Early on, I thought we'd federate Signal once its velocity had subsided. Now I realize that things will probably never slow down, and if anything the velocity of the entire landscape seems to be steadily increasing. post 
Moxie Marlinspike. site
As a software developer, I envy writers, musicians, and filmmakers. Unlike software, when they create something, it is really done — forever. A recorded album can be just the same 20 years later, but software has to change.
Indeed, cannibalizing a federated application-layer protocol into a centralized service is almost a sure recipe for a successful consumer product today. It's what Slack did with IRC, what Facebook did with email, and what WhatsApp has done with XMPP.
Like any federated protocol, extensions don't mean much unless everyone applies them, and that's an almost impossible task in a truly federated landscape.
One potential benefit of federation is the ability to choose what provider gets access to your meta-data. If anything, protecting meta-data is going to require innovation in new protocols and software. Those changes are only likely to be possible in centralized environments with more control, rather than less.
An open source infrastructure for a centralized network now provides almost the same level of control as federated protocols, without giving up the ability to adapt.
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These valid criticisms are focused on the midlife of technology. If we want to keep our stuff for longer we will have to make federation work. For example, how can we read Plato when we don't know Greek.
See Moxie's interview after WhatsApp integration of end-to-end encryption. post
See also Substack's p2p talk in London. github