Coordinating multiple components

A system comprising:

• a computer processor;
• and
• a manager module executing on the computer processor and configured to cause the computer processor to:
• determine, by a first application executing on a client device, a need to perform a sharable functional task;
• identify a first software component installed on the client device and capable of performing a first variation of the sharable functional task;
• identify a second software component installed on the client device and capable of performing a second variation of the sharable functional task, wherein the second variation of the sharable functional task is functionally overlapping with and not identical to the first variation;
• identify a set of characteristics of both the first software component and the second software component;
• select the second software component for performing the sharable functional task based on the set of characteristics, wherein the set of characteristics includes at least a restrictiveness of the second software component relative to a restrictiveness of the first software component;
• delegate, by the computer processor, performance of the sharable functional task to the second software component;
• and
• wherein the manager module is configured to cause the computer processor to authenticate the second software component by any of:
• comparing a digital certificate of the second software component with a list of known signers;
• comparing a presence or an absence of code sequences of the second software component;
• comparing a similarity or dissimilarity of the second software component with known good or bad software components;
• and
• comparing a calculated hash value of the second software component with a trusted authentication hash value.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising a plurality of instructions configured to execute on at least one computer processor to cause the at least one computer processor to:

• determine, by a first application executing on a client device, a need to perform a sharable functional task;
• identify a first software component installed on the client device and capable of performing a first variation of the sharable functional task;
• identify a second software component installed on the client device and capable of performing a second variation of the sharable functional task, wherein the second variation of the sharable functional task is functionally overlapping with and not identical to the first variation;
• identify a set of characteristics of both the first software component and the second software component;
• select the second software component for performing the sharable functional task based on the set of characteristics, wherein the set of characteristics includes a location of execution of the second software component within a plurality of application containers executing on the client device;
• delegate, by the at least one computer processor, performance of the sharable functional task to the second software component;
• and
• wherein the plurality of instructions are configured to execute on the at least one computer processor to cause the at least one computer processor to authenticate the second software component.