Overview

OneCommons is a cloud platform for running open source web applications (think a free AWS) that:

• Provides users with strict control over their data while enabling it to be easily shared across the platform (the DataCommons).
• Gives users access to premium services through a single subscription fee which is distributed to developers and other participants (using CommonCents).
• Is organized as a decentralized ecosystem designed for Internet-scale resilience and growth.

OneCommons is a not-for-profit project in an early stage of development.

The OneCommons ecosystem

OneCommons isn’t a single company or group – just as there isn’t a single entity called “the Internet” – rather, the Internet is more like a set of rules that connects networks together. Similarly, we can see OneCommons as a proposal for a set of rules that allows resources – code, data, and funding – to be shared and distributed throughout an ecosystem of participants in a manner that strengthens the system as a whole.

This ecosystem consists of a variety of individuals and entities such as the developers who write the code that runs on the platform; the site operators who run the websites users visit, and cloud providers who provide the hardware upon which the platform runs.

OneCommons is funded by end-users paying subscription fees to access premium services beyond a free tier. In this way OneCommons is like a Netflix for web applications and SaaS services, where the user pays one monthly fee to get access to all the services running on OneCommons.

Based on the end-user’s usage, their subscription fee is divided among participating organizations as follows:

• Site and Service Operators: for the websites that were visited and for the services those sites utilized.
• Cloud Providers: for the servers, bandwidth, etc that were used.
• Developer projects: for the code that was run by these sites and services.
• Users: for consumed data and content that were authored by users.
• Platform roles: for the overhead of running the platform.

Internally, these payments are made by allocating CommonCents tokens to these participants via smart contracts. A CommonCents token is valued as a share of the platform’s total subscription revenue. This mechanism is designed to make it easy for participants to develop and experiment with different compensation and capitalization strategies while still providing price stability and liquidity. Learn more here.

Why all this?

There’s a lot here and you would be wise to ask “is all this necessary”? Putting the details aside, the core insight behind this architecture is that an open and decentralized web has to address these three aspects of resource sharing – code, data, and funding – in a synergistic way for there to be a chance to compete with the biggest players.

Their tremendous efficiencies and network externalities will enable them to accrue more and more infrastructure, more and more data, and more and more capital – but we can too if we can:

Provide compelling incentives for all participants:

• Developers: open-source developers finally can get directly paid for code they write.
• Site operators: dramatically lowers barriers to entry for small-scale SaaS operators by providing free infrastructure, market access, and simple payment mechanisms.
• Business end-users: a simple flat subscription fee provides access to wide variety of SaaS services with all the benefits of open source and avoids vendor lock-in.
• Consumers: Gain trust and control as well as whatever unique apps are generated by the diversity and creativity that comes with an open platform.

Have “Unfair Competitive Advantages” over Proprietary Platforms

We need advantages over proprietary alternatives that they won’t be able to provide by their very nature:

• Greater trust and transparency because fundamentally the platform isn’t proprietary but designed to serve the interests of all participants through not-for-profit, decentralized governance.
• Reduced cost-structure: Proprietary solutions re-invent the wheel with the same baseline functionality and have constant pressure to add to marginal functionality and complexity to “lock-in” the customer. In contrast, the economic incentives on OneCommons encourage re-use.
• Reduced economic rent: Owners of proprietary platforms are in a tremendous position to extract economic rent and market control.

Realize economics of scale and network effects

We need the same economics of scale and network effects (the more people use it, the more useful it becomes) that has driven the consolidation of Internet around a few big players:

• The DataCommons enables code, data, and services to be shared, reused, and remixed across the platform, just as a company is free to internally leverage its proprietary data and services.
• Economics that enables independent entities to collaborate with aligned economic incentives, much like business units within a corporation.

Be Realistic:

How can we get from here to there?

• The cloud platform should work with today’s open source web applications with minimal effort.
• A staged roadmap that provides immediate value even at the earliest stages.
• Incentivize early adopters.