What is this? These pages started as a detailed straw-man proposal to flesh-out what it would take to realize our vision of a free and open cloud. They now serve as examples of the technology needed to implement the different facets of open cloud services. Here's how we are going to get there.

Roadmap

OneCommons is an ambitious project that will take years to mature so it is important to stage its development in a series of small and concrete steps, each of which provide immediate value and are punctuated with major milestones focused on addressing a well-defined target market.

Milestone 1: Developer infrastructure

What: Tools for building easily deployable, reusable, production-quality services Immediate Value: Usable outside of OneCommons For who: DevOps developers Goal: Engage DevOps developers to help build core infrastructure

Milestone 2: Hosting MVP

What: Basic infrastructure in place, ready to host curated sites Immediate Value: Free hosting For who: Existing open source sites Goal: Build user base and market awareness

Milestone 3: CommonsCents

What: User fees; usage tracking and metering; payment processing Immediate Value: Enable participants to earn money For who: Small-scale SAAS Goal: SAAS platform where there’s clear economic value for businesses to avoid vendor lock-in and we can provide a low barrier to entry for independent developers and operators

Milestone 4: DataCommons

What: Shared data. Policies establishing privacy rules around data and access rights Immediate Value: Control and visibility over data; remix apps For who: Users; developers

Milestone 5: Ecosystem

What: Multiple infrastructure providers Immediate Value: Decentralization For who: Cloud providers Goal: Expand reach and market opportunities

Milestone 6: Scale

What: Scalability Immediate Value: Large-scale free social media apps viable, unlock network effects For who: Consumers