A Window to Web 2.0
In the days of arguably bloated operating systems and terabyte hard drives, how about an OS that fits in your browser cache? That's the promise that's made and varyingly kept by a host of OSes that run entirely in your browser window.
The potential benefits of an online-only operating system are obvious. Forget remote access, the promise is of an entirely online desktop, whether you own a desktop or not. In theory, anywhere in the world that you're able to get a reliable internet and reasonably fat internet connection, you have access to your desktop. Not a browser window showing files on your home computer but your own, password protected and always available desktop.
At least, that's the idea.
With the current proliferation of online OSes floating around, it stands to reason that only the strong shall survive.
In other words, if you pitch your tent in a losing online OS's field, you stand to lose your data along with it. Also bear in mind that you'll be entrusting your data to a third party, likely outside of Canada and therefore not subject to Canadian laws.
As it stands, online operating systems are a neat novelty to play around with and can prove a useful utility for some users but a core desktop system where business is conducted, sensitive information stored and as a system that replaces your desktop or laptop's operating system? Not quite yet.
Some online operating systems prove a boon for managing online collaboration and serve as the ultimate gateway homepage.
While it's true some of these web-based operating system aren't quite ready for the big leagues just yet. That said, these are powerful online tools; whether ensuring you have access to important documents anywhere, keeping your data in-sync no matter where you access it and keeping your most important information available anywhere.
Goowyhttp://www.goowy.com/ What's available: Email, calendar, IM, games and Widget- / Gadget-like "Webits" and moreClosest to: The bastard child of Windows Vista and Mac OSXSwitch? Not yet but it's got some potentialSpeed: Very goodPlatforms tested and working: Firefox 2.0.0.7, Internet Explorer 7.0.5370.11Requirements: Adobe FlashSpace: 1GB up to 5GBCost: Free (1GB) or $4.99/mo. (5GB)
At first glance, it looks like Goowy's got it all; clever name? Check, Goowy is a play on Graphical User Interface or GUI. Email? Check, complete with beta calendaring option that looks remarkably like a scaled down Outlook Express. Games? Those too. Instant messaging? It's in beta but present and accounted for. Word processor... wait, no. That's mysteriously missing. There is no document management system at all. Users are offered 1GB of free online storage for documents or whatever other files don't violate the terms of service (TOS), which seems to be most.
Storing files on Goowy is a simple affair, functioning much like the attach button on an online email service. In an attempt to keep users honest, the file upload window informs of a 10MB upload limit for a single file. An Actions toolbar allows for the batch uploading of numerous files; just hold down CTRL as you would when selecting multiple files within your desktop OS.
In an attempt to get users to switch over full-time, at least for things like checking web-based email, Goowy offers an incredibly simple and effective utility for integrating an existing email account with your Goowy desktop. Selecting Gmail, for example, will populate Gmail specific port and security settings leaving you to fill out the name, email address, password and a few other simple fields.
Goowy is entirely Flash based, which is both a good and a bad thing. While it limits the end-user customizability and in this case, eliminates the possibility of right-clicking (potentially a hard habit for some OS users to break), it allows for a flashier interface and some fancy graphic icing. Take, for example the decidedly (and decidedly cheeky) Windows Vista-looking default desktop wallpaper and the decidedly Mac OSX-inspired task bar across the bottom of the interface, complete with icons that jump and bounce when clicked.
DeskTopTwohttp://www.desktoptwo.com/ What's available: Web site editor, notepad, IM, MP3 player, blog, email, calendar, address book and moreClosest to: Windows NT, interface wiseSwitch? There's a strong argument to be madeSpeed: Very goodPlatforms tested and working: Firefox 2.0.0.7, Internet Explorer 7.0.5370.11Requirements: Java, Adobe Flash and AcrobatSpace: 1GB free up to 50GBCost: Free, US$25, US$45, US$95 and US$185 for 1GB, 5GB, 10GB, 25GB and 50GB of storage
DeskTopTwo is pretty serious; so serious, in fact, that they've got a premium offering up for $185/yr. There is, of course, a free version of the web GUI desktop available for those looking to experiment.
It's laid out logically and immediately brings to mind a cross between Windows XP and Vista and Ubuntu.
An advertising bar sits at the top centre of the screen and is at about 30 per cent transparency until you mouse over it, at which points the ads become clear. It's a creative solution to the ad-supported model and, assuming you're running DeskTopTwo in full-screen or as a full-screen browser window, it doesn't get in the way of the icons on the desktop. It's called "Deals and Steals" and actually does highlight some interesting, often web-only deals.
On the desktop and in what looks a lot like Window's Start menu are a calendar application, RSS reader, message boards, instant messenger, MP3 player, web site editor and several other varyingly useful apps including a "Hard Drive" which functions as a file upload / download utility. There doesn't seem to be an upload cap (we were able to upload a chunk of the Ubuntu 7.04 disc image file before tiring of the slow upload speed.
The inclusion of a full OpenOffice 2.0 suite makes this a compelling offering. However, the load time is bit much; understandably so, perhaps. However, the OpenOffice 2.0 components do seem a bit buggy and sometimes crash as soon as they finish loading. That said, the Sapotek team admits it's still working out a few issues... just in case the word "beta," prominent in the bottom right corner of the interface didn't tip users off.
DeskTopTwo feels a lot more like a cohesive desktop experience than some other offerings we've tried; things like the ability to move icons on the desktop, the ability to save files direct to your online "hard drive" from the various desktop applications and, once the initial and somewhat slow initial load is done, near offline desktop performance.
eyeOShttp://www.eyeos.org/ What's available: File manager, word processor, music player, calendar, notepad, contacts manager, file sharer, group manager, group boardClosest to: UbuntuSwitch? Maybe not switch but definitely useSpeed: Reasonable with public servers, great with eyeOS server and a decent connectionPlatforms tested and working: Firefox 2.0.0.7, Internet Explorer 7.0.5370.11Requirements: Adobe FlashSpace: UnspecifiedCost: Donation driven, GNU Public License (v.3)
Anyone familiar with navigating in graphic user interface Linux operating systems will feel right at home with eyeOS; not only does it carry over the community-driven design and open source software idea, it also brings a lot of the same navigation principals that are found in Linux installs.
At the time of testing, the load times were painfully slow when using the hosted system. However, during other periods, the online OS was snappy and responsive, bringing up requested programs with just a few seconds loading time.
On the clean and uncluttered desktop sit "home" and "trash" folders; the former is used for storing, sharing, downloading and otherwise working with saved files like documents, videos and music, each of which have their own dedicated folders within the larger whole.
Uploading files is a simple affair; from the home folder, users choose the eyeOS folder they wish to upload to, navigate to the file and hit upload. One major issue here is the lack of a progress bar; while there doesn't seem to be a cap on the size of files to be uploaded, you're never quite sure whether the file you're trying to send up is actually moving or not; it's not a big deal with the near instant uploads of smaller files (tested with a 198KB JPG file) but it certainly is with larger files (tested using the 697MB Ubuntu 7.04 disc image file, ubuntu-7.04-desktop-i386.iso).
When opening folders within eyeOS, a taskbar appears below the desktop for easily switching between applications or folders. At the top of the desktop sits a launcher, broken down in to Office, Network, Accessories, Games, System and Places folders. Within these categories, you'll find a simple word processor (eyeDocs), a calendar (eyeCalendar), simple chess game, RSS reader, group message board and even a Windows-esque task manager to kill non-responsive programs.
Development seems to have slowed somewhat but if the open source community devotes some attention to eyeOS, it's got a lot of potential. The inclusion of a free server-based eyeOS that users can easily install on a server and open up to internal collaboration and workflow management makes eyeOS a compelling, scalable and configurable option.
Glidehttp://www.glidedigital.com/ What's available: Contacts, email, calendar, photo editing, word processing, presentations, web publishing, music, video and moreClosest to: Palm OS, strangelySwitch? Switch? no. Augment? sure.Speed: QuickPlatforms tested and working: Firefox 2.0.0.7, Internet Explorer 7.0.5370.11Requirements: Adobe FlashSpace: 2GB, 10GB+Cost: 2GB and 4 users, free, 10GB and 24 users, US$4.95/mo., US$49.95/year
When you first make it in to the Glide interface, you may be struck with just how much it looks like a Palm, BlackBerry or Windows Mobile operating environment; big icons in the middle of the screen that serve as application launchers and headings.
Titles like Write for word processing, Crunch for number crunching, Present for creating presentations, an email inbox, contacts management, calendar and the like. Other apps such as chat, share and publish speak to the online group collaboration that is clearly Glide's raison d'etre. Applications like the word processor, presentation creator and web site publisher have email, chat and share tabs running down the left-hand side of the application window to facilitate online collaboration between groups in the same office or around the globe.
Across the top of the Glide desktop are mini-apps that open within the desktop environment as opposed to launching in a new window. The internet radio, weather and RSS feeds are the most interesting applets. There's also a functional calculator for doing quick equations.
Perhaps the biggest draw here is being able to access the same desktop applications, communications and collaboration whether at your desk or on the road; an impressive list of supported devices that can interact with a mobile version of the Glide OS allows users, ideally with a QWERTY keypad device though it's not technically necessary, to connect to their desktop remotely and interact with the content on it. It works like a charm and ensures always-available access to your content.
A downloadable application that's available in Mac, PC and Linux flavours allows for automatic or manual synchronization of files, minimizing version control headaches and ensuring that people with access to files are always seeing and editing the latest version.
YouOShttp://www.youos.com/ What's available: Chat, Flickr integration, Google Docs, photo editor, RSS reader, sticky notes, customizations and moreClosest to: AmigaSwitch? NoSpeed: FastPlatforms tested and working: Firefox 2.0.0.7, Internet Explorer 7.0.5370.11Requirements: JavaSpace: 250MBCost: None
YouOS seems a more entertainment-oriented online operating systems. There's a word processor present and accounted for but that's really about it from a productivity standpoint. Instead, there's a fully fleshed out chat module, Flickr integration (that, incidentally, starts off with photos from around the world tagged "puppies."
YouOS does an excellent job of incorporating other online applications like Google Docs and Spreadsheets for working with, managing and sharing word processing documents, spreadsheets and the latest addition to the Google Docs online app. Also included is an image editor called YouPhotoshop, essentially a window displaying Pixenate, an online photo editor. Within this application, users can take care of common photo editing tasks like resizing, cropping and rotating images along with buttons to level horizons in the frame, manage colours, brightness and contrast, auto-enhance images (with generally impressive results), sepia tone images and apply other image effects. Once finished editing, users can upload directly to Flickr or save to the desktop... the actual desktop, that is, not the online one.
Other applications that are of questionable worth productivity wise but that are invaluable when looking for some entertainment online include a link to every episode of South Park up to season 11 and a modified Super Mario World game, both of which run within the YouOS desktop environment.
SSOEgiffard.dynalias.net/ssoe What's available: Weather watch, audio player, web cam browser, XML parser, plain text editor and a little moreClosest to: A shinier WebTVSwitch? NoSpeed: SlowPlatforms tested and working (sort of): Firefox 2.0.0.7, Internet Explorer 7.0.5370.11Requirements: Adobe FlashSpace: NoneCost: None
Right from the get-go, presented with the option to launch either the "semi-stable" or the "unstable" versions, you'll know something's up. This is essentially a hobby project by Christopher Giffard and an impressive one at that. However, if users approach it as anything other than a hobbyist project that's worth a look from a pure interest standpoint, they stand to be disappointed. Using the unstable version allows users to get a glimpse of features that may come along in the future, including a GameMachine and a simple chess game. Good for a bit of novelty, it's more an alpha than a beta; interesting for its achievement but not in a truly usable state.
From a pure hobbyist standpoint though, it's interesting to poke around and see one man's vision of what an online OS could be. A quick word of advice though; when creating a system that is heavy on the graphic eye candy, back it up with some usable and useful applications. As a tech demo, it's worth a look. As a usable online operating system though, your time is better spent elsewhere.
In the days of arguably bloated operating systems and terabyte hard drives, how about an OS that fits in your browser cache? That's the promise that's made and varyingly kept by a host of OSes that run entirely in your browser window.
The potential benefits of an online-only operating system are obvious. Forget remote access, the promise is of an entirely online desktop, whether you own a desktop or not. In theory, anywhere in the world that you're able to get a reliable internet and reasonably fat internet connection, you have access to your desktop. Not a browser window showing files on your home computer but your own, password protected and always available desktop.
At least, that's the idea.
With the current proliferation of online OSes floating around, it stands to reason that only the strong shall survive.
In other words, if you pitch your tent in a losing online OS's field, you stand to lose your data along with it. Also bear in mind that you'll be entrusting your data to a third party, likely outside of Canada and therefore not subject to Canadian laws.
As it stands, online operating systems are a neat novelty to play around with and can prove a useful utility for some users but a core desktop system where business is conducted, sensitive information stored and as a system that replaces your desktop or laptop's operating system? Not quite yet.
Some online operating systems prove a boon for managing online collaboration and serve as the ultimate gateway homepage.
While it's true some of these web-based operating system aren't quite ready for the big leagues just yet. That said, these are powerful online tools; whether ensuring you have access to important documents anywhere, keeping your data in-sync no matter where you access it and keeping your most important information available anywhere.
Goowyhttp://www.goowy.com/ What's available: Email, calendar, IM, games and Widget- / Gadget-like "Webits" and moreClosest to: The bastard child of Windows Vista and Mac OSXSwitch? Not yet but it's got some potentialSpeed: Very goodPlatforms tested and working: Firefox 2.0.0.7, Internet Explorer 7.0.5370.11Requirements: Adobe FlashSpace: 1GB up to 5GBCost: Free (1GB) or $4.99/mo. (5GB)
At first glance, it looks like Goowy's got it all; clever name? Check, Goowy is a play on Graphical User Interface or GUI. Email? Check, complete with beta calendaring option that looks remarkably like a scaled down Outlook Express. Games? Those too. Instant messaging? It's in beta but present and accounted for. Word processor... wait, no. That's mysteriously missing. There is no document management system at all. Users are offered 1GB of free online storage for documents or whatever other files don't violate the terms of service (TOS), which seems to be most.
Storing files on Goowy is a simple affair, functioning much like the attach button on an online email service. In an attempt to keep users honest, the file upload window informs of a 10MB upload limit for a single file. An Actions toolbar allows for the batch uploading of numerous files; just hold down CTRL as you would when selecting multiple files within your desktop OS.
In an attempt to get users to switch over full-time, at least for things like checking web-based email, Goowy offers an incredibly simple and effective utility for integrating an existing email account with your Goowy desktop. Selecting Gmail, for example, will populate Gmail specific port and security settings leaving you to fill out the name, email address, password and a few other simple fields.
Goowy is entirely Flash based, which is both a good and a bad thing. While it limits the end-user customizability and in this case, eliminates the possibility of right-clicking (potentially a hard habit for some OS users to break), it allows for a flashier interface and some fancy graphic icing. Take, for example the decidedly (and decidedly cheeky) Windows Vista-looking default desktop wallpaper and the decidedly Mac OSX-inspired task bar across the bottom of the interface, complete with icons that jump and bounce when clicked.
DeskTopTwohttp://www.desktoptwo.com/ What's available: Web site editor, notepad, IM, MP3 player, blog, email, calendar, address book and moreClosest to: Windows NT, interface wiseSwitch? There's a strong argument to be madeSpeed: Very goodPlatforms tested and working: Firefox 2.0.0.7, Internet Explorer 7.0.5370.11Requirements: Java, Adobe Flash and AcrobatSpace: 1GB free up to 50GBCost: Free, US$25, US$45, US$95 and US$185 for 1GB, 5GB, 10GB, 25GB and 50GB of storage
DeskTopTwo is pretty serious; so serious, in fact, that they've got a premium offering up for $185/yr. There is, of course, a free version of the web GUI desktop available for those looking to experiment.
It's laid out logically and immediately brings to mind a cross between Windows XP and Vista and Ubuntu.
An advertising bar sits at the top centre of the screen and is at about 30 per cent transparency until you mouse over it, at which points the ads become clear. It's a creative solution to the ad-supported model and, assuming you're running DeskTopTwo in full-screen or as a full-screen browser window, it doesn't get in the way of the icons on the desktop. It's called "Deals and Steals" and actually does highlight some interesting, often web-only deals.
On the desktop and in what looks a lot like Window's Start menu are a calendar application, RSS reader, message boards, instant messenger, MP3 player, web site editor and several other varyingly useful apps including a "Hard Drive" which functions as a file upload / download utility. There doesn't seem to be an upload cap (we were able to upload a chunk of the Ubuntu 7.04 disc image file before tiring of the slow upload speed.
The inclusion of a full OpenOffice 2.0 suite makes this a compelling offering. However, the load time is bit much; understandably so, perhaps. However, the OpenOffice 2.0 components do seem a bit buggy and sometimes crash as soon as they finish loading. That said, the Sapotek team admits it's still working out a few issues... just in case the word "beta," prominent in the bottom right corner of the interface didn't tip users off.
DeskTopTwo feels a lot more like a cohesive desktop experience than some other offerings we've tried; things like the ability to move icons on the desktop, the ability to save files direct to your online "hard drive" from the various desktop applications and, once the initial and somewhat slow initial load is done, near offline desktop performance.
eyeOShttp://www.eyeos.org/ What's available: File manager, word processor, music player, calendar, notepad, contacts manager, file sharer, group manager, group boardClosest to: UbuntuSwitch? Maybe not switch but definitely useSpeed: Reasonable with public servers, great with eyeOS server and a decent connectionPlatforms tested and working: Firefox 2.0.0.7, Internet Explorer 7.0.5370.11Requirements: Adobe FlashSpace: UnspecifiedCost: Donation driven, GNU Public License (v.3)
Anyone familiar with navigating in graphic user interface Linux operating systems will feel right at home with eyeOS; not only does it carry over the community-driven design and open source software idea, it also brings a lot of the same navigation principals that are found in Linux installs.
At the time of testing, the load times were painfully slow when using the hosted system. However, during other periods, the online OS was snappy and responsive, bringing up requested programs with just a few seconds loading time.
On the clean and uncluttered desktop sit "home" and "trash" folders; the former is used for storing, sharing, downloading and otherwise working with saved files like documents, videos and music, each of which have their own dedicated folders within the larger whole.
Uploading files is a simple affair; from the home folder, users choose the eyeOS folder they wish to upload to, navigate to the file and hit upload. One major issue here is the lack of a progress bar; while there doesn't seem to be a cap on the size of files to be uploaded, you're never quite sure whether the file you're trying to send up is actually moving or not; it's not a big deal with the near instant uploads of smaller files (tested with a 198KB JPG file) but it certainly is with larger files (tested using the 697MB Ubuntu 7.04 disc image file, ubuntu-7.04-desktop-i386.iso).
When opening folders within eyeOS, a taskbar appears below the desktop for easily switching between applications or folders. At the top of the desktop sits a launcher, broken down in to Office, Network, Accessories, Games, System and Places folders. Within these categories, you'll find a simple word processor (eyeDocs), a calendar (eyeCalendar), simple chess game, RSS reader, group message board and even a Windows-esque task manager to kill non-responsive programs.
Development seems to have slowed somewhat but if the open source community devotes some attention to eyeOS, it's got a lot of potential. The inclusion of a free server-based eyeOS that users can easily install on a server and open up to internal collaboration and workflow management makes eyeOS a compelling, scalable and configurable option.
Glidehttp://www.glidedigital.com/ What's available: Contacts, email, calendar, photo editing, word processing, presentations, web publishing, music, video and moreClosest to: Palm OS, strangelySwitch? Switch? no. Augment? sure.Speed: QuickPlatforms tested and working: Firefox 2.0.0.7, Internet Explorer 7.0.5370.11Requirements: Adobe FlashSpace: 2GB, 10GB+Cost: 2GB and 4 users, free, 10GB and 24 users, US$4.95/mo., US$49.95/year
When you first make it in to the Glide interface, you may be struck with just how much it looks like a Palm, BlackBerry or Windows Mobile operating environment; big icons in the middle of the screen that serve as application launchers and headings.
Titles like Write for word processing, Crunch for number crunching, Present for creating presentations, an email inbox, contacts management, calendar and the like. Other apps such as chat, share and publish speak to the online group collaboration that is clearly Glide's raison d'etre. Applications like the word processor, presentation creator and web site publisher have email, chat and share tabs running down the left-hand side of the application window to facilitate online collaboration between groups in the same office or around the globe.
Across the top of the Glide desktop are mini-apps that open within the desktop environment as opposed to launching in a new window. The internet radio, weather and RSS feeds are the most interesting applets. There's also a functional calculator for doing quick equations.
Perhaps the biggest draw here is being able to access the same desktop applications, communications and collaboration whether at your desk or on the road; an impressive list of supported devices that can interact with a mobile version of the Glide OS allows users, ideally with a QWERTY keypad device though it's not technically necessary, to connect to their desktop remotely and interact with the content on it. It works like a charm and ensures always-available access to your content.
A downloadable application that's available in Mac, PC and Linux flavours allows for automatic or manual synchronization of files, minimizing version control headaches and ensuring that people with access to files are always seeing and editing the latest version.
YouOShttp://www.youos.com/ What's available: Chat, Flickr integration, Google Docs, photo editor, RSS reader, sticky notes, customizations and moreClosest to: AmigaSwitch? NoSpeed: FastPlatforms tested and working: Firefox 2.0.0.7, Internet Explorer 7.0.5370.11Requirements: JavaSpace: 250MBCost: None
YouOS seems a more entertainment-oriented online operating systems. There's a word processor present and accounted for but that's really about it from a productivity standpoint. Instead, there's a fully fleshed out chat module, Flickr integration (that, incidentally, starts off with photos from around the world tagged "puppies."
YouOS does an excellent job of incorporating other online applications like Google Docs and Spreadsheets for working with, managing and sharing word processing documents, spreadsheets and the latest addition to the Google Docs online app. Also included is an image editor called YouPhotoshop, essentially a window displaying Pixenate, an online photo editor. Within this application, users can take care of common photo editing tasks like resizing, cropping and rotating images along with buttons to level horizons in the frame, manage colours, brightness and contrast, auto-enhance images (with generally impressive results), sepia tone images and apply other image effects. Once finished editing, users can upload directly to Flickr or save to the desktop... the actual desktop, that is, not the online one.
Other applications that are of questionable worth productivity wise but that are invaluable when looking for some entertainment online include a link to every episode of South Park up to season 11 and a modified Super Mario World game, both of which run within the YouOS desktop environment.
SSOEgiffard.dynalias.net/ssoe What's available: Weather watch, audio player, web cam browser, XML parser, plain text editor and a little moreClosest to: A shinier WebTVSwitch? NoSpeed: SlowPlatforms tested and working (sort of): Firefox 2.0.0.7, Internet Explorer 7.0.5370.11Requirements: Adobe FlashSpace: NoneCost: None
Right from the get-go, presented with the option to launch either the "semi-stable" or the "unstable" versions, you'll know something's up. This is essentially a hobby project by Christopher Giffard and an impressive one at that. However, if users approach it as anything other than a hobbyist project that's worth a look from a pure interest standpoint, they stand to be disappointed. Using the unstable version allows users to get a glimpse of features that may come along in the future, including a GameMachine and a simple chess game. Good for a bit of novelty, it's more an alpha than a beta; interesting for its achievement but not in a truly usable state.
From a pure hobbyist standpoint though, it's interesting to poke around and see one man's vision of what an online OS could be. A quick word of advice though; when creating a system that is heavy on the graphic eye candy, back it up with some usable and useful applications. As a tech demo, it's worth a look. As a usable online operating system though, your time is better spent elsewhere.
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