[baggachipz]

The OP is ignoring a total deal-killer for this type of model: Proprietary code needs to remain so. It's what brings value to a service like Twitter. It would be great for open-source apps, but that is a small slice of the web's pie. Does he really think that Twitter will distribute their server-side source to browsers to execute locally? Even if it were compiled, the risk is too great for a company who relies on its unique property being the only differentiator in the marketplace.

[DennisP]

The upside is you can run your code on other people's hardware and bandwidth, so you don't need revenue just to keep running.

I think a bigger problem for a lot of applications is security. Distributing your app where anyone can modify nodes and data arbitrarily is fine for some applications, but not all.

Down the road, something like Byzantine Paxos might help.