Building a cloud-based visual operating system entirely based on XML

Leveraging the capabillities of the XIOS/3 and CloudBackend platforms

Daniel Arthursson

CEO
CloudBackend.com

Martin Nilsson

CTO
xios3.com

Abstract

Interoperability and extensibility are keywords for XML. Why are we not seeing the same for software applications, web applications, mobile apps, and operating systems in general? Why can’t I run an iPhone app om my Samsung TV? Why isn’t Mac applications possible to run on my Windows computer? If we had interoperability and extensibility in a similar way that XML provides for data for software, we would not have any of these problems. Software would run across all types of devices, screen form factors, and operating systems – across desktop, mobile, smart TVs, and the infotainment systems of cars.

This paper discusses how to use the XIOS/3 Edge Application Platform and the CloudBackend Singularity Database to create a new XML- and cloud-based operating system complete with productivity applications, software development tools, and a file system – including extensive support for XML. While CloudTop XML OS is still under development, this paper provides a snapshot of the current state of the implementation. It challenges the perception of what XML can be used for.


Table of Contents

Introduction
Finding a cure to the chaotic software landscape
What is CloudTop really?
Changing the perception of a computer
Verifying our assumptions
Looking through a few of the sample applications built
XMLPad - Data Manipulation and Transactions
Kanban - Hierarchical Data Model
Contacts - Key/values, Meta-data, and Datatypes
CloudTop - Combining Applications into a Desktop