The source code for Diaspora has been released. It has generated a lot of buzz since it gained funding through Kickstarter and Facebook started drawing more privacy scrutiny earlier this year. Many have looked at the project as a potential alternative to Facebook because of its openness.
More background here.
"This is now a community project and development is open to anyone with the technical expertise who shares the vision of a social network that puts users in control," the team says. "From now on we will be working closely with the community on improving and solidifying Diaspora."
The announcement lists the following features:
– Share status messages and photos privately and in near real time with your friends through “aspects”.
– Friend people across the Internet no matter where Diaspora seed is located.
– Manage friends using "aspects"
– Upload of photos and albums
– All traffic is signed and encrypted (except photos, for now).
In addition to these, the team says it is working on Facebook integration, internationalization and data portability for its Alpha release in October.