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-Incorporated feedback from Why, Jessica, & Molly -Split "The IPFS Story" into two sections (origins & maturity) -Added more events and details surrounding 2019 community growth, 2020 0.5.0 release, & major collaborations -Referenced H2 2020 Filecoin Mainnet launch
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@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ Like [Westeros](https://gameofthrones.fandom.com/wiki/Westeros), peer-to-peer (P | |
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Tim Berners-Lee first envisioned the World Wide Web with P2P concepts. The emergent properties of the web did not evolve true to that vision. Centralized, client-server architectures dominate today’s web. | ||
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The [IPFS Project](https://github.com/ipfs/ipfs) aims to return the web to its P2P roots: making the web faster, safer, and more open. | ||
The [IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) Project](https://github.com/ipfs/ipfs) aims to return the web to its P2P roots: making the web faster, safer, and more open. | ||
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## A P2P summer (1999~2003) | ||
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This P2P summer proved that projects could win *with* their P2P architectures, not in spite of them. These projects demonstrated the possible. With time and technological progress, P2P would return to make an even bigger impact. | ||
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## The IPFS story (2013 - Today) | ||
## IPFS origins and a new P2P summer (2013 - 2017) | ||
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[Juan Benet](https://github.com/jbenet) grew up in this previous P2P summer. He experienced the power of P2P networks first hand. When he studied Computer Science at Stanford, he took special interest in distributed networks. | ||
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The IPFS project was born. | ||
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As ambitious as IPFS was, Juan's vision didn't stop there. He founded Protocol Labs in May 2014 to support fundamental research, development, and deployment of infrastructure for open networks (like the internet), with IPFS and its complementary incentivization layer, [Filecoin](https://filecoin.io/), as the first projects. Protocol Labs was modeled to be like an independent [Bell Labs](https://www.bell-labs.com/about/history-bell-labs/) (outside of the IPFS ecosystem, Protocol Labs has since spawned numerous projects including [Coinlist](https://coinlist.co/), [The SAFT Project](https://saftproject.com/), and [SourceCred](https://sourcecred.io/)). | ||
As ambitious as IPFS was, Juan's vision didn't stop there. He founded Protocol Labs in May 2014 to support fundamental research, development, and deployment of infrastructure for open networks (like the internet), with IPFS and its complementary incentivization layer, [Filecoin](https://filecoin.io/), as the first projects. Protocol Labs was modeled to be like an independent [Bell Labs](https://www.bell-labs.com/about/history-bell-labs/) (outside of the IPFS ecosystem, Protocol Labs has since spawned projects including [Coinlist](https://coinlist.co/), [The SAFT Project](https://saftproject.com/), and [SourceCred](https://sourcecred.io/)). | ||
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Protocol Labs entered the [Y Combinator Summer 2014 Class](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/). Juan got to work writing code and the [IPFS white paper](https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmR7GSQM93Cx5eAg6a6yRzNde1FQv7uL6X1o4k7zrJa3LX/ipfs.draft3.pdf). | ||
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The white paper was published in July 2014. It caught the attention of P2P and internet enthusiasts including Jeromy Johnson (aka [whyrusleeping](https://github.com/whyrusleeping)). "Why" and other early contributors shared Juan's vision for a distributed, uncensorable, and permissionless file system. They worked nights, weekends, and initially for free because they believed in the positive impact that open networks like IPFS could have on the world. | ||
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Juan, Why, and other contributors spent many nights staying up too late and eating fast food in Juan's living room to create the alpha release of [go-ipfs](https://github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md#023---2015-03-01). IPFS was ready to begin its growth journey in the open. | ||
Juan, Why, and other contributors spent many late nights in Juan's living room with takeout food and too many coffees (Philz Mint Mojitos FTW!) to create the alpha release of [go-ipfs](https://github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md#023---2015-03-01). IPFS was ready to begin its growth journey in the open. | ||
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In the summer of 2015, the small but growing IPFS team (5~6 full-time contributors) settled into a co-working space in Seattle. They hammered out improvements to the Go and JavaScript implementations of IPFS as interest in the project grew. Satoshi Nakamoto's 2009 [Bitcoin white paper](https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf) had ushered in a renaissance around P2P networks that was now in full swing. IPFS gained usage in the [Ethereum](https://ethereum.org/) and wider blockchain communities. In September 2015, Neocities became the first major site to [implement IPFS in production](https://blog.neocities.org/blog/2015/09/08/its-time-for-the-distributed-web.html). | ||
In the summer of 2015, the small but growing IPFS team (5~6 full-time contributors) settled into a co-working space in Seattle. They hammered out improvements to the Go and JavaScript implementations of IPFS as interest in the project grew. Satoshi Nakamoto's 2009 [Bitcoin white paper](https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf) had ushered in a renaissance of P2P innovation. A P2P summer was in full swing. IPFS gained usage in the [Ethereum](https://ethereum.org/) and wider blockchain communities. In September 2015, Neocities became the first major site to [implement IPFS in production](https://blog.neocities.org/blog/2015/09/08/its-time-for-the-distributed-web.html). | ||
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The work done in Seattle and the lessons learned working with Neocities culminated in the 0.4.0 release of go-ipfs in April 2016. The improvements of 0.4.0 transitioned IPFS from an "exciting demo" to a genuinely useful tool for early adopters. | ||
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The project saw further technical and community growth in 2016. [libp2p](https://libp2p.io/), [Multiformats](https://multiformats.io/), and [IPLD](https://ipld.io/) were spun out as separate projects from IPFS. OpenBazaar began integrating [IPFS](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/openbazaar-integrating-interplanetary-file-system-to-help-keep-stores-open-longer-1460660998) into their decentralized online marketplace. The IPFS team attended and hosted numerous community gatherings highlighted by the [Decentralized Web Summit](https://2016.decentralizedweb.net/). | ||
The project saw further technical and community growth in 2016. [libp2p](https://libp2p.io/), [Multiformats](https://multiformats.io/), and [IPLD](https://ipld.io/) were spun out as separate projects from IPFS. OpenBazaar began integrating [IPFS](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/openbazaar-integrating-interplanetary-file-system-to-help-keep-stores-open-longer-1460660998) into their decentralized online marketplace. The IPFS team attended and hosted many community gatherings highlighted by the [Decentralized Web Summit](https://2016.decentralizedweb.net/). | ||
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Two watershed moments in 2017 validated the growing excitement around IPFS. The first was jump started by a passionate individual with an idea–fittingly enough for a P2P technology like IPFS. Jakub Sztandera (aka [Kubuxu](https://github.com/Kubuxu)), an IPFS software engineer, took it upon himself to download Turkish Wikipedia and [put the snapshot onto IPFS](https://blog.ipfs.io/24-uncensorable-wikipedia/) in response to state censorship. This undertaking exemplified the project's values. An energized team and community rallied around the use case to deliver new performance upgrades to IPFS. The second major event was Protocol Labs' $205.8M [Filecoin Token Sale](https://coinlist.co/filecoin). With significant funding and a reinforced sense of purpose, Protocol Labs' and IPFS's ambitious founding visions were in reach, but not yet realized. | ||
Two watershed moments in 2017 validated the growing excitement around IPFS. The first was jump started by a passionate individual with an idea–fittingly enough for a P2P technology like IPFS. Jakub Sztandera (aka [Kubuxu](https://github.com/Kubuxu)), an IPFS software engineer, took it upon himself to download Turkish Wikipedia and [put the snapshot onto IPFS](https://blog.ipfs.io/24-uncensorable-wikipedia/) in response to state censorship. This undertaking exemplified the project's values. An energized team and community rallied to deliver new performance upgrades to IPFS. The second major event was Protocol Labs' $205.8M [Filecoin Token Sale](https://coinlist.co/filecoin). With significant funding and a reinforced sense of purpose, Protocol Labs' and IPFS's ambitious founding visions were in reach, but not yet realized. | ||
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With great power comes great responsibility, according to [Uncle Ben](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Ben#%22With_great_power_comes_great_responsibility%22). So in 2018, IPFS entered the next phase of its maturation. The project needed to deliver on its ideological and technical advantages over traditional client-server methods at scale. As seen in previous P2P summers, theoretical advantages must translate to tangible developer and user benefits to win the mass market. With a growing team, multiple interdependent projects, and an ecosystem dependent users and partners, the team began developing, sharing, and executing product roadmaps to maturity. | ||
## The next chapter (2018 - Today) | ||
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The drive to IPFS's product vision realization and mass market adoption continues today. The IPFS network grew x30 in 2019. The [first IPFS Camp](https://camp.ipfs.io/) in Barcelona inspired a [successful collaboration](https://blog.ipfs.io/2020-02-14-improved-bitswap-for-container-distribution/) with one of the biggest, most innovative corporations in world, Netflix. The April 2020 [go-ipfs 0.5.0 release](https://blog.ipfs.io/2020-04-28-go-ipfs-0-5-0/) provided the biggest performance and reliability upgrades to the network yet. | ||
According to [Uncle Ben](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Ben#%22With_great_power_comes_great_responsibility%22), with great power comes great responsibility. So in 2018, IPFS entered the next phase of its maturation. The project needed to deliver on its ideological and technical advantages at scale. As seen in previous P2P eras, theoretical advantages must translate to tangible developer and user benefits to win the mass market. With a growing team, multiple interdependent projects, and an ecosystem of users and partners, the team began developing, sharing, and executing product roadmaps to maturity. | ||
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IPFS has come a long way in the journey to create a more efficient, secure, and resilient web to preserve and grow humanity’s knowledge. The beautiful thing is, that journey is never ending. This is still just the beginning! | ||
This focus bore significant results in the IPFS community in 2019. Protocol Labs hosted the [first IPFS Camp](https://camp.ipfs.io/) in Barcelona. The retreat brought together 150 Distributed Web pioneers to learn, collaborate, and build. It inspired a [successful collaboration](https://blog.ipfs.io/2020-02-14-improved-bitswap-for-container-distribution/) with one of the biggest, most innovative corporations in world, Netflix. By the end of 2019, the IPFS network had grown x30. The community of open-source contributors stood at more than 4,000. | ||
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The April 2020 [go-ipfs 0.5.0 release](https://blog.ipfs.io/2020-04-28-go-ipfs-0-5-0/) provided the largest performance upgrades to the network yet: faster file adding (x2), providing (2.5x), finding (2-6x), and fetching (2-5x). For the ever-growing [IPFS ecosystem](https://ipfs.io/images/ipfs-applications-diagram-jul2020.png), reliability is just as important as speed. For that, Protocol Labs developed, used, and released [Testground](https://blog.ipfs.io/2020-05-06-launching-testground/). Testground is a huge step forward in testing and hardening P2P systems not just for IPFS, but the community at-large. | ||
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Major collaborations with [Opera](https://blog.ipfs.io/2020-03-30-ipfs-in-opera-for-android/), [Microsoft ION](https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/azure-active-directory-identity/toward-scalable-decentralized-identifier-systems/ba-p/560168), and [Cloudflare](https://www.cloudflare.com/distributed-web-gateway/) just scratch the surface of possibilities for IPFS. The H2 2020 Filecoin Mainnet launch can fundamentally shift economic incentives of the P2P IPFS network to compete with the entrenched client-server web. | ||
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IPFS has come a long way in the journey to building a faster, safer, and more open web to preserve and grow humanity's knowledge. The beautiful thing is, that journey is never ending. This is still just the beginning! |
I'd usually put the acronym (IPFS) after the full project name (InterPlanetary File System). But I'll leave this one to your personal preference @gravenp.