In 2013-2014 we worked with UK-based studio on a concept of decentralized operating system.
While the concept wasn't yet publicly announced, we write few papers and discussed the project in detail. We even created graphics style of the future project.
At the same time I received new high quality microphone (Zoom H4n) and decided to do some test recordings. The operating system concept was nice paper that could be read!
Bit OS is an open source, Linux based project which aims to integrate blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies to make them accessible to users of all technical abilities. It will provide a secure environment, an approachable interface, and a collection of precompiled software packages available from its repositories.
While we believe that cryptoeconomics and decentralized autonomous organizations will be essential to humanity's future, it is currently hard for interested parties to know where to start. Even creating a bitcoin wallet can be a confusing experience—one must evaluate many options based upon their technical features. Once a decision has been made, the user must complete a complex registration process or generate and store the cryptographic keys. This is all while being mindful of online security measures.
To start mining cryptocurrencies or to become a node in other types of decentralized networks is also a non-trivial process. Bit OS facilitates the growth of these networks by providing users with an out of the box solution for participation in the networks. This also provides an incentive for users to adopt the operating system, because mining is generic process of the system and one is able to generate income simply by specifying that idle computing resources be dedicated to mining activities.
Moving a step beyond the traditional open source development model, Bit OS is organized as a DAO and built entirely with free software. This is both a reflection of trust in the technologies promoted by Bit OS and also an experiment to demonstrate the feasibility of DAOs. The project will be fueled by community initiative and free of influence by centralized organizations, whether for profit or not.
In addition to cryptocurrency tools, Bit OS will also provide solutions for secure and anonymous communication and file sharing. This will be achieved via the Bit OS peering network which will offer the benefits of TOR/FreeNet/I2P, while operating at greater speeds and without centralized nodes. Allowing users to easily opt-in to such networks for file sharing and decentralized computing will facilitate the growth of distributed networks and other innovative possibilities of web 3.0.
Bit OS strives to leverage and make accessible the full range of economic and political technologies offered by development of cryptography. This includes cold storage for cryptocurrency assets, blockchain based voting, smart contracts, digital identification, and other applications that haven't been imagined yet.
The primary goal of Bit OS is to accelerate the adoption of web 3.0 technologies by providing a universal platform for their use and creation. By bridging the technical gap between those developing these technologies and those who might benefit from their use, it will make it simple for new users to get online with these exciting new tools.
Next generation of the internet requires a next generation operating system, which not only embraces the underlying technologies but also embraces the underlying principles of consensus and cooperation. It should be free of corporate influence and developed in a truly democratic fashion. Free software and decentralized organization are natural companions, and their marriage is the vision of Bit OS.
By connecting members of the community in novel ways, we are aiming to create an ecosystem of developers, end users, and software tools that grows with and drives innovation of the Web 3.0 space. The connective tissues of this construct are blockchain based identity systems and peer-to-peer networks. Distributed storage and computing solutions provide the possibility of a future where our codebase can be hosted publicly and independently of a central repository provider, and binary software packages can be compiled in a decentralized machine which provides a verifiable record of their contents.
Using open-source software currently requires a great amount of trust. Granted, closed-source software arguably demands an even greater amount of trust. We hope that by integrating the open-source development process with tools that create immutable public records, we can create a new kind of operating system that reduces the need to trust centralized organizations and unknown developers.
The third generation internet is upon us. Distributed ledgers are already shaking the foundations of the financial industry, and decentralization is promising to change everything that we know about money and markets. A fundamental shift is occurring, whereby individuals can gain control over their identity and the value that they create.
We are eager to provide users with the best tools to fully leverage the advantages of Web 3.0, while creating an environment where those tools will be demonstrated in action. Bit OS will be a community of individuals with cryptographically verified identities who are able to make their voice heard via secure and transparent online voting while benefiting economically from participation in cryptocurrency mining pools.
With a solid foundation for experimentation, we hope that the Bit OS community will produce novel applications of these technologies and more. Our vision includes integration with the internet of things and the cultivation of large public datasets for training the next generation of AI algorithms. Of course, the most exciting possibilities haven't even been imagined yet.
Bit OS will be an operating system created by the people and for the people, bridging the gap between non-technical users and developers. User experience will be a top priority, from installation onward. A community is built of users, and we want to be sure that users are able to get on board without stress.
Primary features of the system are built in security, peer-to-peer abilities, and a beautiful, functional interface. Security features include user friendly firewall, encryption, system protection and cold storage wallets for cryptocurrency. Working with sensitive data requires the necessary care to ensure security. Keeping secrets safe is second nature to Bit OS.
Peer-to-peer components are provided in the form of software packages from the distribution's repositories or compiled from source. As in other popular Linux systems, an easy to use package manager will be a core tool. The entire library of Debian packages will serve as a base for layering specialized software on top of.
Getting started as a node or miner in a decentralized network will be simple with Bit OS. Furthermore, participating in distributed cloud computing, storage, communication, and file sharing will all be as easy as installing a package.
Another core feature of the ecosystem is the creation of a new digital token backed by the computing power of the Bit OS network. The tokens will be awarded to operating system users, and used to pay out bounties for development milestones and bug reports. Users may choose to use additional tokens to reward developers for achieving certain goals, to support growth within the ecosystem, or exchange them for another digital or material asset.
Mining of the Bit OS token will be easily configurable for users. They may also choose to mine a cryptocurrency of their choice or let the system automatically choose the most profitable distribution of their available processing and storage resources. While dividends from individual contributions may be limited, we plan to facilitate the reinvestment of these earnings into additional hardware to increase profit of the community.
Organizing this community around decentralization will present challenges and roadblocks, to be sure. However, we believe that the power of emerging tools to create publicly verifiable consensus will provide a catalyst for distributed decision making, and ultimately, distributed intelligence. Join us on this journey and make Bit OS the next generation operating system that you've imagined.
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BIT OS TM
http://bitos.io
[email protected]
While thinking of concept and forming it, other project appeared on the market:
However we decided to continue the project. We improved it a lot, but the project is still on hold and I'm not sure if the UK team would like to continue (I still think that it's great idea even with all those competitors).
In this series I plan to publish different materials we created during our concept forming. I plan to publish other concepts of BIT-OS if readers think it's useful.
If you like the idea of BIT OS, please comment and let's improve the idea. Maybe we could grow a team and try to do some test implementations. I will create separate repo in this case! You can contact me on telegram: https://t.me/fakesnowden
Also, if you don't believe that this concept is interesting but you like the recording or track audio, you can comment on that and I might do some other work of this type.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this small demo.
Den
