@trohde, I use the same avatar everywhere: forums, social networks, apps, you name it. But if you tell me you’re the guy donning the gorilla costume in the team’s photo…
…I’ll have to consider myself an amateur and ask to become your student.
Gorillas are very kind and respectable beings also, but IF I’d have been there and IF I’d wear a simian costume it would definitely be a Bonobo … it was some time in 1990 or ’91 when I chose them as my “heraldic beast”, so to speak and I also use this same avatar image almost everywhere.
Seems like they increased the perk prices by tenfold? It seemed so cheap on kickstarter. I was planning on backing the project until I saw the new prices on indigogo…
The cheapest I can see now on Indiegogo is 20 € — and IIRC the lowest early access perk on Kickstarter was for 14 € (IIRC that’s what I paid, cheapskate that I am — that’s four Starbuck coffees or something. Okay by me, especially since the beta test begins some time in April, and you won’t have to pay anything to participate in that
A lot of water has flown down the Luhe meanwhile (that’s a small river flowing through the village where I live )
As was to be expected, Openbook had to change its name … now it is Okuna, and it is still growing, and meanwhile it’s in Beta test (before was Alpha). Many new features are being added with every new version, and bugs are being removed.
There’s still no Web app … only the Beta builds for Android and iOS, but there exist unofficial desktop builds for macOS, Linux, and Windows.
I have 14 invitations to give out, and I will get more if needed, so … if you want to give it a try please send me a PM here or elsewhere with the email address you want to use for it, after that you’ll have to open the mail you get from Okuna on your mobile device, thereafter you can also login via the desktop app.
My initial enthusiasm has cooled down somewhat, and I’m posting there quite irregularly and infrequently, but that’s mostly due to the lack of a Web app; when there will be a Web app, this might change.
I think most people are desperate for something to dethrone Facebook… But so far all attempts have been somewhat lacklustre…
How does this app feel as an actual Facebook replacement? For me WT feels like an alternative to reddit and mastodon an alternative to twitter… Is this actually a Facebook alternative or just a new general social network?
Well, what shall I say … it has skins, it feels clumsy in many places to me who has travelled the ’net since 1991 or so (shortly before the emergence of the WWW), IMNVHO too many taps and swipes, it is NOT ugly, the developers are quite responsive, IT IS BEING MADE IN THE NETHERLANDS (which alone gives it a HUGE bonus from my perspective), it is OpenSource, etc., etc.
Alternative for Facebook? Definitely not—yet (?). The ? meaning that I’m not sure whether it can grow (scale?) that much. Would need a lot more devs I think, and that would probably also mean a real good team management, etc., etc. Imagine how many people work for FB … The money Okuna currently makes from donations/patreon etc. are probably hardly enough to feed the dev team. I don’t know, man … want an invite?
Send me a PM with the email address you want to use for it.
You need to open this mail on your mobile iOS or Android device and follow instructions, as the apps are still in Beta stadium.
If you have time to burn, join their Slack channel to talk to the devs https://okuna.slack.com/
Slack channel is nice b/c you can talk more directly to devs, mostly @joel and @shantanu , but also Sophie Tauchert who creates the desktop wrappers (see 4.)
Otherwise, you can also follow them on Okuna.