diff --git a/src/_posts/2021-02-16-coop-cloud.md b/src/_posts/2021-02-16-coop-cloud.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..73460c7 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/_posts/2021-02-16-coop-cloud.md @@ -0,0 +1,81 @@ +--- +layout: post +title: The Cooperative Cloud +description: Free software infrastructure without re-inventing the wheel +image: coop-cloud.png +category: coop, cloud, docker, swarm, free-software +date: 2021-02-16 +--- + +At Autonomic, we've been using [Cloudron] to quickly and easily deploy free +software applications (Wordpress, Nextloud, Mediawiki, etc.) for our clients. +If you haven't heard of Cloudron, here is the short summary of what it does: it +provides infrastructure hosters like Autonomic with a simple to use web +interface for deploying hundreds of free software applications in a few clicks +of the mouse. + +Using a system like Cloudron has expanded our capacity to support more "on a +shoestring" grassroots organising because it reduces our initial starting +costs. This is the work that we feel is important to support even when there is +little funding to pay for that work. + +However, as time has gone on, we've had a few moments when we questioned our +reliance on Cloudron. + +- Parts the system officially [became proprietary] which was worrying but also + somewhat understandable from a funding perspective. + +- The work to package the available applications is done [entirely by + the Cloudron team itself] and doesn't re-use the existing rich ecosystem of + free software packaging work already going on. This seems unsustainable. + +- A growing fear of centralising a significant part of our offering on a + single business which may make decisions that could have a large impact on + our ability to provide services. + +As a result of these concerns, we tried to map out a few core principles of a +project which might work a lot like Cloudron but give us more guarantees that +we can depend on. We've started to call that the Cooperative Cloud. + +- The Coop Cloud should always be available under [copyleft licenses] to retain + the shared work as public property. This doesn't mean we can't pursue + commercial work but we can't rely on creating false scarcity to earn money. + +- The Coop Cloud doesn't re-invent the wheel. We aim is to work with existing + free software communities who are already packaging and publishing their + software (Nextcloud, Gitea, Mediawiki, Rocket.chat, the list goes on...). We + want to be involved in their community spaces and build bridges between + infrastructure, software development and end-users. + +- The Coop Cloud has democratic governance at the core of the project. We + want to work as much as possible with other cooperatives to build up good + decision making structures so we can all depend on this project. + +With those ideas in mind, we started to build something in the time we could +spare. We worked on a simple packaging format using existing [open standards] +to build the application catalogue. We wrote a command-line client which could +read the catalogue and deploy those applications. + +We can safely say the cooperative cloud project is currently alpha quality +software but it shows promise and signs of stability. We've already been +testing a sort of "dual power" strategy with some existing clients and we've +been seeing good results. We're happy to say that we're already partially +running operations on the Cooperative Cloud. + +If you want to learn more about the project, please read our documentation +where we explain the decisions we've made so far in more depth. What +technologies we're using, how we fit into the existing ecosystem, ways to +contribute, what applications are available and so on. + +> [cloud.autonomic.zone](https://cloud.autonomic.zone/) + +At this point, we'd like to invite other cooperatives to take a look at what +we're working on and come and have a chat with us. We think a common platform +for hosting free software infrastructure could make a big difference in terms +of what we're able to offer as a movement. + +[cloudron]: https://cloudron.io/ +[became proprietary]: https://forum.cloudron.io/topic/2862/why-not-make-cloudron-fully-open-source-again +[entirely by the cloudron team itself]: https://git.cloudron.io/cloudron +[copyleft licenses]: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/copyleft.en.html +[open standards]: https://compose-spec.io/ diff --git a/src/assets/images/coop-cloud.png b/src/assets/images/coop-cloud.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b7056d6 Binary files /dev/null and b/src/assets/images/coop-cloud.png differ