NCE.DFOS Week 12: The transition

Hello DFOS friends. It's another big week of activity over here at DFOS HQ (located in the blank spaces of the sidebar menu) as we prepare the launch of DFOS Private Alpha 2.0.

If you're like us, every time you see the "2.0" suffix, a part of you breaks out in hives — what kinda sorry retread is this going to be? But in the case of our new private alpha build, 2.0 is going to manifest our vision like never before.

Coming later this week, you will start to see:

• For Spacerunners, a new "Desktop2" icon on your homepage. Clicking this will take you into the new spacebuilding world we previewed last week: customized desktops, folders, more concentrated apps, and each space being its own universe. Finally what we've always wanted — each DFOS as its own shared private internet — will be very, very real. By next week, we hope to make it so that you can make Desktop2 the default experience for your space. Just want to make sure the changes work for people first.
• For members, this week you'll start to see the first broadcast emails coming out of DFOS. Starting with this space, we're going to begin sending our weekly newsletter from DFOS itself, rather than using Ghost (we still love you Ghost). We want to test it out with our own material first before turning it on for other spaces. If all goes well, that will follow shortly.
• Space discovery is about to start getting real. This week we're experimenting with making the first DFOS directory in an automated way, making it possible to see what public spaces are available to join. Coming soonish to a sidebar near you.
• The DFOS Protocol will also be launching a 2.0 version that will introduce the ability to sign into other services using your DFOS login, and allowing much more to happen in terms of data relays, running your DFOS on a mesh network (already happening!) and other nerdy fun (you know that's our jam).
• Alongside this, you'll also see some visual updates this week, as Ilya is now making his own pull requests and shipping code, rather than waiting for Brandon's approval. (My work is still a bit too cowboy for production, but one day!)

Brandon will share more in the dev update, but all of these changes will be rolling out, in stages, throughout the week.

We're also in the midst of some fundraising conversations about DFOS, and are seeing good traction there. We've been doing all of this work with a very uncertain horizon and a shorter runway than is advisable. But some people we know and trust have been offering to invest and help us keep this going. We see a path forward that we're comfortable with, and hope to have something done there soon.

Overall last week and this one have been major for making real transitions in the product, and in securing the ongoing future of this work. Hell yeah.

A-Corps growing

Over on the other side of the house, Artist Corporations have two big milestones this week: tomorrow, another vote in the Colorado Senate, which we fully expect to go our way. And today it was announced that A-Corps will be proposed as a new law in California in 2027. Yes, California! A major get for many reasons, and another chance for a new economic baseline for creative people to become the standard. Absolutely incredible, and way farther than we ever expected to be less than two years into this work.

A small team packing a big punch

Both of these projects are happening thanks to a tiny team of four full-time collaborators (Brandon, Ilya, Lena, and myself) and the support of liquid contributors like Danielle and a couple other, less visible people. When we step back and look at what all we're doing there are moments it feels insane. But most of the time it looks like exactly what we're meant to do, and the only things we can imagine doing.

Grateful! And grateful to you for being here in it with us. This is all of us!

Love,

Brandon
Ilya
Lena
Yancey

(Written in one take, no proofreading, excuse typos and inarticulateness please!)