Gale is a pretty cool idea. It is basically like USENET in design, however, instead of transferring “news” messages it transfers “instant” messages in a totally secure and encrypted fashion. The only problem with it is that, like USENET, you have to be “in” to even use it. As far as USENET goes, most ISPs are very happy to supply you with a USENET server, and you are set. Unfortunately, gale servers are not in abundance, and those that are running them, aren’t offering “accounts” for free.
So… okay… no big deal, I’ll set up a gale server. Um, no. Gale is DNS based, which means you have to have working DNS in order to run a server. Okay… no big deal… I’ve got working DNS, and it just so happens (lucky for me) that my DNS server points my domain to a machine that can run a gale server. Great! Um… no. In order to run a server on a second level domain (i.e. “inkshop.org”) you must get your key signed by the top level domain (i.e. “org”) which is owned by a gale.org operator.
This is no big deal, except now I have to send a key in via email, and wait for authorization and key signing before I can continue. While I’m sure this model works now, and it isn’t a big deal to wait a day or two to get started, that is a lot of work just to try something out to see if you’ll like it. Additionally, if/when the user base expands, this will become out of hand.
They should at least set up a second “test” environment with a website that will automatically sign ANYTHING you send it… not worried about security… just with testing. That way, someone could have a test server running in minutes, as opposed to days.
I haven’t bothered to send a key in yet. I probably never will. And that is just sad, because it seems very cool.