What does private cloud mean to open source?

The next goal of Sandstorm.io is to make it easier for people to run personal Web App. It allows users to have their own server, through an interface similar to the App Store to enter, users can install their own App, just like installing App on your phone. About Sandstorm We often talk about privacy, security, control and other issues. Tell you a secret: The so-called privacy and security are not really the main reason Sandstorm exists, they're just by-products.

The real power behind Sandstorm as a private cloud platform is to help open source organizations and independent developers create their own Web applications.

In today's more popular SaaS model, independent developers can not be successful without external force. Although these indomitable people continue to develop, one problem is that the software they have developed can not reach the majority of users at all. To make low-budget software a success, and to move forward with open source, users need to run software independent of the developer, which is easily implemented on desktops and smartphones. But for server-side applications, this is hard to do because not everyone has their own server.

Today's social situation is that only those who have the time, money and related technologies can have their own personal host. Not even many technicians, because it is painful to create a host and manage a host.

The Sandstorm came into existence to solve this problem - everyone can easily have their own personal host.

"The only solution is that everyone can have their own server, and you can install any application you like on your server."

Open source software on the desktop and smartphone side

I use Debian Linux, which consists of thousands of packages. System browser, text editor, a variety of IDE, chat client, Office suite, development tools, picture editor, multimedia player and other software. The magic is that all the software is open source. Even more amazing is that I can not remember the last time I use non-open source desktop application is when!

I am not a fanatics Not to force myself to use open source software, it will not force others to use. I also used proprietary software when proprietary software was able to get the job done, and in the past I've also used Windows and Mac for a long time, but the happiest time was with Linux. This is just my preference and not for everyone. Think about the look 15 years ago, and then think about it now, I can easily use a fully open source desktop, this is a very exciting thing.

Now, even many Windows and Mac users will use open source software. VLC, BitTorrent and other independent open source software are widely used even in non-technical staff. There are more people using open source software and low budget stand-alone apps on smartphone platforms, as different App Stores make it easier for users to gain access to open source software.

However, there is little open source software in today's web world. Every day I use the application, such as Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Feedly, etc. No one is open source. Although these applications are licensed to run on the open source architecture, it is not open source, after all. Most proprietary desktop applications use open source components and tools. Web applications, however, are almost exclusively used when users see them.

Why all web applications are proprietary?

Open source Web applications do exist, such as Webmail applications SquirrelMail and RoundCube. If you are careful enough, you might find open source online document editors, RSS readers, and even open source social networking applications. However, few people, even technologists, use these products. This situation is most likely due to the fact that these applications require users to have their own servers. Obviously, very few people have time, patience and technology to tackle this problem.

There are still a few successful examples. For example, WordPress, which is a widely used open source blog. But WordPress seems to be an exception rather than a universal one. And WordPress users can not really change its code because they themselves do not have a host, they use the WordPress service provided by someone else's host, and which version of WordPress someone else's host is using. So, actually, this is not open source, but a visible source - you can see the source code, you can make suggestions, but you can not modify the source code as recommended, and only after your suggestion is officially accepted, the proposal may become reality.

Why no one use a separate Web application?

Even on the Windows platform, people often install small open source applications. Need to mark some MP3 music? Need to use a client to connect multiple chat networks? Need to extract a strange compressed file? When you have these needs, you may think of open source applications. Sometimes it's unwise to create a commercial application around a niche need, but developers have a wealth of gadgets that they write in their free time, and maybe these gadgets will meet your needs. But on the Web side, things are not. Any meaningful service, as long as it requires a server, because of financial constraints, this service must only be provided by the company.

Let us describe a case: I know a prolific programmer, he called Brad Fitzpatrick. He is the author of such works as LiveJournal, Camlistore, memcached, OpenID, and so on, which you may already know. But I will probably hear nothing about this project that I said below.

ScanningCabinet is a small application that helps you manage Paper Mail. You put your one Paper Mail under the scanner, ScanningCabinet scan the contents of the mail and store the contents to the cloud, and then you can mark, access or find mail. A weekend ago a few years ago, Brad completed the project and hosted it on GitHub.

It can be said that everyone may use this product. Unfortunately, no one can really use it. In order to install this application, you need to configure the server (in this case App Engine) and deploy the code to the server. Even know how to configure, how to deploy me, or do not want to do it, the reason is too much trouble.

Under the current software-as-a-service model, Brad needs to run it as a service if he wants to make the application accessible to the general public. Need to establish multi-user support, to ensure security, deployment, but also to monitor whether it is in normal operation. Worse, he has to pay the price of money, which means he has to charge the user, and charging means advertising or setting up a bill. Brad apparently did not want to do that.

Take a step back and say that even if he did this, who would use it? Do you want to upload your Paper Mail to a server built by an unknown person on the Internet? Anyway, I do not know what to do if the information is leaked .

The host is the most critical issue

When it comes to the problem is very clear: Open source Web software to rise, users must have their own server. Putting software as a service and open source together makes no sense. If you can not modify the code, it is not a real open source, high barriers to Web applications hinder the interests of projects and any projects that do not want to profit into this area.

The only solution is to make sure that everyone has a server of their own that can install any favorite software on the service. Users do not need to manage their own server, the server can be managed by friends or other organizations, but users must be free to install their favorite software. And there's software that must be run in the sandbox for security, even if there's buggy software or malware installed that does not affect the rest of the server.

Now, this is just an assumption. Setting up a server takes time and technology, and a one-stop managed service allows only a fixed amount of software to run.

Now open source web application has not a foothold.

Our solution - distributed hosting

Sandstorm is a web application hosting platform that allows non-technical staff to install and run arbitrary software. The app may be downloaded from the App Store and then one-click mounted to Sandstorm, just as if you installed the app on your phone. Each application server runs in a secure sandbox, and other applications can not affect it without being authorized.

We talked about many privacy, security, and control issues, but for me these are by-products of the Sandstorm model. The original intention of starting this project has been to promote the development of open source software, interest programs, niche applications and independent applications. Although single app and Gmail, Facebook is trivial compared, all the value of these applications together is not to be underestimated. Small niche areas that large companies are not interested in need to be filled with open source software. We need new software that we can modify without our permission to try new things on the basis of that. Now we do not have such software, which makes me feel ridiculous.

Write in the end

We have come a long way. There is already a Demo now, this Demo to meet most of the above I mentioned above. But now we have encountered financial difficulties. We can make Sandstorm a product, but we need your help.