Right, some of you have the attention span of a goldfish, and probably grew up on Snapchat or Twitter…
So I’m going to explain the Object Network and its operating system, OnexOS, with a simple example in a few short paragraphs and bullet points!
Example
You have two apps:
A calendar app
A to-do app
They are made by two different companies.
Problem: these apps trap your data (and you!)
You have your events in one app, your to-dos in the other.
Each type of data is trapped by its mediating or dominating app
You can only see events by running up the calendar app, to-dos by the to-do app
You’re constantly juggling and flipping between the apps
Nothing works between to-dos and calendars even though they’re related
Or if something does, then not consistently or seamlessly
The to-do app may have a proprietary custom file format that’s opaque to you
And prevents migration of all your life's jobs to other to-do apps
These apps come between us and our events and to-dos. It’s an “app trap”!
So let’s just bin the apps and free our data!
Solution: an OS with no apps!
In an OS without such apps, all of your events and to-dos can now be free. With no apps to show, such an OS can simply render a space full of these items.
This can be a 2D space, or even a 3D virtual world:
A world made up of spaces that you build to suit yourself
Into which you can pin your jobs lists and calendars
You even can pin a to-do from your planner onto an event in your calendar
There’s only one event type, one to-do type, one list type that work everywhere
You can even make a list of three to-dos, two events, and an entire calendar
Here’s a picture of all that:
The Freedom Space OS
OnexOS is an OS with no apps
The Object Network is the 3D and 2D virtual world it manifests
And a couple more simple definitions:
Events, to-dos and lists of them are called objects
Your objects are sewn and pinned together, and held in lists, by links
That’s basically it. The Object Network virtual world that we visit through OnexOS is a space where all of our little data objects are linked together.
If you would like to know more, I have an article that primarily elaborates on that basic vision: “Mashing it all up”.
Part 2: Blob and Big Tech solved
Now, of course, this app-trap problem and its nice freedom space solution are probably not enough to make you give up your Android or Windows OS just yet.
But there are two more big problems that such an “OS with no apps” immediately solves - the Blob and the Big Tech problems.
These are covered in Part 2.
I’m building OnexOS right now, and would love to have your feedback on anything you think I should prioritise, or any ideas you have about how this would all fit together on the screen. Drop your thoughts into the comments below!