Several months have passed since I wrote my original review of 10 WebOS-type applications. Although Google hasn’t really made an (expected) move in this field yet, the topic still spurs a lot of interest, and many new applications have been launched. It’s time to review another 10 web operating systems.
Again, one must take into account that many, if not all, of these applications are in very early stages of development. Some promise to be real competition to desktop OS’s, while some don’t promise anything, standing out there as functional betas without even a word from the developers. Whatever your opinion on the WebOS phenomenon may be, keep in mind that the boundaries, categories and definitions for this article are set rather loosely. For the purpose of this article, just like the first one, a WebOS is defined as virtual operating system that runs in a web browser environement. Don’t like WebOS? Well, call it OnlineOS, or WebTop if you like.
So, here is a review of another 10 functional WebOS’, as well as some additional similar services which show promise but aren’t launched or fully realized yet.
DesktopOnDemand seems to be the most ambitious service on this list, which is why I was unpleasantly surprised with some very annoying login problems. Simply put, I was unable to login and it took some 10 tries to start the application at all. When it finally did start, it crashed immediately, and I had to restart.
All this is unfortunate, because DesktopOnDemand offers a lot. It is, simply put, Linux, in your web browser. Given the complexity of Linux as opposed to many other apps described here, I won’t go into details - just imagine one of those Live CD Linux distros inside a web browser window. Needless to say, the choice of applications is fantastic, and you can definitely use DOD to do real work, store data (you get 1 GB of storage), browse (anonymously) the Internet etc. The speed is not stellar but it’s bearable, and the stability and functionality is, well, pretty much the same of any light or Live CD Linux distro.
While DesktopOnDemand’s approach obviously offers much more than the competition, there are a couple of things we didn’t like. As opposed to most other services on this list, DOD requires you to download an install an application for it to operate (you can alternatively choose a Java-powered version of DOD which didn’t work for me). This means that it’s not something you can easily and quickly use from any computer, and in some ways it defeats the whole purpose of the concept of a WebOS. This said, I must say that DesktopOnDemand is impressive with some regards and is definitely one to keep an eye on in the future.
This cryptically named offering (Ghost is short for Global Hosted Operating SysTem) is Flash-based, and it has come a long way since the first time I’ve tried it out. GUI-wise it resembles Windows, but it goes farther than just mimicking its look and feel, offering for examples, animations and fade in/out transitions. The available applications are numerous and quite standard for a WebOS: RSS reader, web browser, notes, clock, search, e-mail reader and instant messenger are some examples. G.ho.st lacks an office suite, but, as G.ho.st’s lead developer Zvi Schreiber told me, “Unlike the other “Web OSs” G.ho.st actually works with leading Web applications like Google docs and Flickr instead of being limited to our own Apps!…” “...G.ho.st actually provides a single sign-in and single file system to add value to those other apps.”
Registered users receive 3GB of free storage, and quite extensive help and support on every step. Instead of files, G.ho.st introduces objects. Here’s a quote from G.ho.st’s website explaining the concept:
“…instead of “Files” we have the more general concept of “Objects” - an Object can be a file hosted at G.ho.st or at a third part like Flickr® or Google®. An Object can also be a Service (like an App or Widget) or a real world object like a person, book, credit card. An Object can be anything really! Also you can put an Icon for the Object in many different Folders, not only one.”
G.ho.st works pretty well, but it’s not without the occasional weird bug with windows minimizing for no reason, or some graphical elements being slightly askew. Furthermore, many important and expected elements are missing: trash can, some context menus, or entire menus or confirmation dialogs in some cases. It’s enough to put off many a user from becoming a regular, but it’s obvious that a lot of effort has been invested into G.ho.st, and with some polishing, it could become a great service.
Odesktop comes with the following definition: “Using Ajax and PHP, it (ODesktop) mimics window-like applications behaviour in your web browser but also is designed to run multiple web applications at a time.” Besides this, they also offer the ability to install ODesktop on your own web host.
The first problem I’ve encountered with trying out ODesktop is the fact that the demo is in a language I do not understand (I would guess Malaysian). This, as you can imagine, made my life as a reviewer harder, but the icons and the info on the web site was straightforward enough to give it a quick glance (when I was already done with the review I’ve found the quite hidden option to switch to English language, after which I’ve gone and rereviewed Odesktop again). The GUI is nice and clean; it’s not the faster I’ve seen, but it’s fast enough; and, what’s even better, it doesn’t eat a lot of CPU time. The applications available are a file manager, music player, photo album, instant messenger, email client, a bunch of games and a cross between an RSS reader and a web browser. Solid, but not too impressive. As far as customization goes, some options are present, for example changing the wallpaper, but the options end as soon as they begin.
ODekstop offers 10 GB of storage - in theory - but its nifty way of uploading files by just dragging and dropping them on a toolbar didn’t work for me every time, sometimes causing the entire demo to freeze. All this makes ODekstop one of those applications that look good, and promise a lot, but there’s a small letdown at every corner. Verdict: more polishing, more applications, then we can talk.
AjaxWindows tries really hard to replicate your desktop environment. Thus, when you start the service, you’ll be presented with a wizard that can synchronize your music, pictures, and documents folder, as well as wallpaper and some other details, with the AjaxWindows online experience.
Main AjaxWindows features, besides the synchronization, are secure connection, and 1GB of FREE storage for your files (plus more for MP3 files). There’s also a decent number of applications, most of which are web apps which come from the same company that built AjaxWindows - Ajax13. There’s also a number of widgets, which include RSS feeds, weather info and the like.
As far as performance goes the entire experience is a bit slow, and the main window opens in a separate window, which can be annoying, but overall, it’s quite usable - unless you open too many applications which can cause a serious system slowdown.
AjaxWindows is the newest application in this roundup, but already it has quite a few things going for it - lots of applications, solid stability, and the synchronization feature which the competitors don’t have. However, the slowness of the entire experience could be enough to chase away many users, and it’s something they have to work on.
MyLGD is short for My Little Green Desktop, and that’s just about all the info I’ve found about the service. It’s a flash-based virtual OS environment which, surprisingly, works quite well. The applications open quite slowly, but the GUI is very fast, and takes little to no CPU time.
There’s quite a few applications available, including some games, calculator, calendar, photo browser, file browser, and several others. Many of them work quite well, sometimes better than the apps in some other similar products which initially look more polished.
Overall, no one will want to actually use MyLGD just yet because of lack of polish, absence of help and the general feel of an alpha product, but as a proof of concept it works quite well and it would be a shame if it were not developed further.
Nivio is similar to DesktopOnDemand, only on a different platform. It’s a Windows desktop environment in your browser, and for some reason, I didn’t particularly like this idea. Having Windows running in a Java window was painfully slow, and although many users will appreciate the fact that they can readily use this without having to learn anything new, I’m not really convinced that Windows is the best way to go for a WebOS - I’d prefer something simpler and built from the grounds up for this purpose; some may, of course, disagree.
With Nivio, you get a virtual Windows XP box, 5 GB of space for your data, backup options, virus and spam protection (and since this is Windows, you’ll probably need them), and of course, a big variety of applications - since this is Windows, the possibilities are endless. Nivio also offers some commercial software, like the Microsoft Office Suite, which is not to be neglected and is a huge advantage over other service on this list.
Nivio definitely has some things going for it, but having the WebOS run in a Java window has repeatedly turned out to be a bad option. The long waits and the overall sluggishness of the service, didn’t really make me want to try all that Nivio has to offer.
Webtop would probably be a more appropriate monicker for Schmedley than a WebOS. It’s a widget launchpad, similar to Goowy, but less ambitious. However, by not complicating things too much Schmedley manages to be what many other similar services are not: fast and useful.
Open the Schmedley homepage, and you’ll be greeted by a number of widgets (called schmidgets in Schmedley, go figure). They’re all fully functional and they work very fast. On the bottom there’s a OS X-like dock from which you can launch your schmidgets, while a similar dock for a bit more advanced applications sits on top. Of course, signing up means that settings will be kept from session to session.
Available schmidgets include a notepad, calendar, RSS reader, Gmail reader, Amazon search, image display, stock display, weather display, Instant Messaging and several others.
We have experienced exactly zero problems with Schmedley, which is admirable. However, one cannot notice that it’s trailing Goowy by far in the amount of widgets-schmidgets it supports, since Goowy users can choose from Yourminis respectable widget base. Still, for a lightweight widget launchpad, it fares quite well.
Dekoh is a very different beast from the other services in this roundup, some of its aspects being the exact opposite of a WebOS. Detailed information is available at the official Dekoh Wiki, but in short, it’s a cross-OS desktop platform which enables you to share your media online. The key word is platform: with some regards, Dekoh compares better with Adobe’s Apollo than with the other WebOS-style services, as it lets you deploy Java, Ajax, or Flash apps across multiple operating systems.
Focusing on the user experience and not the technicalities, Dekoh can be described as a way to share media from your web browser, but all the media you upload resides on your hard drive.
What’s the point of it, then? Well, the idea behind Dekoh is sharing: organize your data, then share it with others. For example, after installing one of the available applications, Dekoh Photos, I was able to create my own photo collection and then share it with other Dekoh users. If you’ve ever used Hamachi to let people access your network over the Internet, think of Dekoh as a simple way to do it with your media.
The Desktop Portal, the central place from which you can manage your applications, looks more like a CMS than an OS - it enables you to install and manage your applications, as well as communicate with your buddies from the Dekoh network. The applications themselves are quite advanced, but I’ve had quite a few speed issues (music importing), and a couple of weird glitches, where I had to reopen a dialog several times to make something work.
After spending quite some time figuring what Dekoh can and cannot do, I must admit I’m not too sure what to make of it. The developers should definitely do a better job separating the user experience from information aimed at developers. Users want to start it up and start playing with the cool stuff: make it simple for them to do that. Also, the Dekoh Desktop Portal doesn’t really cut it as a central place to start your applications: the whole experience feels more like opening and closing a bunch of separate services than running a set of apps in a common environment. The applications themselves, while not very numerous, are good, but I don’t see myself using them until the whole package is a bit more polished.
Ironbox greeted me with quite an unnerving message. It apperently works well only in IE6, IE7 to some extent, and Firefox 1.5. Fortunately, I’ve tried it out with Firefox 2.0 and I didn’t bump into any problems.
Ironbox is described by the developer as “a front-end platform to help build and deploy Web applications. It is also a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that hosts Web applications in a desktop environment entirely contained within and run by a browser. This is the Ironbox desktop.” This means that Ironbox is quite close to the definition of a true WebOS: a platform that enables you to develop and build applications, and a GUI to deploy them.
As far as actual functionality goes, Ironbox won’t help you do any everyday tasks, as the number of applications is currently very limited. But, this doesn’t mean that Ironbox is not interesting. In fact, it offers quite a few interesting options. It’s skinnable; it’s taskbar is draggable and can be placed on top or either side of the screen. The applications can work across several windows (called boxes in Ironbox), which can be seen in action when you start the Fungrid app, and the boxes themselves can be automatically tiled or stacked from the toolbar menu.
We won’t recommend Ironbox to everyday users, but developers should take a good look at it, as the code to deploy applications in it seems quite simple and straightforward, and the functionality is quite advanced.
Finally, let’s take a look at how the devs of Ironbox define a WebOS, or WOS as they call it: “What we call a WOS consists of Ironbox paired with an advanced, app-aware Server Component. As we see it, a WOS will go beyond the traditional website concept to become a server-based platform, a virtual operating system of sorts, accessible through one or more domain names. In this scenario, the Server Component fulfills requests from Ironbox apps, accesses databases, stores apps for distribution, keeps track of accounts such as who has what rights to what apps and data, and serves customized versions of Ironbox itself. A WOS implementation can target a specific industry or set of applications, or it can be for general purpose. Anyone with the right skills can build a WOS, either for their own use or to offer as a platform for others to deploy.”
GCOE X is in a very early alpha stage of development, but something tells me that it might be an interesting product in the future. It doesn’t have any other way of launching applications or creating/deleting new files than the command line utility, and the applications themselves are scarce: there’s a web browser, MP3 player, IM chat, and that’s pretty much it.
However, everything works very fast and seems to be quite stable. Flash hell website like Mtv.com didn’t cause any problems in the browser. The impression I get is that GCOE X would work great if only there was anything to actually do with it. Hopefully, the developers will add some useful features in the future.
A couple more to keep an eye on in the future:
Xindesk was featured in the original WebOS review, and its lead developer, Mikael Bergkvist, was one of the most vocal supporters of the idea of a WebOS. Xindesk is not available as a beta yet, but I was allowed to have a quick peek into the alpha version, and I’ve also had a look at Challenger, another WebOS-type aplications that Xindesk has recently acquired, planning to merge the two services. At this point in time, there’s no point reviewing Xindesk as it will change significantly in the future after the merge, however from what I’ve seen Xindesk will definitely be a serious competitor in the WebOS space.
Exo - Currently consists out of some quite technical explanations and a couple of screenshots which admittedly look very promising. You can also see a video here.
OOS - no live demo yet, website says “soon”
Jooce - Currently in closed beta, haven’t been able to get an invite.
Xcerion - Also in closed beta. Seems to be an ambitious project, but I’ve seen nothing to confirm their ambitions yet.
Startforce - described as “Japan’s best WebOS”, promises 15 applications, has an open API.
Widgetop is by their own words, a Webtop, not a WebOS, merely bringing Apple Dashboard widgets to the web. The service is fully functional.
Go.PC - a commercial WebOS available - for some weird reason - only to residents of New Zealand and Australia. Go check the website, there’s a funny video there.
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Great reviews, Stan.
One thing you should mention is the recent “wars” eyeOS is fighting with both MyBooo and Orca, which have eyeOS code in them somewhere, but aren’t GPL’ed, like eyeOS.
There’s a post on R/WW’s front door about the eyeOS and MyBooo and a few links in is Richard’s ZDNet article on eyeOS and Orca.
Glad to see so many new companies trying this out
Excellent review! Thanks.
Don’t forget eyeOS (eyeos.org)! It’s one of the best and it’s open-source. It’s not beta, unstable or ugly. Due to its open-source nature, it will grow very fast and hopefully will grab a lot of attention from the Linux developers and users. After trying this user-friendly webOS, take a look at Orca (orcawebos.com). Orca seems to have some good ideas.
YouOS (youos.com) probably was the first OS which came to the web, but unfortunately it couldn’t gain any noticeable popularity, perhaps because of its nonuser-friendly GUI.
However, bare in mind, though this webtops and onlineOSs have advanced a lot, they can’t be a true alternative to any of the common desktop OSs like Linux or Mac OS. I love most of them and their innovative ideas, but I strongly recommend you to stick with your common operating systems. You can adopt Linux and you can use one of this olineOSs aside from it.
@Anyone mentioning EyeOS or YouOS, bear in mind that these were covered in the first roundup.
Nice job, as always. (^-^)b
I’d also recommend http://www.widgetplus.com, which is Xindesk ‘widget developer framework’, and a separate entity from the main show, which is Xindesk itself.
- It’s already ‘open for business’ though.
Thanks for reviewing G.ho.st (pronounced Ghost) the Global Hosted Operating SysTem.
It’s worth pointing out that as well as Items (which are sophisticated shortcuts to Web resources such as images, videos, documents hotsed by others - which you reference as Objects above) G.ho.st also provides a traditional file system with a free 3GB called G.ho.st Storage and you can upload entire folders from Windows directly to G.ho.st. There is already an mp3 player and MS Office file viewer for your files and lots more coming.
We are also rapidly eliminating the quirks you correctly pointed out. Also coming soon - G.ho.st e-mail and more…
We are very excited about the Web OS trend and wish the best of luck to all the other systems you mentioned too.
Zvi
I would like to add that at G.ho.st we always welcome feedbacks and suggestions for improvement. If you have any comments or suggestions, just drop it to our forums at http://g.ho.st/forums/
Thanks
Rami
Don’t forget Glide: http://www.glidedigital.com
Not bad, but also check out http://www.eyeos.com It’s similar, but a little more lightweight.
Have a look at the REBOL desktop. http://rebol.com
First time I learn about these new operating systems. Thank you very much for the posting. What will happen to Windows?
I’ll stick with my eyeOS
@everyone: thanks for the suggestions, although most were covered in part one of this roundup. Rebol is new though.
I visited oDesktop’s website and it looks like their webOS is not free. You have to buy it in order to use it. That’s something the article doesn’t mention and I think this puts oDesktop at the bottom of the list in comparison to other freeware webOSs
www.cmyos.com
You missed a good one that just came out! It is an open source online os called cmyOS (pronounced: cmoss). It takes after a clean apple like look and has the capability of playing songs, viewing pictures, watching movies, browsing the web, playing games, and writing documents accounts are free and so is storage. Applications can be built and integrated into the system as well.
cmyOS is hiring as well. So if you are interested in paid positions for building open source projects, view www.cmyos.com/info.html
Max: cmyOS looks like eyeOS (www.eyeos.org). Wasn’t cmyOS accused of violating opensource rules by eyeOS?
Which one of these is downloadable like EyeOs ?
Hello Conrad:
Yes, www.cmyos.com runs off the eyeos platform. I have changed the filenames and the images to customize it towards the cmy theme. The purpose of cmyos is to be the public eyeos. cmynetworks will customize the platform to fit the cmy theme, host accounts on cmyos servers for the public to use and operate off of, and help develop and pay to develop future applications and improvements of eyeos. That way people will have the benefit of using the eyeos platform without straining eyeos’ systems.
My goal is to help, and work with the open source community, not offend it.
Thank you,
Max Bailey.
www.cmyos.com
“G.ho.st works pretty well, but it’s not without the occasional weird bug with windows minimizing for no reason, or some graphical elements being slightly askew. Furthermore, many important and expected elements are missing: trash can, some context menus, or entire menus or confirmation dialogs in some cases.”
Not to be rude but who uses the trash can?? Are you a Power user or a user??? If you delete a file and you really need it shouldn’t it be backed up?
@Irish: many people use the trash can. This site is aimed to present information in a way understandable to most people, not only the 1337.
Wubunut –> http://wubuntu.weejewel.net/
Dear Stan,
Regarding Startforce - please try its english interface here:
http://www1.startforce.jp/?language=english
I guess it’s worth to try!
wouldn’t inferno ( http://www.vitanuova.com/inferno/index.html ) be some sort of web os? it can run as a browser plugin, run remote applications and share different services. And it is a really mature product (and a quality one, it comes from bell-labs after all…)
just my 2 cents
Truly a very valuable information. As most of the setups are in their startup stages, I hope this should help the business owners to improve their concepts.
This is nice but the main naming convention OS requires having these “OSs” offline as well as online and get them to handle the real OS function with hardware.Still these are excelent OSs:)
go.pc has been restricted to Australia and New Zealand in order to control the roll-out of this service. However, the system is set to be launched internationally within the next week or so. There will also be a simplified registration and login process. A new design website should also be launched sometime in July.
For those that haven’t yet tried go.pc - it offers the desktop functionality of the desktop you’re familiar with but offers the flexibility of an online environment - the big difference with go.pc is that it’s technology that works today!
Chris Sylvester
GOPC Operations Manager
http://www.gopc.com.au
Hey Chris that was a cheesy line, so basically you are charging people to to look into their data huh?? Well Becoming an other Google to play with data wont be that easy now. People are already sick of Google getting into their lives through their email and other revenue making business models of Google.
For heaven sake please let the Personal Computer remain ‘Personal’.
Actually, GoPC offers a free account - only those subscribers that require additional programs, features or greater online storage space need pay for the premium service. But I think you’ll find that even the free account is quite substantial in terms of the program offering.
As for go.pc looking into member’s data, we are bound by the same privacy laws that governs your ISP that provides email and data storage services.
I quite liked the cheesy line - we were thinking of using it as our new slogan - alternative suggestions are welcome though
(I’m sure I’ll regret saying that)
Quick update -
As of a few hours ago, GoPC went international so subscribers from anywhere in the world can now get access to a free GoPC account.
Please feel free to offer any feedback.
Thanks
Chris Sylvester
GoPC Operations Manager
http://www.gopc.net
NetAlter is developing a P2P enabled browser which will offer much much more than these Web OS’s. However, you cannot use Internet Explorer or Firefox to use their IOS or Internet Operating System. Instead, NetAlter is offering their own Browser which when installed on a PC/Laptop/Smart Device will connect with other computers where the same browser is installed and form its own network allowing users to not only share files and information but also create their own social network and sell or buy stuff through the network. The browser offers an integrated search engine that displays information as well as products and services that users can buy or subscribe to.
NetAlter plans to offer the Browser and basic services for free but charge for premium services such as Movie Downloads, Business Portals, Advertising, etc.
And best of all, NetAlter claims their IOS will be free from virus and hackers as it has a unique patent pending technology which will weed out these from entering the system in the first place…And even if a couple of virus creep in, NetAlter will be able to disable it centrally on each and every online computer where NetAlter is installed. No need to install Anti-Virus software.
All of this would be in the beta version. The final version of the Browser will offer users the benefit of joining a Grid and utilizing GRID computing power to execute complex applications that requires many hours of processing on a standalone such as highly graphic intensive applications. It plans to replace the Client server model with the Client GRID model where user requests will be handled not by one single server but by other peer computers forming a grid.
As of now the possibility of using GRID computer power in day to day application is hard to imagine. One such application could be multi keyword search. Major search engines already use this concept. The difference however is that this GRID is a cluster of servers located in their GRID centers. Whereas, the NetAlter GRID will be formed by utilization of idle resources of computers of individual users (similar to SETI).
“NetAlter claims their IOS will be free from virus and hackers”
Yeah, good luck with that.
I checked out the presentation and with that setup, it will never work.
thanks for another great review looking forward to see the next list…
Maye google will make a WebOS…
Well, Widgetop will fail, not everyone uses Firefox, or has the right to download and install it…because they shut out these users I don’t see them taking any business from anyone else.
I started AstraNOS about two months ago and it has become quite nice in this time.
AstraNOS stands in true GNU fashion for Astra is Not an Operating System.
There is still a lot of work to be done but I am hoping that people will come and help me develop this open source WebOS.
The main focus of AstraNOS is communications and so I will try to inegrate the best chat, eMail, and Calendar apps, though currently the games are working best
Please come by, sign up and help out.
Varol
Ps As the sole developer I am looking for all the help I can get.
just to let you know there is one more: http://www.webdesk.in
I signed up for the beta list to try out Nivio and an apparent cock-up means my name’s now on a public mailing list! I’ve had over fifty emails in the past half hour from spammers, jokers and chancers who’ve found out how to send messages to the Nivio list. Grr.
I don’t understand how you can call these things “operating systems”. They’re application bundles that run in a browser. Operating systems do considerably more than manage GUI windows and run office applications. You still need a computing device with its own OS to run these things. And if your internet connection is down, slow or unavailable, what exactly do you do?
Why would you want a media player than runs in your browser? Just for the privilege of wasting the internet’s bandwidth? Do you really want to try to replicate Visual Studio, Photoshop, Cakewalk, or Illustrator in a browser where you either can’t save your files or just saving and reopening those files server-side takes several orders of magnitude longer than on the desktop?
I don’t understand why so much energy is being spent on replicating in a grotesquely slow, hobbled and restricted way the capabilities you can get on cell phones. It feels like a pissing contest where people do things because they can, rather than because those things are worth doing.
This is just fucking retarded.
@rg
It gives you the opportunity to access your information from anywhere. Having it on the web enables you to access movies, songs and documents whether you are at work, on your laptop, or at a party. Also, sharing files becomes much easier, because now it is simply being transfered from one account to another on the same system. I am having quite a bit of fun on my http://www.cmyos.com account and look forward to when new apps come out for this online OS and others.
Good article on these but they still need to go a long way before I could actually use one as my first choice. Thanks
Good post, I can see you put a lot of work into it, personally I think that this is the way that computing is going these days, it wont be long until the operating system consists of a browser and everything is done on the internet
I have created my own version of what is defined here as “Online Operating System”. Well I had little coding to do….as I just linked what Google already offers as an integrated offering.
That is what the others are doing….anyways.
check out www.freeonlineos.com
You have to log in, again, and again, and again, and then you can’t jump from one to another, if something springs to mind regarding one app while working on another app.
If it had been separate minimizable windows and if you could drag data from one to the other, and if you only had to log in once, then I suppose you would have a point..
http://www.widgetplus.com is the only one of these not in beta or alpha or anything like that, sure, it’s always being developed, but that’s the point of something like this, it’s always getting better and the user get the constant upgrading for free.. but it’s live right this instant instead of ‘possibly sometime later’.
What would you say would be improvements that you would need to see in order to make an online operating system more useful to you?
– Max Bailey.
http://www.cmyblogs.com - Free Blogging Suite
http://www.cmyos.com - Free Online Operating System
You forget the http://www.windowsvista.si
It’s a simulation of Vista OS, but it is in Slovenian language…
You may test it as
http://www.windowsvista.si?lang=1033
so at least static texts are in english
Oh, I forgot: you must have Micro$oft’s SilverLight tool installed into your browser. Othervise www.windowsvista.si won’t work.
http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight
please send me updates
Brilliant reviews keep it up!!
I’ve played with many of these, but I’ve decided they’re not the way to go. I operate almost completely via the web, but my WebOS is simply Firefox. It doesn’t make much sense to have an OS running in a browser which itself has to run on another OS, but it does make sense to have your files and even programs online, as long as you have consistent connectivity. I boot into a minimalist Linux environment which automatically launches Firefox(try one of the kiosk extensions!) automatically. From there, I use ZOHO Office, Mediamax for non-office file storage, Phixr for photo retouching, ClearCheckBook.com for finances, Passwordsafe.com, Meebo for IM, Yahoo for PIM and email, and Google books for EBooks. Just waiting for offline caching to become a reality for those rare times when I’m not connected.
There must be a web o.s that has no frils, gimmics and can turn on what you nead.just like a furnice it turns on when it drops under a certen tempeture .The o.s should turn on for example divx or flash exetra .But only when you nead it. I think it would possibly be the best o.s. ever but it has to be free
nice review, thanks for that.
perhaps it will be considered in the next roundup of 10. please keep on reviewing.
one thing though: i have been using the online operating system at http://www.oos.cc since april this year to share files in a more convenient way than in any other framework. therefore, it seems to be wrong information that the oos is still in a testing phase
Can any tell me how does the clock function works in those WebOS? I’d tried the demo pages from these WebOS and the clock correctly shows my local time. Does it mean that the WebOS gets the time from my local OS or what?
Does the WebOS supports other languages? the one i’m interested about is chinese.
I suppose they all use standard JS and Flash methods to access the date/time of your local OS.
Some solutions (e.g the above mentioned www.oos.cc) provide multi-language support but I don’t know of any platform that is currently available in chinese.
hi all. I’d recently tried up the GLIDE online OS, where it states that users can use mobile to log in to the account also.
I tried using my SonyEricsson model K750i, where i successfully login, but i cant send email, read email, upload files etc. I did submit my phone’s profile and they claimed to respond within 48hrs, but till now i still cant get the functions.
I’ve tried to email to their support site and report the issue, but for days i still haven’t received any feedback yet.
Does anyone knows is this GLIDE OS actually still operating or not?
Zimdesk is an advanced webOS and boats an impressive range of apps including IM.