We're starting to open up 1999.io, slowly so I can be relatively sure there aren't any huge deal-stoppers. With new code like this, that you want to be running for many years, to let the rollout happen slowly, building layer on layer.

I thought it would be a good idea to start to answer some questions about what it is and isn't. What it's like and what it's not like.

So let's start with this question, what blogging software that I've heard of is it most like? And I think for that, the answer is WordPress. In this way. The server is open source, and it's easy to set up your own self-hosted system.

Each server can host lots of sites. There is no "single user" mode. But you can restrict access via a whitelist. So if you want to set it up just for yourself, that's not hard. But it's just as easy to host many sites. And it's also easy to offer hosting to everyone, publicly.

I suspect that most people who use it will not run their own server. Much the same way that most people who use WordPress don't.

I am offering free hosting to start. Not sure how long I'll do that.

The data is very easy to export. There's a command in the Main menu that downloads your website in a single JSON file. Just save the file locally and you have a backup. Making this easy was an important design goal.

Now it's also not like WordPress in the way you create new posts. Here the focus is on making that the easiest thing to do. So there's a text box at the top of the page, ready to accept your writing. Just like Twitter, or Facebook, or for that matter my own blogging software all the way back in the last millennium, called Radio UserLand.

There are many other features, and I'll probably be writing about them over the next few weeks. If you're curious, please sign up for the 1999-user mail list. That's where we're getting things started.