Randomize

Forget OSS, we need OCC.

As in Open Cloud Computing.

By an “open cloud,” I mean something to the effect of:

• an Amazon S3-type service of distributed hosting and virtual computing,
• combined with a set of virtual platforms that can be easily throttled and secured on any machine,
• combined with something like a Creative Commons license for using particular computing/bandwidth resources in the cloud,
• combined with an iTunes-like method for people to select which services can run on your free resources.

I’m reminded of this every time I see the newest cool apps, especially mobile apps. They all need some centralized server for presence, message-passing, update downloads, online storage, sharing, etc., and so they all creep towards commercial or ad-supported modes.

Same with social networking sites. I think OSS social networking would work and would provide a commercial-free, uncensored, fully-distributable way to communicate, of only someone can lick this problem of centralized servers.