Cloudsmith is not so much a directory, but a map of both open source and closed source components and distros worldwide. Anyone can add to the map - ie tell cloudsmith about new components. Anyone can define new distros from the components - and recursively, from the distros - which are already known to Cloudsmith. And best of all, distros can be easily shared as "cloudlinks" in e.g. emails or blogs. A single click on a cloudlink will materialize the associated distro, fetching all the necessary components for that distro from wherever in the global cloud each component happens to be stored (a distro can be built from components from different repositories across the internet). Cloudsmith resolves appropriately depending on what components are already installed on the target machine, including resolving version mismatches. Finally, proprietary companies - those with licensable software - can define their own private clouds, access to which is limited to their customers.