Norwegian company has developed an Operating System for the web browser offering crypto currency trading without a mediator FriendUP Follow Feb 13, 2018 · 4 min read

This article originally appeared on ITavisen

Friend software specialises in their OS in the cloud and feel they can replace a traditional operating system for many use cases. We have spoken with Hogne Titlestad founder and CTA (Chief Technology Architect) to find out what it really is and what it can do. Their plans are big.

ITavisen: How does it work?

Hogne Titlestad: Friend Unifying Platform is an operating system designed for the cloud.

It is a result of a well thought out business and technology idea that started ten years ago with servers and thin clients, from the operating systems and programming languages’ golden age.

The idea behind Friend is that the Internet should have its own OS. This system should not be “owned” by anyone (such as Linux), must be user-friendly (such as Chrome OS and Windows) and focus on data security and decentralized technologies. In addition, the system should allow users to make use of both Windows applications and modern web applications.

All an end user needs is a PC or Laptop (or any device such as a smart phone, tablet, etc.) that can open web pages.

By visiting a Friend website (an access point), the entire system’s user interface is downloaded from the web in seconds, and the user accesses their applications, their storage and their services.

No installation is needed. Web technologies are enough to run Friend right in the browser.

ITavisen: It reminds us a little of Google’s OS?

Hogne Titlestad: Chrome OS may be the easiest system to compare to Friend. The system is used on Chromebooks, affordable notebooks that today spread among schoolchildren, students and employees. Chrome OS is based on Chrome technology, derived from the world’s most widely used browser.

In Friend we use a similar technology — but we have written the software so that the system can work either on a PC or in the cloud of modern network-based distributed networks (similar to how Bittorrent currently works).

Video conferencing:

The “Friend Chat” app is our own Peer to Peer Video conferencing product, it is integrated into Friend and offers interaction at an unprecedented level. Being peer to peer, inviting someone into the video conference is a simple matter of sending a tiny URL via Email or social media, and just one click has the recipient in the middle of the conference — No Registration, No login and No password.

Also uniquely, Friend Chat allows for programs. Apps and games (as examples) to be ‘drag and dropped’ into the Video Conference, where all participants can work (and be seen working) on it together. This is extremely useful for long distance collaboration . Friend Chat is already being used in commercial situations and is also popular in academia.

Friend Chat

ITavisen: — How do you see yourself growing?

Hogne Titlestad: — In the coming years, the big companies (Microsoft, Google, Amazon etc.) will build powerful data centres that will offer cloud services and infrastructure. PCs and smartphones will only reflect the features of these data centers, which will be rented through warehouses like Elkjøp, Lefdal and various online stores.

In this context, Friend becomes more important. Our Friend system allows the user access without entering into a contractual relationship with a company — just like the Internet itself.

It allows the user to organise their own data, install their own software and make use of optional services. Thus, the user’s cloud machine is safely accessible for use anywhere in the world, but without the individual being locked to a commercial company. As such, we strongly believe we will become very popular and will grow a massive user base. This is our ethos and plan.

A shop without intermediaries:

Our Roadmap includes the “Friend Store”, which can be compared to Google and Apple’s digital marketplaces although we intend to charge much lower commission fees, as a means to support the developers and businesses that utilise the Friend Network.

Here companies can trade their products and services not only using Cash, Credit/Debit cards and Paypal, but also in digital currency (Tokens) without intermediaries, in a direct relationship with their customers. This is possible because we will use the trusted Ethereum platform, with our own “token”, Friend Network Token (FNT)” giving us the unique position of allowing the whole Commercial world and the Blockchain paradigm to trade products and or services using all available payment methods.

The Friend platform is, as Titlestad points out, open source.

“It opens up for developers around the world an easy and zero cost way, to collaborate on further development. This means that over the next few years, Friend will play an important role — as Linux does today — but enabling and encouraging new architecture to be designed to work independently from PC or smart phone type devices. Friend was initially released as version 1.0 last July. Version 1.1 was launched a few weeks ago, and is currently maintained at Github, one of the world’s largest open source websites.”

Friend today invites developers and data specialists from all over the world to participate in the project.

Find out more about Friend at our website and in our Telegram community.