Suggested business model: Vivaldi as a subscription broker
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@eggcorn Nimiq (a cryptocurrency), not javascript. You know why, for instance, Bitcoin is an environmental disaster, yes?
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@code3 said in Suggested business model: Vivaldi as a subscription broker:
i think you mean benefit to the users.
No, content providers. Brave blocks their income source (Ads) with no direct replacement. The indirect replacement is that Brave offer is a share of their own income source (ads) that is distributed by goodwill of their users. Worst model ever for a content provider.
@eggcorn said in Suggested business model: Vivaldi as a subscription broker:
Browser lock-in. It sounds like this subscription would only work on Vivaldi, and therefore, would lock you into the Vivaldi browser.
I imagine this to be a Vivaldi Service (hence I posted in the services section). Neatly integrated in the browser but as @code3 said they could offer an extension on other browsers or find some other way (like readly does).
@catweazle said in Suggested business model: Vivaldi as a subscription broker:
Although I don't think it goes this way, it somehow doesn't fit Vivaldi's philosophy.
This should be done openly, transparent, and if you don't want to use it the browser and all websites will still work as they do today. It is just a different and convenient way to get money from consumers willing to pay to content providers that generate high quality content. Nothing wrong with that.
The real challenge is going to be convincing content providers to do this. There was a time when I could buy individual articles on several sites, they all have stopped that.
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@ayespy said in Suggested business model: Vivaldi as a subscription broker:
You know why, for instance, Bitcoin is an environmental disaster, yes?
High electricity usage on the Bitcoin mining servers?
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@wildente , no, apart from a huge waste of electricity and consequently a environmental problem, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrecy are increasingly crystallized as an economic bubble that can burst with dire consequences. That's why I don't think this fits Vivaldi's philosophy and a lot of people are going to look for another browser if Vivaldi gets into this kind of business, sponsors, like Ecosia included.
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@catweazle said in Suggested business model: Vivaldi as a subscription broker:
@wildente , no, apart from a huge waste of electricity and consequently a environmental problem
Neither did I bring up cryptocurreny, nor do I think it makes sense to discuss the technical realization before the business model is drafted, nor do I think the concept hinges on cryptocurreny technology. To quote myself from above:
@wildente said in Suggested business model: Vivaldi as a subscription broker:
Every problem for which a perfectly working solution exists can be solved more complicated with cryptocurrency technology
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@eggcorn That's the main point. Nimiq (for instance) is not based on such activity.
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@eggcorn In order to create more Bitcoin, it relies on the trustworthiness of the miners. But it is also a trust less system. To solve this, mining takes a hugely inflated processing power so that no one person can mine all the Bitcoin. As @Ayespy said this results in a huge waste of energy. It is called Proof of Work.
Nimiq (and other many other blockchains) uses a Proof of Stake model where miners are trustworthy because they lay down money. If they are caught cheating the algorithm takes the money away. And unless one person owns all the money the mining will be well divided among people. Nimiq also uses Rust WASM binaries to limit the processing power needed.
If Vivaldi used blockchain to help in a semi decentralized content provider protocol then they should probably use a PoS blockchain.
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I'm a little sad that this entire discussion was almost exclusively about cryptocurrencies, which was completely beside the point. So long, idea.
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@wildente Sorry!
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@luetage said in Vivaldi should move on from being just another browser:
Responding to your comment in that other thread, My line of thinking is that the other browsers' business models are such that they have no interest in helping users to solve that whole subscription mess.
Vivaldi on the other hand is a bit special because their business model is to partner with certain sites already. News outlets might like it because it just adds another potential revenue stream, and I'm pretty sure everything is welcome as long as it's hardly any cost to implement and maintain.
The concept works in general as shown e.g. in the form of Readly but that is not really seamlessly integrated. Vivaldi is the point of access for everything on the web anyway. Total value add.
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@luetage My idea, which I did not explain well, was that it is done in a decentralized fashion where Vivaldi would benefit but would not be the sole vendor.
Essentially, a master list of partner sites could be kept by the vendor, and a token could be distributed by the vendor in such a manner that everyone can read as much as they want, within reason.
Sites can declare required payments with a meta tag or JS, stating:
- Article ID
- Coin or Token Name
- Amount
- Proof of Payment API endpoint (send payment details including cryptographic signature in order to receive a proof of payment such as a cookie)