Sandstorm is an open source platform for web apps. Basically instead of having to host a bunch of different servers for different web apps you want to run on a server, they're packaged and installed in a way much like you'd install and run apps on your phone. Just, on a web service.

For me it entirely replaced Google Docs (using Etherpad and EtherCalc) and Trello (using Wekan) in particular. I'm also super dependent on it for my RSS reader with Tiny Tiny RSS. Everything on it you could host yourself individually, but it's easier and more secure via Sandstorm.

For those who think this sounds like Docker: in a way, it's similar, but while Docker is mostly designed for packaging and running regular Linux server software, Sandstorm provides a common framework (particularly around authentication, authorization, configuration and upgrading), which makes the whole user experience much more unified, and requires less fiddling with configuration files or terminal commands, while exposing a smaller attack surface, even if the attacker manages to exploit a particular app (there are various levels of isolation, even between different documents of the same app).

https://sandstorm.io/news/2014-08-19-why-not-run-docker-apps

I also like to describe sandstorm as a bit closer to native mobile app development: the developer building the app has to think harder about what permissions (capabilities) their app needs, and in exchange a non-developer can install the app safely and have more confidence that the app isn’t full of security holes or leaking their data, intentionally or unintentionally.

I read the article, but I'm still unclear on what "Oasis" is. Is that what they call their free offering?

Oasis is the hosting service they offered (for hosting Sandstorm instance).

Sounds like univention appliance https://www.univention.com/products/univention-app-center/ap...