Gatehouse
The story

I built the firewall I wanted to use.

Powerful network gear is usually hard to love. I wanted one that anybody in the house could understand.

"A firewall should feel like a good appliance, not a puzzle."

The problem

Most firewalls grew up in server rooms. They are brilliant, and they are built for people who already speak the language: zones, chains, NAT, marks, tables. To do something simple, like stop one device getting online at night, you have to know which menu hides it, then click through five or six screens, then hope you got the order right.

That is a lot to ask of someone who just wants their home or small office network to work, and be safe.

What I wanted instead

Fewer clicks.Everyday jobs should take three clicks or fewer. If it takes more, that is a bug in the design, not something to learn.
Words, not jargon.Every rule, every screen, every warning should read like something a person would say. If a technical word is unavoidable, it is explained right there.
Novice friendly, expert approved.A beginner should be able to do the right thing by following the page. Someone who knows networking should never feel held back.
No way to lock yourself out.Changes are staged and confirmed, built-in safe rules can't be removed, and there is a recovery screen on the machine itself.
One tool for the job.Firewall, DNS and DHCP together, so the device you name in one place is the same device everywhere else.

The same words, everywhere

The newest release leans hardest into this idea. Whether you are making a firewall rule, sending a website through a particular connection, opening a port or blocking an app, you use the same form with the same four questions: Who? Where to? What for? When? Learn it once and you know it everywhere.

The Add a route form, asking Who, Where to, What for and When in plain wordsThe Add a route form, asking Who, Where to, What for and When in plain words
One form, four questions. The same ones everywhere in Gatehouse.

Where it is today

Gatehouse is in beta, and it is working extremely well. It is running on x86 computers and on console-only devices right now, day in and day out. The three-clicks goal is built into the design and most jobs already meet it, but there is still work to go, and I would rather tell you that than pretend.

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