I appreciate all of you returning here for Part 2 of the Freedom Series. If you haven't read Part 1 yet, you can do so here. It truly leads up to Part 2 perfectly. I knew some readers would attack Part 1 and that's precisely why I was going to introduce Bench in this piece.
Purpose, Vision and Goals
First I wanted to mark out the issues in the decentralization movement, talk about our solutions and introduce the "Freedom Series". I called this the "Freedom Series" for a reason. Freedom, like decentralization, is often misconstrued or misused and while our individual freedoms are important, other people's individual freedoms are important as well. Just as I am free to state my beliefs, build my company around those beliefs and promote a company to anyone I feel like promoting it to, I would never refuse service to someone or make my product(s) or service(s) only available to a single group of people. That's simply wrong and it would never happen under my watch. There is a clear difference in our freedom to speak and another individual's freedom to use what we build or ignore what we create, say or distribute in general. That is the entire art of Bench and our product(s) and service(s).
"They may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!"
Braveheart, 1995
So speaking on those freedoms, I'd like to exercise my freedom to state a few of my beliefs when it comes to running a company or building a DAO. I believe every single company in the world has a vision, purpose and goals. It becomes a company's playbook and essentially its creed. While some have said the first part of the Freedom Series came off as highly personal, they are right. In fact, the entire reason I created Bench was and still is personal. It will always have a personal tone to it and for that, I am proud. That means we have a purpose, we have a vision and we are chasing goals based on our own personal experiences and beliefs. If your product doesn't have a personal purpose, you would never use it. How can you build something for others, that you yourself can't use? I can understand a young engineer, building something for the blind or something along those lines, but then we are talking apples and oranges. Users of Bench products should appreciate that these products were created around a purpose, with vision and a growing list of goals. How rare is it, that all of these things fall into place for a business? If you're asking me, I'd say it's very rare, considering all the projects I have built over the years. This was the first time everything fell into place and we felt our purpose was needed globally, on a grand scale. I'm sure I'm not the only one that will agree with this observation. Ask anyone who has ever started a business, it's simply rare that all of these pieces fall into place, at the very same time your purpose is a global need. For this reason, we realize Bench is very special, a blueprint for the future and I'm going to set out on a journey to show you why, in Part 2 of our Freedom Series.
“Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision. Their goals differed, but they all had this in common: that the step was first, the road new, the vision unborrowed, and the response they received — hatred. The great creators — the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors — stood alone against the men of their time. Every great new thought was opposed. Every great new invention was denounced. The first motor was considered foolish. The airplane was considered impossible. The power loom was considered vicious. Anesthesia was considered sinful. But the men of unborrowed vision went ahead. They fought, they suffered and they paid. But they won.”
― Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead
As I stated above, I feel that all great companies and products have a purpose, a vision to go along with it and were built upon a mountain of goals that derived from a creator's personal experiences. That's what art is at its very core. If other products don't have a personal tone to them, then they probably don't have much of a lifeline and most of the time, perish over time. You see a lot of ICOs these days that have a solution to a problem but the solution isn't surrounded by a personal purpose and vision based around that purpose, which usually means their goals are not inline with a longterm solution to the problem. Some companies can also lose sight of their purpose and then eventually lose sight of their vision, which almost always ends in a 404 or a large loss in users. There will always be a new company that comes along with a better purpose, a better vision and a longer list of goals that can trump your solution, so I think it's important to keep your purpose intact and keep yourself involved in what brought you to that purpose. Without it, you will lose your way, it's simply a fact when bringing your ideas to fruition and keeping them alive for the longterm. For me, my purpose should be a lifelong mission, if it's not, I'm simply not dedicated to solving the problem.
So in explaining Bench, I'm going to explore our vision, our purpose and our goals for Bench and Bench's product(s) and service(s) with you guys and dive in as deep as I possibly can. You understanding our journey, will help you understand what we're doing and why we're doing it.
The Name, The Mission & The Fight
The Mission To Re-Invent Ourselves
First, I'll start with why in the world we called it Bench. If anyone doesn't remember the first demand we received from a state/government agency when pursuing our last venture, I'll refresh your memory. It was from the State of Texas, who demanded that we stop using the term "Bank" - here along with my response to them in regards to how I felt about the use of free speech as a company, a government's right to tell a company what they can or cannot say and questions that surrounded that demand - here. Obviously, everyone knows how that ended. Regardless, I learned a lesson that day. While taking a stand is important, it's not always the best idea. Especially if you want to protect the house you're building, with the goal of keeping it there permanently for the people your vision and purpose should ultimately benefit in the end. In fact, a better approach would have been to re-invent the word and re-imagine our approach. Rather than challenging the standards we should always change direction and think differently. It's far more proactive and as Stan Larimer tells me often, "You catch more flies with honey, than vinegar". Through this learning experience and the launch of something new, "Reinvent Yourself" became our slogan and our mission for whatever we would name our company in the end. It was the first time I created a slogan, before I created the name for a company. It was different and it was a sign that we were already thinking differently. I knew we were somehow on the right track.
invent yourself and then reinvent yourself,
don't swim in the same slough.
invent yourself and then reinvent yourself and
stay out of the clutches of mediocrity.
invent yourself and then reinvent yourself,
change your tone and shape so often that they can never categorize you.
reinvigorate yourself and
accept what is
but only on the terms that you have invented
and reinvented.
be self-taught.
and reinvent your life because you must;
it is your life and
its history
and the present
belong only to
you.
― Charles Bukowski, The Pleasures of the Damned
In the process of brainstorming our next idea(s) and understanding the importance of our company name, even from a regulatory standpoint it came to life. We ended up settling on the name Bench. So what does Bench mean? The word "Bench" has had several definitions over the course of time and I think it's best to dive into those meanings.
The Name Bench, Explained
The first is Middle English banke from Old Norse banki meaning 'ridge'. This is the meaning found in embankment, usually a man made earthen mound, and perhaps the bank on the side of a river. This Old Norse word comes from Germanic *bankon which is probably related to Germanic *banki-z 'bench'. 1 The word bank likely comes from the Italian word for Bench “banco”, as the first banks were benches in Italian trading centers. Modern banking began as Jews fleeing Spain came to Italian trading centers (piazzas and the Halls of Lombardy) where Italian grain merchants gathered. As the new banking practices merged with the already bustling Italian economy early versions of interest, stock, and insurance were born, and new terms to describe banking practices were too. 2
In other words, Bench was the first word used in our history for referring to a 'bank', obviously before the word 'bank' existed. The name was perfect in my eyes. Even though Bench is not a bank, per-say, it is an organization whose main vision and purpose derive from our former vision being completely tarnished, its past history completely "unpersoned" from the HTTP-based internet and was clearly deprived of constitutional rights at certain points during Arise's lifespan. Those constitutional rights included our right to Free Speech, which has been a focal-point of several Bench products, not by coincidence . We didn't just name it Bench because an awesome domain name became available or because we felt the name "Bench" would make an award-winning logo. We saw this as a global movement and "Bench" had to reflect on our personal experiences that we've dealt with while trying to innovate new ideas and achieve our goals with past ventures. The reasons behind us being unable to do so, were due to the fact that something like Bench didn't exist at the time. That experience affected our lives in a great way and we needed something that would represent our newly reformed vision, our purpose and a growing list of goals that will help people from around the globe.
The bottom line around the naming of Bench is the fact that we didn't name it after our products. Apple describes the naming of the company as something that was very personal to its founder Steve Jobs. "Jobs told Walter Isaacson he was “on one of my fruitarian diets” and had just come back from an apple farm, and thought the name sounded “fun, spirited and not intimidating.” ... Steve suggested a name – Apple Computer" via - Walter Isaacson. There is nothing wrong with modeling yourself after successful companies, many other successful companies have modeled themselves after the companies they looked up to. We have always looked up to the great Steve Jobs and his vision for the future. We were also blessed to have a true purpose behind our name and for that - we are grateful. The way we see it, there is nothing to cry over, it's a new day, a new brand and a way for us to continue our mission of helping others. Because we kept our foot on the floor and dedicated our lives to pursuing as well as correcting our prior vision, rather than turning around and running for the exits. Because of this, we can finally see the forest instead of the trees and our purpose has finally found its roots.
Our Purpose
In The Beginning...
Stanley Ford and I have been partners on several ventures in the past and go way back before the days of crypto. In a way, all things have led us here. One constant annoyance that has kept us working on new ideas and focused on succeeding, was our abundance of bad luck over the years and losing out on all of our hard work in the process. A lot of people miss all the work that goes into what we do and the excessive amounts of time, stress and labor needed to produce these projects. You could blame it on us, sometimes I do in fact blame it on ourselves, for a plethora of reasons, although those reasons were never due to our efforts put in on past projects, our intentions for those projects or even our vision surrounding those projects. Over the years, I unfortunately became a target of censorship and attacks, guided by false accusations. In the past, we lost the war with those who targeted us, because the proof and substance of our arguments were eventually deleted and/or totally removed from the internet. This made it nearly impossible to make any sort of valid argument to their accusations. We also had nobody around to witness all the time and efforts that were put into building those projects.
Some would say that's the way it is, I refuse to think that way. I saw two problems. The internet is clearly controlled and we needed more people around us while building out these ideas. The internet when used via the HTTP/S protocols, is under the central control of 20 companies who make it easy for those who really have a fraudulent intention of covering truth to do so. This isn't a conspiracy theory, this is a fact that can be seen throughout the history of the internet itself. One with which I have lived personally. We also knew we needed to establish a team of onlookers, researchers, supporters, witnesses, developers, free thinkers and others who would ultimately strengthen our words, by simply being witnesses to what we say or taking some sort of part in the creation of whatever we would end up creating.
So Stan and I sat around for weeks and talked about what we wanted to do. An idea for an app called "BenchTrade" came to life and in a way, I was just happy to be sitting down at a computer again, doing what I love. I actually received the idea from a guy in the BitShares community who goes by "Ted East" and I felt he was right about the BitShares user experience. I told Stan Larimer and Michael Taggart about it and both loved the idea of a better looking BitShares UI and agreed this would probably bring more people to the BitShares community. In truth, I was REALLY happy to have a computer again, believe me, it was a relief. I think other developers will relate, because I truly felt naked without one. After a week of getting my new laptop working and all my favorite tools installed, I was off to the races. During the buildout of the BenchTrade vision, there were many nights where our SEC case had an emotional effect on me and began to interfere with my vision. As a creator, it's very hard to separate the two. After a stressful two week period in February, I simply gave up on separating the two. Without diving into what that situation was (So I can make sure I'm following court orders), I won't include the details of those weeks but I will admit, one night I called Stan F. and asked him how we could keep our upcoming projects safe. I told him that building BenchTrade was a waste of time if someone could simply remove it from the internet. Stan's response to me was simple and blunt:
"Well Jared, welcome to the matrix my friend."
Stanley Ford -dWeb Governance Chairman
Although he was right, it wasn't good enough for me. If you know how I am, I'm a relentless patriot and I never give up or give in to anyone. It's simply what I'm made of and I was determined to protect BenchTrade and figure out a way to do so.
Protecting What We Build
For weeks I researched different decentralized projects, that were unrelated to blockchain. This was due to my ongoing SEC case and the uncertainty surrounding my involvement in cryptocurrencies. I wanted to stay far away during that period and felt it was worth my time to look at alternatives due to the current regulatory environment. Through that research, I found a project called "Dat". It was a really interesting concept. Basically a way to share entire folders on a peer-to-peer network. Those folders could be websites, apps and other things. Although it wouldn't work with BenchTrade completely, I downloaded their software and started using it and saw that Dat had several potential use-cases for what we were trying to do, could keep our websites and documents safe but it was still far from what we really needed. It was missing many key pieces in order for it to work with an application like BenchTrade but there was enough there to where I felt we could build upon it quickly and push things in motion so we could get back to the BenchTrade project itself.
Through that research, we experimented with other blockchain-based projects like Tendermint and many others but I continued to fall in love with what we could do with the Dat project. It really did feel right and in turn I came up with "dWeb" and eventually said - enough is enough. I knew this is what we were supposed to do. I put my full focus on Dat's older codebases, many built as far back as 2012 and felt that our story, our vision and our purpose could really propel a technology/protocol like Dat into outer-space. At that point, I felt like I had to take everything by the horns, push forward and lead the movement - because this was centered around a purpose and a vision that was clearly personal to me. I felt like I would guide the project better than anyone else involved, although some people around were against it because they wanted to protect me, I was determined to rebrand Bench as a solution for people and felt like since it didn't involve coins or a blockchain, it was safe for me to take and run with. Where the truth could live on the web again and where companies, not only ours, could never be taken down or removed.
The Distributed Web was born, became our first project and in turn, would become the protocol that would run all of our future products. All plans re-centered around dWeb and we were off to the races. Deep down in my soul, I knew we had found our way. I had never had that feeling before, any creator who has - they know what I'm saying. I felt we were fighting our own problems for the first time, by creating solutions to solve those problems and I didn't want to create a product that I didn't need or I wouldn't use. Not only would I use dWeb religiously, it was the one thing I needed more than anything because of my failures in the past. We had literally turned a lemon into lemonade. Whether or not we forked someone's software, we knew it's irrelevant due to the fact we had plenty to add to it and we also realized our story and the reason we were doing so, would cancel out any sort of hate that came from it. It's because our vision had a purpose. In order to exist, we had to reinvent ourselves and in turn, by doing, so others would follow and do the same.
Re-inventing Ourselves
Re-inventing ourselves was difficult but it helped guide us to building and re-purposing the tools we would use to do so. The first step was establishing a governance of individuals to play the most important role when it came to the survival of our vision and the success of our mission. So far our Governance is made up of 19 members, we have all become like family and in-turn has kept others from destroying what we have built thus far, because they have witnessed this from the moment it was simply a vision. The second step was getting the dweb:// protocol live, so we could distribute all the projects as we finished them and new dApps like our distributed software repository, to help keep our projects online during the development of our vision, while chasing Bench's goals at the very same time.
Thus far, the dweb:// protocol is now live, https://dbrowser.io/download is for download and our dPack software repository is functioning perfectly. We have turned our focus to finalizing the dBank project, a Steemit fork, so we can move on from protocol innovation and finalize many of the dApps that our vision is focused around. Everything has a purpose, finding it and having a vision for it are two different things. Since I've explained the purpose for our existence, how we re-invented ourselves and how all this came about - I want to share our vision with you.
Our Vision
Our vision has transformed many times, for good reason and I expect it will continue to transform. It's healthy to conform with a constantly transforming world of technology while also trying to fit the current needs of the people you are building solutions for. Our vision is centered around six (6) objectives that we feel mold well with our purpose and our mission as a company :
- Create An Internet Bill of Rights
- Build A Infinitely Scaleable Internet
- Tie The P2P dWeb and Blockchain Protocols Together
- Distribute and Decentralize Software & Websites Completely
- Remove Control Mechanisms In All Corrupted Industries Via dApps, Operating Systems & Smart Contracts
- Build An Open Internet For Everybody
- Bring The Masses To Decentralization
Below I will dive into each of these visions and then I'll go over the goals associated with them.
1. Create An Internet Bill of Rights
Creating an internet bill of rights is the baseline of our vision. Without a bill of rights surrounding internet protocols, users may not understand their rights to begin with. This leads to mass-craziness, bans without explanation, slander, libel, dishonest reporting, manipulation and the list goes on into the millions of different reasons, when it comes to what has happened on websites, applications and companies who operate over the HTTP/S protocol. There needs to be a clear bill of rights, where users, websites, web communities, developers and companies that operate within a network's bill of rights, know the rules, can follow those rules and decide whether they want to use those networks to begin with. I think our basic constitutional freedoms in the United States should be included, although with internet networks being globally used, how users within a country and their rights as a citizen could possibly conflict with a network's bill of rights remain to be seen.
I have always felt the US Constitution and our Bill of Rights has stood as the strongest scope and should be one that decentralized networks choose to operate within. I also feel that a protocol's rights should represent the rights of users and the rights of networks in one complete document. I also feel that the protocols of the distributed web could eliminate the need to cover certain rights, due to the inability of developers to violate those rights, because of the way a protocol is engineered. A few of the rights that the DWEB protocol is currently built around and are in the works include:
2. Build A Infinitely Scaleable Internet
We have all seen a many of the great ideas coming out of several blockchain projects recently and I think all of the ones I have seen really are pressing forward in the right direction. Although, I think a single blockchain-based internet, isn't pragmatic and I don't believe it would be possible to fit every single site/application on the internet on a single blockchain. Nor do I think you could do it on hundreds of blockchains in a combined format. Nobody wants to spend time memorizing protocols, we already have a hard enough time memorizing domains, although a search engine could solve that issue. Regardless, it's more complexity for developers like myself and when things are made complex for developers, innovation slows and that's something we don't need right now. Because of that, I think building an infinitely scaleable internet realistically exists with P2P software more-so than it exists with blockchain-based solutions. Therefore, with the DWEB protocol, we have accomplished our first vision and we're proud of where we are with that.
3. Bring Blockchains & P2P Together
One weakness we saw in the DAT project is that it lacked any sort of blockchain interoperability. This was something we desperately needed to change, if the distributed web would reach the 7th part of our vision blow. Lucky #7 is key to this working and it starts with bringing the right decentralized financial protocol(s) and the DWEB together into one solution. This way, we give the ability to developers and user alike, to take advantage of blockchain-related services that specific blockchains like Dan Larimer's BitShares, Steem and EOS can offer, to a P2P web protocol like DWEB.
A few of those advantages are as follows:
BitShares
- Gives users of dApps used over DWEB the ability to exchange digital assets via BitShares powerful APIs for other digital assets that can be used in real life, like Quintric, Bitcoin and Ethereum.
- The current environment within BitShares is questionable for us at this time, the current foundation and governance need to change, a fork or something needs to happen for DWEB to take advantage of Dan's awesome work here. Community activists like Stan Larimer, Michael Taggart, "OnceUponATime" and "Digital Lucifer" are actively working to fix those issues. These four have been apart of BitShares since the beginning and we know they are operating with the right intentions in order to fix ongoing issues. We are following the developments of those efforts as they happen and will continue to keep our eyes on developments surrounding BitShares improvements before we push forward with anything at this time. If all else fails, we aren't against a BitShares fork, to simply bring BitShares' awesome technology to the masses through DWEB's protocol. Remember, it's the technology we need, not a userbase or a specific digital asset.
Steem
- As I spoke on in Part 1 of the Freedom Series, we bypassed trying to work out any issues Steem had with their community leadership, that dates back to the Dan Larimer days. We elected to fork Steem, so it would become the baseline blockchain we would use for dBank, our protocol-based DAB (Decentralized Autonomous Bank), used to pay users for content and actions within dApps created on the network.
- dBank, like BitShares, also has an incredible set of APIs and key features that make DWEB and dBank's marriage meant to be. Steem's team has obviously worked hard to build easy-to-use tools for developers, that give them many abilities, including but not limited to:
- The ability to store content and pay content-creators for submitting content.
- The ability to track content purchases, content views and/or streams.
- The ability to manage communications around content, i.e comments, likes, reposts and other elements of communications that surround digital content.
EOS
- EOS brings smart contract capabilities to the DWEB protocol, if implemented correctly. Obviously dApps can be built with EOS as well, rather than dBank's APIs and other developer tools, although a majority of DWEB users will be confronted with dBank tools before they're confronted with EOS tools.
- Our true reasoning for integrating with EOS has everything to do with smart contracts, how they allow for a true Bill of Rights, allow networks to operate outside those Bill of Rights as long as users agree to a contract's terms and the ability for companies and users alike, to enter into agreements within the DWEB. This ultimately allows rules to be placed on users who agree to those rules and a blockchain to react appropriately to those rules, without someone in a software company's back-office feeling they have a right to make decisions. Human error is a very real thing and it's something smart contracts can clearly eliminate. There are many other reasons for needing smart contracts and I will cover them in Part 4 of the Freedom Series when I discuss dApps on the distributed web.
4. Connect DBANK & DWEB Protocols
Having two separate protocols is the inevitable, since not all entities on the distributed web need our built-in DAB (dBank), just as some entities on dBank don't need the distributed web. Although, we need to make the ease of using both and combining both into one solution easy and make it seem as if both protocols are aligned and combined in the end. To do this, it's all about our lineup of developer tools and how those tools allow for developers to integrate both in a seemless way and we are working hard in this area which you can learn more about in Part 13 of our Freedom Series. We have worked hard the last few months to bring about this possibility and it is now reality, as dBank is headed toward a launch on the distributed web in the coming days. Very exciting times.
5. Distribute and Decentralize Industries Completely, To Remove Corruption, Overhead & Middlemen
If we build a truly scaleable internet using the DWEB protocol, along with a powerful Bill of Rights around the dWeb's users and networks, allow for blockchain interoperability and combine the DWEB with a DAB like dBank, we will be able to distribute and decentralize any industry. We are working towards this vision by launching dApps like dTunes, amongst others, in order to prove that this vision is not only possible, the reality is upon us, because P2P + Blockchain = Freedom.
6. Build An Open Internet For Everybody, Except Perverts
In recent weeks, you have probably noticed that people are being censored on social media platforms, hosting providers like Microsoft are threatening to delete websites, that just so happen to be social networks and ban them from using their service. What's next? DNS? Maybe domain registrars? Well, I know one thing - I don't want to sit around and find out.
The internet was intended to allow for anyone and everyone to have a voice and anything over the DWEB will be allowed and accepted with an exception to certain material that is also in-fact illegal.
Examples of unacceptable content on the DWEB:
- Child Pornography
- Unconsented Pornography
- Illegal Drugs or Prescription Drugs For Sale
Really, we do not want people to use DWEB's protocol to distribute illegal material, although we DO NOT have the power to remove this material. On the other hand, we will assist law enforcement in helping them track down who is posting illegal material. We are NOT going to be a safe haven for criminals and again, we do not want DWEB's protocol used for these reasons. Another thing to note is although DWEB is a distributed and decentralized web protocol, it is not anonymous. If you do post illegal material or sell illegal items on the DWEB, it won't be hard for law enforcement to track you down.
7. Bring The Masses To Decentralization
With all of those visions in mind, the #1 vision and really goal that we have had as well, is to bring decentralization to the masses. It's something nobody else has been able to do. With the upcoming launch of the Bench website and many product releases, you will see how we are going to accomplish this. Our last product release proved our ability to get endorsements on projects. We did learn our lesson when doing this with cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, a web protocol and a new way of using the internet along with a multitude of dApps like dTunes are a different story. We are already talking to many major influencers and this part of our vision is on its way to becoming reality as well.
One of the biggest hangups with bringing the masses to decentralization, has been developer's lack of social interaction, outside of their social interaction with other developers. This leads to their websites being built for the people they're socially active with, rather than a website that can be read and understood by anyone. This jumps over into their applications as well, where applications are full of terminology many developers can't even comprehend. We want to fix that and are working hard to create a friendly user environment, marketing material and an ease of use that can bring even the most tech illiterate users to using the dweb:// protocol. I will speak more on this in Part 19 of our Freedom Series.
Our Current Goals
So now that I have told you about our purpose and our vision, I want to go over our list of current goals. This list will change over time, as we accomplish individual items on this list. With that said, this is where our goals stand as of the writing of this part of the series.
dApp-Based DAOs That Pay People Through DWEB's DAB
Many of you guys have used dStatus. We are glad many of you have tried it out. We are currently developing many new features for dStatus and it is far from finished. I will be doing a separate post on dStatus, that is outside of the Freedom Series in a few days, so we can go over those features. Although dStatus is great, we need more dApps. While we want developers to build dApps on the dWeb, we are not relying on anyone but ourselves. Soon we are debuting the first distributed search engine that we call dExplore, along with a distributed music streaming service called dTunes and our version of Facebook on the distributed web that we call dSocial. In a few days, dBank should launch across the dWeb as well.
With all of that said, it is also our primary goal to launch dApps that pay users for their content, via the protocol's DAB (dBank). dTunes and dSocial are great examples of this. Like SteemIt, users can post via dSocial and get paid for their post with dBank's native currency and musicians can get paid for their music by posting their albums and songs on dTunes. These are two great examples of what are to come, although we are looking to disrupt far more industries than just news/blogging and music. dVideo is also nearing launch and should be very disruptive for the media industry. Stay tuned for more dApp-based DAOs.
Influencers and Partners
Above I spoke on our vision for bringing the masses to using the distributed web and one major part of this being influencers introducing the distributed web to their followers but it's not limited in scope to them advertising dApps on the network or influencers who are primarily used for that purpose. Another form of an influencer, are major web platforms and applications currently being used over the HTTP/S protocol. We are currently speaking to a few major platforms about putting their site on the DWEB. This will remain a goal for sometime, as we continue our campaign to bring websites and applications to freedom, just as we have the same goal for people around the globe. We can't pick one or the other, we have to accomplish the goal of bringing both.
dBrowser - Everywhere
We have obviously released dBrowser for Mac, Linux and Windows desktops but dBrowser needs to be on mobile devices as well. We have a working Android and iOS version but with looming bugs within dBrowser's desktop version, we are holding tight to make sure Desktop is bug-free or at least fully functioning, before launching the mobile edition. We are nearing the launch of a fully functioning dBrowser in the coming days and so we believe mobile should launch not long from the next release of dBrowser's desktop version. As we near that launch, we will keep users informed.
The Decentralized OS
Anyone who has followed the Bench project since the beginning knows we have been working on a decentralized operating system for some time. We have actually had great success with it.
You can see a small preview to it here:
A decentralized OS will really put everything into perspective for users, being able to really operate alongside the DWEB protocol, from their desktop to their browser, because a browser is simply not enough for us to jump up and down with joy over. We want your entire computer to allow you the freedoms decentralization and distribution can bring to your life and companies watching over which tab you're about to switch to isn't cool either - right? I thought so..
You can expect a lot of benOS updates in the near future, as we expand our developer team and begin to release many key tools that will play an important role with benOS, as well as desktop app releases of our dApps that will become native to our decentralized operating system.
The Bench Launch
I'm glad you made it all the way to the end of Part 2. It's pretty long-winded although our purpose, our vision and our goals are extensive and quite frankly, very important. With that said, the countdown to Bench's website is live and is launching in its full capacity on Monday, August 27th, 2018.
To see the countdown to launch, please go to https://benchx.io
"Do You Bench Bro?"
In closing, I wanted to thank @michaelx for the "Do you Bench bro?" tagline. As we work on a lot of marketing ideas and bringing influencers onboard with what we do, it is a slogan that a lot of them actually like. So credit to @michaelx first and foremost. We can definitely do a lot of funny stuff with that.
It's a real question though. What do you think of our vision, our purpose and our goals? Do you stand by them? Are you excited about the Bench launch? Let us know! The DWEB isn't a for-profit product, it's a protocol for everyone, that means our developers need to know what you want to see, what you want to use and need to hear your ideas more than ever! Don't forget, you can build your ideas as well, we don't have to build them for you and we must work together as a community to bring this to fruition. Teamwork makes the dream work!
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Thanks to all and I'll see you this upcoming Tuesday for Part 3 of the Freedom Series!
Until the next episode,
I don't know for which one I should be impressed more: the ambitious and promising project unfolding before our eyes, or the undeniable effort the writer of these series is putting into this. As a fellow writer I want to congratulate you for the time, research and well-written (informative as well) piece you have produced and delivered. Great job, mate!
Thank you brother - I truly appreciate it. A lot more work to do though! Can't start slacking now haha. Thanks for following as well. We appreciate the support.
@distributedweb Found that steem has already been forked. it's called BEX right? Is it possible to buy the currency yet? If BTS gets forked, will BTS holders get the new token? Thanks!
Very inspiring and motivating!
Thank you man - a lot of work to do!
Brilliant read. Do you bench bro? ;)
@distributedweb wishing you best of success
Keep up the good work buddy ! Left some thoughts in Telegram channel
well one is truly free when he is liberated even from the thought of seeking freedom and often sometimes the so called freedom becomes slavery
Thks for sharing the DWEB vision. These are heavy lifting projects that bring the world in a new direction. It's like Satoshi Nakamoto, Dan Larimer, Elon Musk, building infrastructure for a new world. I support Dweb or Bench integrating with other successful projects like Bitshares, Steem or EOS and all the best for the team. I love the "Do You Bench Bro" tagline :-)
It's an honor to hear that man. Thanks a bunch brother! There is more to come - stay tuned.
Puuuuuh... where should I start?
First of all, I highly appreciate how detailed you wrote this contribution. Not only in detail also that you showed your passion with every single line. I see this post not only as announcing something new, no, it has also a kind of educational tone which I like. Indeed you were able to deliver the message with your heart.
As I sad in my previous comment under the first post:
This is not only a project! This is a disruptive procedure against all we have seen so far. As you said in your post you want to disrupt many industries and truly it can be.
From what I see this is a project all of you need to be committed to it will take a lot to conquer but as I know now you already have the best support you can have👆🏾 And honestly, it makes me a bit proud seeing Christians approaching such a task although I don't have the best experience with them.
Anyway, that's not the main point. You are trying to serve all people and I love it.
I am excited to see the development and will follow all your activities and will pray for you.
Go for it!💪🏽
Fantastic! What more can i say....watching u build this from nothing to something... I thank God for your vision...am proud it happen in my lifetime.
I am glad you go to witness it behind the scenes brother, truly. Thanks for always taking my back when I need it most. It was motivating.
Where do I start? First of all I want to thank you for eliminating the perverts. All kidding aside, the first thing I thought of weeks ago when I first was learning about bench was "would the counselors approach the bench for a side bar". Then, because I retired from a fitness center, "how much do you 'bench'" came to mind. I
imagine the gun enthusiast in the audience was sighting in on the "bench rest". Being from Texas, a "bench" is a rock outcropping at the edge of the mesa.
Having admitted all of my "perverted ideas", it's a relief to know you were talking about the Italian version of the "Banco"!
Jared, thanks for keeping it personal. As an entrepreneur I feel that approachability is a key to the mass intergration of a vision/mission.
Do great things brother. You are not, nor have ever been, alone.
MWGA
amen!
bro , look like the dbrowser link is down
Again Thanks for everything!!!
Seems to be working for me - https://dbrowser.io/download
Let me know if it's working for you.
yeppp
Saludos tigre @orelmely, cuando puedas enviame un mensaje por fa. Necesito un par de gifs de tu parte. Abrazos!
Heyy tiger !! sorry estoy algo desconectado de steemit ultimamente.. si tienes telegram podemos hablar mejor por ahi .. mi user es @comefrombeginning ..
un saludooo
I love the way you recognize how the powers that be have twisted language to serve their own ends... A monopoly on a word? Bank? Where's the freedom in that?
Awesome. Back to the future! :D
I am thrilled to see how you're able to bench the Beast on the Potomac, and other beasts, by doing an end-run around their hijacked terms.
So very cool...
Bench. Press on!
😄😇😄
Congratulations @distributedweb! You have completed the following achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on the badge to view your Board of Honor.
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPDo not miss the last post from @steemitboard:
SteemitBoard and the Veterans on Steemit - The First Community Badge.
Congratulations @distributedweb! You have completed the following achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on the badge to view your Board of Honor.
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPDo not miss the last post from @steemitboard:
SteemitBoard and the Veterans on Steemit - The First Community Badge.
hey, great. inspiring and creative project!
Congratulations @distributedweb! You have completed the following achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on the badge to view your Board of Honor.
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPWoah ! I had to print all that out & read it while sitting on the couch. I totally agree that decentralization is an important key to freedom. We just have to convince the masses to stop blindly following orders of those in "authority" who do not have the best interests of the people at heart.
I don't want be in the bench XD
Congratulations @distributedweb! You received a personal award!
You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking
Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!