attempts to hash your sites, so that the data itself is the address. Your browser will look for closest place to find the actual data, much in the same way a torrent would. In this way, the central location is irelevent.
In short, the web is about to go under a massive change. It will be on the same level as the 'World Wide Web' itself.
For this to be adopted, it will need to be better than what has gone before. This is the only way that it will work.
I'm interested to hear if others share my belief in a decentralised internet.