Blockstack offers a range of decentralized office apps that could provide an alternative to Microsoft and Google. We check them out.
The decentralized applications (dApps) space tends to be dominated by two categories, DeFi and gaming. This is true if you look at the major blockchains like Ethereum, EOS or Tron. However, aggregator site app.com lists a diverse bunch of dApps based on Blockstack. Among these is a suite of decentralized office apps that claim to be an alternative to the likes of Google Docs.
We decided to investigate to see if they can live up to their claims.
Why Use Decentralized Office Apps?
One word – privacy. Google’s terms of service state:
“When you upload, submit, store, send or receive content to or through our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works, communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content.”
So that applies to any text you write in a Google Doc, anything photos you upload to Google Photos, anything you send in Gmail – basically, any data you choose to put through Google.
Microsoft isn’t quite as bad, but it’s not squeaky clean either. The company fell foul of Dutch regulators at the end of 2018 after they found it had been operating usage data monitoring that contravened the European General Data Protection Regulation.
The decentralized office apps we’ve listed here are all based on Blockstack. Using this platform, you get a single universal login and a private data locker, secured by blockchain-based security and encryption. The good news for non-crypto aficionados is that you don’t need to buy any tokens to use them.
Your work and content belong to you, and nobody is tracking your usage.
We reached out to one of the developers behind some of the dApps listed here, to ask about the privacy features. They stated:
“As we kept hearing news of breaches from big-name tech companies, including stolen data, hacked data on the black market, and adware everywhere, it made us think about how to solve the issue.”
Source/More: Are Decentralized Office Apps an Alternative to Microsoft and Google? | Crypto Briefing
