Telegram recently delayed their open network, TON, and their cryptocurrency, GRAM, once again. There is one related project that has not experienced these setbacks, however. TON OS, an operating system for the TON blockchain, will soon get an open source release.
The project’s core infrastructure developers, TON Labs, are planning to open source the main components of the TON OS on GitHub tomorrow. Mitja Goroshevsky, CTO at TON Labs, confirmed the news to Cointelegraph on May 6.
TON Labs to issue a token known as TON Cash within a month
As reported by industry publication, ForkLog, the release includes TON Node in the Rust programming language, command line interface, TON Multisignature Wallet smart contract, as well as tools for launching TON validators. The report notes that within a month, TON Labs also plans to issue its decentralized browser, Surf, its staking pool, DePool, and the token known as TON Cash.
In conjunction with the TON OS open source release, TON Labs is joining the Free Software Foundation (FSF), a major free software movement. As such, all the components of the TON OS are being launched as a free software. According to the developers, the idea of a permissionless blockchain in a closed source is absurd. TON Labs reportedly felt that joining the FSF will help them maintain free use of the application as well as the TON blockchain.
TON Labs said:
“This means the freedom of the user to copy, distribute, learn, modify and improve the TON software, and most importantly, in the case of TON, this means absolute freedom of the network operation. This is not a question of how good the code is, but a human right to use it.”
What exactly is this TON OS?
Despite the “OS” in its name, TON OS is not a competitor to existing operating systems like iOS, Android, or Windows. Instead, the system is designed to serve as an operating system for the Telegram blockchain network, Goroshevsky said.
Basically, TON OS is intended to fill the missing gap in the limited interaction of users with blockchain, Goroshevsky explained. The exec elaborated:
“Vitalik Buterin has been referring to Ethereum as the “World computer.” If it’s a world computer, it must have a processor and resources and provide services to the user. But there is no operating system or operating environment to manage these resources on the blockchain today. So if we think of blockchain as a processor, and then we have a program executed by this processor and user who wants to interact with this program, and we have a stack of components which provides all those capabilities — we call it an operating system.”
As reported by Cointelegraph, TON OS is designed to enable blockchain application support. Additionally, the TON OS would also allow users to create applications that are automatically compatible with the blockchain platform. The system is designed to eventually support applications with various functions like transacting numerous assets, including cryptocurrencies.
As reported, the TON network can still be launched by independent TON validators regardless of Telegram’s ongoing legal dispute with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
