In what ways are the files accessible? or will be accessible?
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I was wondering if there was any way to access files outside of Sia-UI? It's, well, very slow and limited. From what I read on this forum it seems that the contracts are stored locally rather than on the blockchain which means that if the computer crashes the files become inaccessible. This would seem like an oversight.
I am wondering if there currently is, or will be, a way to access files without needing something stored locally? For example, suppose there was a light wallet like Electrum that would use one chain to access the contracts and another chain to access the files, where you just enter the seed and expect it to work right away. (where the UI would instead be used primarily to host)
I also wonder about API approaches. In order to properly compete with centralized data storage there would need to be a way to integrate some kind of file connection to other software. For example, I imagine that it should be possible to build an entire website using Sia as a foundation if there was a way to integrate with a browser, but that would assume that there would be some way to identify where the files are located. Maybe some kind of integration with Namecoins would allow that?
If there was a simple way to access and upload files without days of syncing where one key is used to access the files, and Namecoins are used to assign a domain name to them, it should be possible to build a decentralized internet free from censorship supported by multiple integrated blockchains. However, if all connections to the files disappear when the uploader loses files it creates a point of failure.
as for right now, I wonder if there would be a quicker way to sync so that I can actually buy SIA coins and experiment a bit.
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I don't know if this helps or not, but you can take a look through the code on their github repository. I've spent some time (not a lot) looking through it and see they have plans to make chain syncing much faster. Here's a link for the most recent roadmap I could find. I am sure they have something more detailed they use internally. The devs and the rest of the community seem pretty responsive in the Discord channel, so feel free to ask questions in there.