The previous document discussed the core innovation of OnexOS: an OS without apps, but instead featuring links between animated objects.

Here we outline two major additional innovations of OnexOS: its networking and programming, otherwise known as meshing and mashing!

The second innovation towards our smartwatch sovereignty is OnexOS' network: to own our own comms, we need end-to-end encryption (e2ee) and for our devices to talk directly to each other instead of via a big corporation that may compromise our privacy or shut us down at any time.

OnexOS provides a radio network called a "mesh", which is a type of "peer-to-peer" network that sets up communication channels directly between our devices when physically close to one another. These local mesh networks can then be extended over the internet and will continue to operate peer-to-peer, all over the planet.

Now our links to our objects can jump outside of the watch: I can have a list containing a note I wrote, and a todo plucked right from a todo list on your device, sent over the mesh net, plus a calendar event from another peer on the internet. A chat group can be set up as a list of (links to) message objects, that everyone can view and contribute to over the network. A chat group is just a live list object of message objects that a group of permitted people can add messages to, and everyone gets alerts when there's a change. If I change the time on a calendar event that you are linking to in your home list, you'll see that change immediately. If I was crazy enough to navigate in to view (or even grab a link to) the clock or watch object on your device, I'd see it live on my own screen with its updates sent by the shortest route to me over the network.

Emphasising the absolute sovereignty we have over our own data, each message is still owned by its author and hosted on their own device. To see the messages in a chat group, your OnexOS simply fetches all the listed messages from their host devices on the network.

We can build a global fabric of our data sewn together by links. And no-one can see or stop us doing that; we alone decide who can see or change our data.

The third and final innovation of OnexOS is empowering us to write the rules ourselves that guide the behavour our objects: how they interact with one another and with us.

At some point, wanting to be empowered over our own technology has to reach even into writing our own "application" functionality. We may want a custom watchface, or a party organiser with dates, todos and some costings. We may want to extend the todo list to add assignees, with do-by dates. We can't be dependent on Big Tech or techies to do it, because they often don't respect our need for sovereignty over our own data, and usually have different ideas about what's important.

Most people can use basic spreadsheet functionality, so OnexOS provides a way to add new functionality with a similar system. You can add behaviours to different types of object with rules.

A rule simply describes how an object's properties depend on the properties of other linked objects. This works in a similar way to how the value of a spreadsheet's cell can depend on the value of another cell.

Rules are, of course, objects too, so you link from the object to be animated to its rule list. And you can share links to rule lists with others in the same way as any other object.

The OnexOS rule system allows us to get the functionality and behaviours we want without waiting for techies to build them. It restores back to us full control over the behaviour of our objects, our own data.

So, with these innovations in smartwatch operating systems, we can regain full control and sovereignty over our devices, our data, our networks and the functionality that animates it all.

No apps, just all of our own live objects, linked together how we like, even directly between our devices, in a single global fabric, animated by our own rules.

The vision of the OnexOS proof-of-concept is of a world without apps, app-traps and walled gardens. Freedom from Big Tech and empowerment over our own tech.

Go here for a list of many more broader and deeper articles and presentations.

Duncan Cragg, 2023. Contact me