Yesterday, the Layer 1 blockchain and ecosystem Near announced the launch of alpha.near.org, a composable frontend solution for Web3. The system developers intended to make their product a "blockchain operating system."
"It will allow end users to easily and frictionlessly discover all of Web3’s possibilities in one seamless experience. It will also empower developers to create and code interfaces in a single environment with the ability to fork a host of components to build apps faster, and more efficiently than ever before," Near's team explained on the official website.
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In other words, the new system can streamline the work with different blockchains as well as Web2 backend applications from one app. At the same time, the system will support developers in creating user interfaces with numerous built-in components such as profiles, payments, and notifications.
“The iOS provides developers a place to show their app in front of billions of users, and it gives them all the services and the infrastructure underneath to build, so you kind of just plug in here. That’s what we’re trying to do, trying to kind of give the distribution here, give the platform underneath and let developers build,” the protocol co-founder Illia Polosukhin explained the concept behind the Near operating system in the interview with Cointelegraph.
Since the initial plans to create the Near protocol were drawn up in 2018, its team has aimed to "make Near the entry point for the Open Web, for users and developers alike. And it will make both Web3 and Web2 easier than ever to access and navigate."
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The first step was the launch of the Near mainnet in April 2020, when Near's developers were focused particularly on the usability and simplicity of their L1 blockchain for building DApps.
Near is also known for its Simple Nightshade protocol based on sharding technology, which has efficiently increased the scalability of the blockchain. To reduce confirmation time and keep gas fees low, Near's blocks are broken into smaller chains or shards and distributed among validators.
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Another popular blockchain that uses sharding is Polkadot, a PoS network that allows its smart contracts to run independently of the main chain on the so-called parachains, each secured by its own token. Meanwhile, Ethereum developers hope to introduce their own version of sharding called “proto-danksharding” somewhere in fall 2023. Initially, the upgrade was planned for March, but was delayed to prioritize staked ETH withdrawals.
