My organization has a hodge-podge of intranet web services: a Discourse forum, a local wikipedia mirror, OnlyOffice, OpenMediaVault, OpenVPN web admin, Pihole, etc. And furthermore, I learned a funny new term to characterize this quest to try to self-host all these services: that of the so-called landchad!
After reading this recent article about the power and impact of integrating all such services into one coherent, convenient experience, it occurred to me that these big tech ecosystems (GAFAM, etc) really “play for keeps”. No physical shackle is fastened around one’s ankle, however all the paths of least resistance are meticulously arranged such that if one ever thought of migrating away, psychological/emotional barriers/annoyances/discomforts/losses will stop one from doing so. So there are psychological/sociological factors which effectively do enshackle one, such that the normies of the world likely won’t leave for any competitor (let alone Open Source alternatives). Only the smartest and most highly motivated 2% (as in, they see a virtue in it worth fighting for), are the ones who would do so. To escape all those “walled gardens”, would be roughly as difficult as quitting smoking, by way of analogy.
This made me feel motivated to do what I can to try to pull together such an integrated-feeling web experience the best I could using Open-Source software. How can one hope to compete with big tech’s convenience if one doesn’t have “hot-buttons” for everything, all in one super-convenient, pan-device interface? After some looking around, I’ve taken an interest in web-dashboard apps like Heimdall, github page here.
BTW: I looked at some of Heimdall’s newer competitors, like Homer, and Homarr, but they are dependent on the Node.js ecosystem, which made me skeptical that they would bloated and slow. I also watched a comparison video between Heimdall and a couple of predecessors, Muximux, and Organizr. I ruled out Muximux and Organizr, as they apparently have outdated assumptions about the wisdom of using iframes, or they want to re-invent the wheel by giving you a system of tabs that the web browser already provides.
After test-driving Heimdall, both as a docker container, and as a native install, I ran into this docker-specific bug.
Anyway, I’d like to hear your anecdotes about your similar landchad-esque journeys to create an integrated web dashboard for all your self-installed web apps.