CrowdSourced Support

Wouldn't it be great if software could fix itself off the Internet?

Even when a fix isn't readily available for the exact problem it could be solved by a community of 'solvers' who could gain a reduction in IT service costs by contributing solutions to IT problems.

This would require a few things:

1. IT service providers who provide the software in a unique configuration shared by many customers.
2. The exact configuration of a customer's system may be replicated by willing 'solvers' who can work to publish suitable and fully automatic fixes back to the service provider for validation.
3. A way for the service provider to deploy fixes to the 'shared solution' (ie. service) in a way that can be pre-tested, verified and then ultimately accepted by customers with problems.

See my posts 'Deployment Appliance' and 'CML' for more about standardising automation.