120

I'm considering a business plan for people getting in to self-hosting. Essentially I sell you a Mikrotik router and a refurbished tiny x86 server. The idea is that the router plugs in to your home internet and the server into the router. Between the two they get the server able to handle incoming requests so that you can host services on the box and address them from the broader Internet.

The hypothesis is that $150 of equipment to avoid dozens of hours of software configuration is a worthwhile trade for some customers. I realize some people want to learn particular technologies and this is a bad fit for them. I think there are people out there that want the benefit of self-hosting, and may find it worth it to buy "self-hosting in a box".

What do you think? Would this be a useful product for some people?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] SweetMylk@lemm.ee 2 points 1 month ago

What is the aim? People who want to get into it, but does not know how, or experts? Think half of the attraction of selfhosting is the diy aspect.

What extra would this bring if people can just buy the parts cheaper?

And for those who only want the out of the box experience why would this be better than, let's say a beestation? (Yeah price, I know, but you obviously would not have the same support level.)

[-] EliRibble@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

What is the aim? People who want to get into it, but does not know how, or experts? Think half of the attraction of selfhosting is the diy aspect.

I don't disagree, and I would imagine what I'm offering would only be useful to people who are very early and don't yet know they enjoy the DIY aspect.

The aim, though, is this: I've enjoyed self-hosting. It's given me some powers that most people don't get to have who aren't also technical professionals. I'm also deeply frustrated by the environment created by the various major tech companies. If I can, I'd like to lower the barrier for people to get some of those powers without having to become experts and to make it more feasible for them to do what they want to do, rather than just what they are permitted to do.

What extra would this bring if people can just buy the parts cheaper?

Much shorter time going from "how can I control some of my own data" to "I'm running NextCloud, and its kinda like iCloud/Google Drive/Whatever Microsoft does and it's running right here under my control! Not everyone knows the path from buying parts online to having a working reverse-proxy and reasonable firewall rules. Also, standardization makes it much easier to support people, which is really what the business would be doing.

why would this be better than, let’s say a beestation?

I knew about Synology, but as a NAS product, which assumes a certain familiarity with backup schemes, etc. Kind of a prosumer-only thing. The Beestation is new to me, thanks for the tip. Quite possible what I'm proposing would have some overlap and compete with it, I'll have to read up on it.

[-] SweetMylk@lemm.ee 1 points 1 month ago

Needs serious market research to not flop out of the box.

this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2024
120 points (93.5% liked)

Selfhosted

39677 readers
364 users here now

A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.

Rules:

  1. Be civil: we're here to support and learn from one another. Insults won't be tolerated. Flame wars are frowned upon.

  2. No spam posting.

  3. Posts have to be centered around self-hosting. There are other communities for discussing hardware or home computing. If it's not obvious why your post topic revolves around selfhosting, please include details to make it clear.

  4. Don't duplicate the full text of your blog or github here. Just post the link for folks to click.

  5. Submission headline should match the article title (don’t cherry-pick information from the title to fit your agenda).

  6. No trolling.

Resources:

Any issues on the community? Report it using the report flag.

Questions? DM the mods!

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS