The nOS project was unveiled by Dean van Dugteren at the NEO loves Amsterdam conference held at the DeLaMar Theatre on April 14th, 2018. nOS is a virtual operating system for NEO that will run on mobile and desktop, and functions like a browser and app store. nOS aims to encourage consumer level adoption of NEO dApps by providing a safer and easier way to use applications.

Upon installing the nOS client, users will be able to log into nOS with their encrypted WIF or hardware wallet. The user dashboard will feature a dApp browser, NEP-5 token wallet and profile / KYC settings. Users will be able to run dApps 100% client side in an isolated environment, as well as automatically log in using their nOS profile and wallet information.

One key inconvenience of using blockchain applications is the need to buy and trade different tokens to interact with different dApps. To address this, nOS is implementing an automatic GAS to NEP-5 conversion function, and will be using GAS to interact with all applications. When performing an action that requires a NEP-5 token transfer, nOS will provide a ‘Buy and Run’ prompt that will allow the user to purchase the tokens at market price with GAS and proceed with the smart contract invocation. This prevents end-users from having to buy and trade multiple different tokens to navigate the ecosystem.

From a development point of view, nOS is introducing a Javascript library that will enable developers to build their applications with familiar frameworks such as React or Vue.js. Transaction and invocation requests can be sent to the NEO blockchain through simple Javascript functions. Smart contract code can be programmed in any of the general purpose languages supported by NEO.

To further simplify development, dApps will also be able to utilize the nOS Universal Smart Contract (USC). The USC will be hosted on the NEO blockchain and contain behaviors such as authentication, storage management and NEP-5 token behaviors. The nOS USC aims to simplify the development process and reduce spending on smart contract deployments, lowering the barrier to entry for smaller scale dApps to join the NEO ecosystem.

nOS will have a utility token with various functions. Developers will be able to stake nOS tokens to reserve a .neo domain name and access bandwidth on the nOS Decentralized File System. End users will be able to stake nOS tokens for voting rights on dApps that they like, helping the dApps to gain visibility and trust, as well as being rewarded for voting truthfully. dApps will also be rewarded based on voting, creating the possibility for high quality applications with no income stream to generate revenue.

The nOS developer client is available on the nOS GitHub.

The core nOS team is comprised of City of Zion developers: Dean van Dugteren, founder of Click.DJ and VDT Network, Jason Perry, creator of NEO Ruby, and Matt Huggins, the maintainer of the Neon Wallet.

For more information you can visit the nOS website, GitHub, Twitter, Discord and Reddit.

 

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