Yeah I understand 80%+ of churches probably won't bother to try to install something like this. I'll just be happy if anyone can get some use out of it, as it makes me happy to share.
I would LOVE for someone to offer hosted OneBody -- I just can't do it because I have a day job and really dislike typical customer support. (Love helping other tech people and hackers, but am really bad at being patient with "customers".)
So, what exactly does Sandstorm do for me? Does it turn web applications into SaaS with individual instances of software per user without the user having to install it on their own hosting themselves? But there's a price to pay for that: each application has to be specifically ported to work with Sandstorm. Right? Where is the catalog of currently ported apps, then?
The idea is that each user has their own Sandstorm instance and can install web apps on it through a web interface, like installing apps on a phone or desktop. Be sure to try the demo -- it takes 30 seconds: https://demo.sandstorm.io
Apps require a little bit of porting, but not much. Sandstorm implements a native-code sandbox, so it can run any tech stack that works on Linux (no need to rewrite in a new language). The main things you have to do to "port" an app are:
* Removing your authentication/authorization systems and relying on Sandstorm's instead.
* If your app communicates with the outside world or publishes public web content, it has to use the APIs for that, since by default apps are isolated for security reasons.
Generally Sandstorm is meant for apps that deal with a single user's personal data and which act in federation with other users' personal servers. It can also work for data owned by a small group, but generally won't work well for anything that needs multiple machines' worth of resources (we'll support that eventually; it's just not the main focus right now).
Sandstorm is currently in alpha testing, with a first production-quality release expected early next year. We're also running a crowdfunding campaign: http://igg.me/at/sandstorm
I would LOVE for someone to offer hosted OneBody -- I just can't do it because I have a day job and really dislike typical customer support. (Love helping other tech people and hackers, but am really bad at being patient with "customers".)