Gradually, things changed. Over time, minimalism took hold. "Less is more" became the mantra in many sectors. We saw it in electronics (a philosophy Apple rode to great success), in interior design, in construction, and in architecture. We got low-impact homes and devices that were ever more powerful yet consumed less and less energy. And yet, in the one field that should embody efficiency and logic more than any other - computing - the exact opposite seems to have happened. We've progressively made things more complicated. Simple tasks, like hosting a website, have become, in the eyes of many, jobs that require complex and heavy stacks - stacks that consume resources and electricity just to get the base system running.

Operating systems are becoming increasingly complex, bloated, and packed with features that are useless to most people. Even the Linux world, which was often born under the banner of modularity and lightness, has in many cases followed the same trend. Just think of modern web stacks that, even on Linux, require containers, orchestrators, and complex build systems merely to serve a static page.

And that's why I've decided that my blogs, at least for now, will be hosted entirely on a VM that costs 1 Euro per month. By using efficient operating systems (like NetBSD, in this case), it's possible to run the whole setup with excellent performance on very few resources.

This isn't a matter of necessity - I have powerful, underutilized servers at my disposal - but a matter of choice. It's a small act of computational minimalism. I want to demonstrate, just as I have done and am still doing with FediMeteo, that you don't need to invest in extreme resources, powerful (and expensive) hardware, and complicated stacks to perform simple tasks. Tasks that today, for whatever reason (that's a rhetorical question, and the answers range from commercial interests pushing new solutions for already-solved problems to curriculum-driven development), are instead handled on oversized infrastructures.

As I like to say, it's like needing to buy some salad from the shop down the street, but instead of walking, cycling, or, at most, taking your car, you take a semi-truck.

Sure, it works.

But it makes no sense.

As I've often done over the years, I started my research online. Unfortunately, as is often the case recently, my searches didn't yield the desired results. I found hundreds of posts and reviews focusing on gaming monitors, not to mention the useless sponsored reviews or the far-fetched ones on e-commerce sites. Ultimately, I tried to piece together the information I could find and convinced myself that for a 24-inch screen, FullHD would be sufficient, provided it had a good panel and some eye-strain reduction certification.

The result? I bought a monitor that only partially satisfies me. The quality is good, but the resolution is too low for my habits and expectations. And I'm disappointed in myself and the research I conducted.

This experience led me to mentally retrace the history of my time online, and what I've observed on the internet for many years.

I remember the dawn of my online experience. For providers, the business was about selling network access and the ability to have an online presence, giving people the chance to reach the whole world. Gradually, shops, newspapers, and information sites emerged. Their goal was to sell their services THROUGH the internet, increasing their visibility and market reach.

Suddenly, someone realized that amidst this vast collection of sites and information, advertisements could be placed. All at once, many sites started displaying ad banners that helped both companies gain visibility and site owners earn a little extra. Search engines like Google were efficient and reliable (I still remember how we "techies" welcomed it) and helped people find products and content.

As time went on, ads multiplied, and e-commerce became dominant. The business model shifted to earning ON the internet (through views, ads, selling services, and products online) rather than THROUGH it. The market changed, content consumption changed. We reached a point where browsing without an ad-blocker became frustrating. Every site, even the most innocuous, bombards you with banners, commercials, and ads of all kinds, so intrusive they compromise the browsing experience itself. YouTube shows an ad every few minutes (unless, of course, you pay for Premium), and it's the same everywhere else.

The problem, therefore, stems from this business model. The internet is no longer a means to reach the customer, but a battlefield to "ensnare" them. Cloud services that are easy to get into but impossible to leave, expensive and restrictive SaaS, a total loss of information freedom, a total loss of control of our data.

And today? The internet seems like a modern evolution of "The Game of Life." For those unfamiliar, "The Game of Life" isn't a game in the traditional sense, but a cellular automaton devised by British mathematician John Conway. It consists of a grid of cells that can be "alive" or "dead," evolving through generations based on a few simple rules applied to their neighbors. Despite these simple rules, it can produce incredibly complex and emergent patterns, almost like a simulation of life itself. Similarly, on today's internet, bots, algorithms, AI, and automated systems manage, create, consume, push, evangelize, politicize, and incite, often with unpredictable and far-reaching consequences. The internet is now in everyone's hands, yet it belongs to no one. We no longer possess the tool; the tool (and those who control it) possesses us.

I shared my monitor experience on the Fediverse. Within minutes, dozens of replies poured in with advice and shared experiences. I should have posted before buying, but it's a lesson learned.

The FullHD monitor will go to my office; it'll be efficient and look good on the desk. I'll get another, more suitable one, and chalk this up to experience. Fortunately, there are still ways to interact with real humans. At least for now.

Classical Style

Typical Reaction:

"Too ornate! So outdated! Nobody wants this old-fashioned stuff full of frills anymore!"

"Look at all these useless objects! It's so... maximalist!"

"Impossible to keep clean! Who has time to dust all those details?"

Minimalist Style

Typical Reaction:

"So elegant! Modern and functional!"

"True beauty lies in simplicity!"

"Finally a space where the mind can breathe!"

WEB ARCHITECTURE

Simple Traditional Stack

┌───────────────┐
│    Browser    │
└───────┬───────┘
        │
        ▼
┌───────────────┐
│    Firewall   │
└───────┬───────┘
        │
        ▼
┌───────────────┐
│   Web server  │
└───────┬───────┘
        │
        ▼
┌───────────────┐
│   HTML/CSS    │
│     Files     │
└───────────────┘

Typical Reaction:

"Too simple! That's so 2010!"

"Not scalable! How do you handle thousands of users?"

"Where's the DevOps? And CI/CD? What about serverless?"

"It's not resilient/reliable/cloud-native enough!"

Complex Modern Stack

┌─────────────────┐    ┌─────────────┐    ┌──────────────────┐
│    CDN Edge     │◄───┤ DNS Manager ├────┤ DDOS Protection  │
└────────┬────────┘    └─────────────┘    └──────────────────┘
         │
         ▼
┌────────────────┐    ┌──────────────┐
│  Load Balancer ├────┤ Auto-scaling │
└────────┬───────┘    └──────────────┘
         │
         ▼
┌────────────────┐
│     Proxy      │
└────────┬───────┘
         │
         ▼
┌────────────────┐    ┌──────────────┐    ┌──────────────────┐
│   Kubernetes   ├────┤ Service Mesh ├────┤ Circuit Breaker  │
└────────┬───────┘    └──────────────┘    └──────────────────┘
         │
         ▼
┌────────────────┐    ┌──────────────┐    ┌──────────────────┐
│  Microservices ├────┤Message Queue ├────┤   Redis Cache    │
└────────┬───────┘    └──────────────┘    └──────────────────┘
         │
         ▼
┌────────────────┐    ┌──────────────┐    ┌──────────────────┐
│      API       ├────┤ Auth Service ├────┤  User Service    │
└────────┬───────┘    └──────────────┘    └──────────────────┘
         │
         ▼
┌────────────────┐    ┌──────────────┐    ┌──────────────────┐
│    Database    ├────┤   Sharding   ├────┤  Backup System   │
└────────┬───────┘    └──────────────┘    └──────────────────┘
         │
         ▼
┌────────────────┐    ┌──────────────┐    ┌──────────────────┐
│   Monitoring   ├────┤   Logging    ├────┤    Alerting      │
└────────────────┘    └──────────────┘    └──────────────────┘

                * To serve a text page with 5 users per day *

Typical Reaction:

"Such an elegant architecture! So professional!"

"Finally a modern, well-designed approach!"

"This is the right way to do things today!"

"Excellent cloud-native implementation! Beautiful diagram!"

The Contradiction

• In interior design: "Less is more! Simplify!"

• In web development: "More is better! Complicate!"

Does a simple landing page really need Kubernetes?

Conclusion

Perhaps it's time to reassess what "modernity" truly means and consider the real purpose of what we're creating.

As I got deeper into my search, I stumbled upon a blog that provided a valid solution to the issue at hand. The post was informative and clear, which made it easy for me to understand and implement. However, what struck me was that this particular blog didn't just stop there. It also referred me to another blog, which is where I discovered yet another solution that helped me solve a different problem altogether!

Upon reflection, I believe a significant portion of web knowledge comes from blogs written by individuals who have a passion for sharing their discoveries and solutions with others. This sense of community and willingness to help each other out is what makes the web such an incredible resource. It's not uncommon for someone to stumble upon a blog post that not only answers one question but also provides insights into related issues.

This is the web I love, where people come together to share their knowledge and help others. It's a testament to the power of collaboration and the willingness of individuals to contribute to a shared pool of information. So the next time you find yourself stuck with a technical issue or simply want to learn more about a particular topic, don't hesitate to explore the wealth of information available on blogs. You never know what you might discover along the way!