The New Internet

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Reactions to the “New Internet” framing

  • Many find the essay well-written but see the “New Internet” branding as grandiose or marketing for an IPO/acquisition ramp.
  • Some view the conclusion as “old landlord bad, new landlord us,” noting the irony of denouncing rent‑seeking while proposing Tailscale as the new gatekeeper.
  • Others see it as a normal “platform + killer app” strategy pitch and not uniquely sinister.

Tailscale’s value and real‑world friction

  • Strong appreciation for “it just works” UX compared to raw WireGuard/OpenVPN; especially for small teams and homelabs.
  • Concrete complaints: confusing onboarding with family accounts and ACLs, non‑obvious behavior when inviting users, Windows firewall/ICMP issues, and performance/battery problems on some clients.
  • Some note that for serious remote support, tools like TeamViewer/AnyDesk can be more straightforward.

Centralization, control planes, and rent

  • Core worry: solving NAT/connectivity via a proprietary coordination layer recentralizes power; Tailscale becomes another chokepoint.
  • Self‑hosting Headscale is seen as a partial answer, but people question how long official clients will support third‑party controllers.
  • Several point out that Tailscale requires external identity providers (OIDC), which itself reinforces dependence on big platforms.

IPv6, NAT, and protocol design debates

  • Large sub‑thread debates IPv6: some call it a design mistake and blame poor adoption; others argue “IPv6 has already happened” in mobile/large networks and NAT is only tolerable because IPv6 offloads pressure.
  • Disagreement over NAT as “security”: one side treats it as essential isolation; the other calls that security theater, saying real protection comes from firewalls and zero‑trust, and IPv6 can be filtered similarly.
  • Broader point: Tailscale is a pragmatic overlay exploiting the messy, NAT‑heavy IPv4 world rather than fixing the underlay.

Self‑hosting and home networks

  • Some are energized by a trend toward self‑hosted services (photos, media, home labs) with Tailscale‑like mesh as glue; envision “family network citadels” run by one technical person.
  • Others have moved everything to big clouds to avoid homelab maintenance toil; see local hosting as work they don’t want at home.

Alternatives and open ecosystem

  • Multiple overlay contenders mentioned: ZeroTier, Nebula, NetBird, OpenZiti, tinc, yggdrasil, plain WireGuard plus tooling, etc.
  • View that the real issue is proprietary vs non‑proprietary overlays; Tailscale is praised as a polished option but not technically unique.