What makes software like Miniflux or Syncthing so great? It’s always tempting to find a single cause when we’re trying to analyze a complex phenomenon. Modern software is complex, but it doesn’t mean all its complexity is necessary. There are ways to reduce software complexity without compromising on features or quality, and that’s what good programs do. Let’s take Syncthing as an example. It’s distributed as a single binary which you can copy to any computer sharing the same ISA and an operating system, and it will work just fine.

Now, compare this approach with installing thousands of scripts, setting up a container runtime, orchestration tools and a reverse proxy. By the way, that’s what you need to do in order to properly install Nextcloud. Software which praises self-sovereignity should be easy to setup, otherwise it’s no more than a marketing bluff.