title: What does 'soft-state' in BASE mean?
body: <p>BASE stands for 'Basically Available, Soft state, Eventually consistent'</p>
  
  <p>So, I've come this far: "Basically Available: the system is available, but not necessarily all items in it at any given point in time" and "Eventually Consistent: after a certain time all nodes are consistent, but at any given time this might not be the case" (please correct me if I'm wrong).</p>
  
  <p>But, what is meant exactly by 'Soft State'? I haven't been able to find any decent explanations on the internet yet.</p>