Block One published a report about its new application stack for EOS. However, after reading it we were left with more questions than answers.
We will highlight those questions here for discussions.
1. What is EOS?
EOS is a decentralized cloud computer project lead by the very founder of Steem and BitShares; @Dan.
The selling point of EOS is that it will be a fast cloud computer with that allows anyone to build and host decentralized, autonomous(censorship resistant) and secure cloud applications.
Yes, we have heard that before and its called Ethereum; however EOS promises to eliminate transaction fees just as on Steemit while being more scalable than Ethereum.
EOS has raised over $400 million according to Smith and Crown and its year long ICO is still on going.
2. What is the new application stack about?
Two days ago the Steemit EOS blog @EOSIO published a report about the release of an application stack for EOS.
This is good news as it assures us that EOS developers are actually doing something behind the scene.
The new application stack infrastructure will allow application developers to build and deploy application on EOS without hosting any EOS servers themselves.
In simple terms, it will become like Steem were we can build bots like @Cheetah, clients like @Busy and even applications like @SteemVoter all without hosting a Steem server.
Block.one will host the Blockchain servers so applications will simply connect to the EOS blockchain and stream data using the API infrastructure. Here is the illustration of the EOS application stack by EOS;
3. What questions are raised?
From a glance it all seem good, but upon closer examinations, a few intriguing possibilities are discovered which raises questions.
1. Will Block.one host Steemit.com?
As we speak, Steemit is hosted on Amazon which is the best option we have despite being it centralized and liable to censorship. However with EOS promising to be a platform for building and hosting decentralized applications for which they mention DTube, then what about Steemit?
On Amazon we can say that Steemit is doing fine. What will happen when it is shifted to EOS? Will we will see some downtimes and the lag experienced on DTube which is hosted on IPFS?
2. Are IPFS hosting providers really capable?
Only companies have the resources and power provide the capacity of hosting that EOS's IPFS servers/nodes will need to be the fastest decentralized blockchain cloud computer.
However if IPSF nodes fail to scale up and decide to deploy their nodes on existing file hosting giants such as Amazon, Google Cloud Services, Amazon Azure or Digital Ocean; then is it not simply the came old centralized solution re-branded?
3. What happened to the Wren programming language?
There is no mention or use of the Wren programming language which was intended to be used for building applications on EOS.
EOS seem to to reply more on JavaScript instead. Ethereum uses the Serpent programming language which was designed exclusively for it.
Won't it be more efficient for EOS to have its own custom programming language which could express it better than the current programming languages which were not built for Blockchain applications?
4. Is BlockOne competing with Steem?
We mean Steem - not Steemit. People usually consider EOS as the competitor of Ethereum, however this is not the case. EOS is more of a threat to Steem(not Steemit) than it is to Ethereum.
Consider; Block.one's EOS is claiming that it will offer the platform for people to create decentralized applications, do not forget that it means that one could build not just Steemit but also Steem as an application atop EOS.
Steemit is an application that could be hosted on EOS - but the Steem Blockchain itself is a full Blockchain network on its own just like EOS.
The mission of the Steem Blockchain is not to be a place where users can built blogging clients(like Steemit, DTube or DSound) but instead the mission of Steem is to;
- be an uncensorable content hosting blockchain
- a currency system which cannot be censored(Steem and Steem Dollars)
- a currency platform which does not have transactions fees(no fees on Steem/Steem Dollars)
- an instant cryptocurrency transfer platform(Steem and Steem Dollars)
- a platform to build decentralized application like Steemit!
The irony here is that all these things which Steem(not Steemit) aims to achieve are the very things that EOS was designed for!
If you know EOS well, then you would realize that everything that can be done on the Steem blockchain(not Steemit) can be done on EOS and a far majority of the things that EOS promises are already being done on Steem(not Steemit).
The more EOS rises, the less space there would be for Steem since they are all doing the same things - just in different ways!
What do you think? Is Block.one's EOS competing against Ethereum, Steem or everything out there? Tell us what you think in the comments.