Our Journey Towards Perpetual Data

Way back in 1997 sensing that "something was wrong", a younger, fitter and better-looking David Irvine set out to right the wrongs in the world of IT. The answer was obvious! - design a robust, software-based solution which could be booted up on any commodity hardware and turn it into a simple-to-operate server which wouldn't break.

Did you spot the error in the plan? At that time larger companies weren't too interested in solutions that didn't break and so didn't provide income from support contracts.

Due to a lack of available investment, the project was shelved. However its principles (cheap or free decent IT for all) and methodology lived on.

In 2002, David took another look at the market and realised if reliable servers took too much money to get to market then the simplest thing to do would be to remove the requirement for servers.

As with all great innovations, this was of course "a wee bit mad" and frowned upon by many engineers at the time and was definitely not recognised as something that could, in fact, be possible.

In other words, the challenge was thrown down to prove whether his idea would work - exactly the type of challenge David thrives on.

Several years of dedicated concentration later, the solution was becoming clear. Use a distributed computing platform with no centralised function or control.

This would be coupled with a system of self authentication and splitting the data into unreconcilable chunks spread across a p2p network.

In other words, a system of login where users could use some known data to encrypt and obfuscate information which could later be returned to them to gain access to the keys necessary to rebuild their data from the p2p network.

Creating an idea, protecting it, putting your life on hold, accepting investment from close friends and family, facing disbelief and adversity from many corners in order to create something revolutionary - this was an easy decision -

It's absolutely worth it!

In February 2006, the company maidsafe.net was officially formed. A very exciting time. There were no premises, lots of friends helping in any way they could and a tremendous amount of patent activity (500 pages of documentation).

There were a lot of investor presentations to family, friends, then friends of friends and family of friends. All of the investors in the company have shown great belief in what the team at maidsafe were aspiring to achieve.

We quickly realised the difference between an engineer and an artist and sought help to explain as simply as possible what the vision of the company was!

In early 2007 the office was established and an Operations Manager appointed to be responsible for the people, systems and processes fundamental for the successful operation and growth of the business.

He's also "a bit tight" and looks after the pennies.

After an ill fated attempt at creating the software through an offshore sub-tier supplier the decision was made to bring the software development back in-house.

We had underestimated the complexity involved in managing a remote team to deliver such a complex system.

All was not lost though as the "proof of concept" software was delivered and although a bit rough round the edges the concept was now proved to be viable.

It's been a bit like dating. We've kissed a few frogs along the way, people have come and gone and a great team remains.

There is now an exceptionally talented multi-racial development team located at the maidsafe offices in Scotland.

The cultural differences have proved to have brought some of the funniest moments and fit well with the management approach.

"If it's not fun we're doing the wrong thing" includes many nights out, putting, darts, logic problems, complex mathematics and the odd game of sponge football.

It is a very challenging, interesting and fun place to work but extremely focused and dedicated.

We are extremely passionate about what we have done so far, and what we have yet to achieve.

The most important thing in all of this is you, your thoughts, your opinions and your willingness to use the software for the greater good.

We've tried to build something simple to use, worthwhile to have, and free to use.

If you don't use the software, this means we have misjudged what we think you would find to be useful and we'd love you to email us or contact us another way telling us what we could do to make things better.

No, it's not because we've met a few space cadets along the way. We found this to be the best way of explaining what the company does as we realise that this new platform has infinite possibilities.

Besides, when you explain what the technology does, how it works, and why it will revolutionise the way people interact with electronic devices, you get the exact same facial expression and use a lot less time if you just let them know that you are "exploring infinity".

We've spent a long time under wraps protecting and developing the technology.

In June 2008 maidsafe comes out from the dark and presents it's concept and system at the Google Scalability Conference in Seattle.