You OS Web Based Operating System 223
Juergen writes "You OS comes from the MIT Labs and contains an email client, Chat Function, RSS Reader, and Text Editor.
YouOS is a web operating system that lets you run diverse applications within a web browser. Small applications like sticky notes or clocks. Large applications like word processing, mp3 players, and instant messaging. Even better, it's very easy to tweak an existing application or write your own.
"
Title? (Score:5, Funny)
YouOS: Breaking news! (Score:2, Informative)
Great title (Score:2, Interesting)
Viva la redundancy!
Kidding, I know you os is it's name. I still don't see the point in it until there's an OS independant browser. Still, it's a step forward.
Re:Great title (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Great title (Score:2)
No, seriously. Linux by itself isn't an OS. To make it a modern OS, you need, at the very least, Linux, a HAL of some nature (like hotplug), X, a window manager like KDE, and the applications needed for basic functionality (file browser, application launcher, etc).
Hence, the term 'System' in Operating System.
Now, if this system was, say, Linux, a HAL, X, and Firefox-embedded, all sitting on a CF drive just big enough for everything to run and
Re:Great title (Score:2)
The point is to have fun working on a neat idea. (Score:2)
1) "feh, what's the point."
2) "feh, it doesn't manage hardware, it's not really an OS."
Regarding #1, I'd say that the point is to have fun working on a neat idea, and see where it leads. If it doesn't strike you as fun or interesting, move on an keep looking for something that is.
Regarding #2, you're right, it's not really an OS. However the metaphor still applies, as the vast majority of computer users think of the OS as "the screen
I will not bite! (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I will not bite! (Score:2)
Not so sure. (Score:2)
I can really count with the fingers of one hand the times I have been left without Internet connectivity.
In the other hand I have to reboot my office Windows machine at least once very week.
As anecdotal as this is, I don'tthink it deviates much from the norm.
Re:I will not bite! (Score:3, Insightful)
Web based OS is like VRML, big on hype but short on practical implementations that are better than a traditional OS. Just my opinion.
Great? In what way? (Score:5, Insightful)
Could someone please explain to me why this is a great idea? Besides the novelty. What place does YouOS have in a world where people (well, geeks, actually) debate endlessly about which desktop is the fastest/full featured/whatever? Certainly YouOS would fail to meet most anyone's criteria for a generally useful desktop.
Come on people, this "web based OS" idea is stupid. Admit it. And it is not just because of fact that "Operating System" is a great misnomer in this case. From their FAQ:
"Need to send or receive email or text/instant messages? We're working on providing full communication APIs."
If that gets you excited, then I have a network stack written in BASIC to sell you. ANd it runs in a browser! Amazing, huh? Forget the fact that your current operating system already comes with a perfectly good network stack and running mine would be completely redundant and pointless.
-matthew
Re:Great? In what way? (Score:2)
Also, similar to a thin client, ever want to not have to support your family/friends/not-even-working-with-you-coworkers ? Tell them to wipe their browser host OS then rei
Re:Great? In what way? (Score:2)
Couldn't you just install VNC on your home PC and use the Java applet client to access it whereever you go? That way you would hve EVERYTHING available to you from your
Re:Great? In what way? (Score:2)
The users who would be using this as a "thin client" approach to get tech support wouldn't know what a "shitty JS/HTML" app is if it hit them in the face. They just want to know if it works. Not to mention addressing the potential here, not the current state: shitty Java apps used to be the norm, but you've just suggested I use one in you VNC suggestion.
Re:Great? In what way? (Score:2)
Sure, but bandwidth is becoming less and less of an issue. We'll have better bandwidth long before we have web standards suitable for a usable "web desktop." Besides, I'd much rather have access to my real home desktop anyway vs. some lame browser based imitation of a desktop. And quite frankly, that is all WebOS is.
Re:Great? In what way? (Score:2)
Re:Great? In what way? (Score:2)
I'd hold out for a real loacal OS like DSLinux.
-matthew
Re:Great? In what way? (Score:2)
With enough enhancement it would be a great way to "work at home" with a controlled environment.
Re:Great? In what way? (Score:2)
If every city has the same ISP... (Score:2)
AC wrote:
Unfortunately, the reality too often is:
That too is cost prohibitive.
It's not an OS (Score:4, Insightful)
And is there an SDK around? If so, it'd sound like the ideal computing slave. SETI here goes... (ok, maybe it has resource quotas, which would actually make it an interesting project...)
Re:It's not an OS (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:It's not an OS (Score:2, Insightful)
If those "web-OSs" would provide a good packaging system etc. then I see it as a competitor to Citrix.
But as long as I can't run VMware in it the term operating system is wrong
VNC (Score:3, Insightful)
Having good web-based apps is greate, but only if you accept that it's a web app and so design it as such (Like gmail or google calendar). But if you try to emulate the look&feel of a classical desktop, you are screwed.
I use a lot of webapps, I have gmail and gmail for your domain for my company's website, google calendar runs my life, Pandora takes care of my mus
Re:It's not an OS (Score:3, Funny)
Cut them some slack, it's not like YouOS is from MIT or anything!
Oh, wait.
Re:It's not an OS (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:It's not an OS (Score:3, Informative)
That might work, except that the applicaitons are not actually running on a server. They are running with javascript in your browser. They merely communicate with the server for data. You'd be using yoru own CPU... with the slowness of Javascript vs. compiled.
-matthew
Re:It's not an OS (Score:2)
More seriously, YouOS is important for reasons that aren't necessarily apparent at first. The demo on the site and the interest in the project leads me to believe two things: 1) People want a simple open application development platform for the web and 2) We need NEW and BETTER web standards!
Before I get flamed:
There will always be a need for native code -- that is obvious. However, the need for truly cross-plat
Re:It's not an OS (Score:3, Insightful)
I was specificly refering to slowness wrt to CPU bound applications such as SETI.
Why limit oneself to the web browser? W
Re:It's not an OS (Score:2)
Re:It's not an OS (Score:2)
If you are not attache
Re:It's not an OS (Score:2)
1) I did not imply that internet=web (that was your random interpretation)
2) I never said ajax was 'unique' (read the sentence again)
3) 'look beyond the browser' is exactly what I'm doing!
This isn't difficult -- I think you're arguing for the sake of arguing.
Re:It's not an OS (Score:2)
You did. Every sentences referenced teh "web" as if it IS the internet.
And I never said you said AJAX was unique. I challenged the idea that "permission" to use AJAX has allowed people to make unique applications. What popular AJAX applicaiton out there couldn't be done with more traditional development styles? Sure, AJAX makes some things better and perhaps easier, but what i
Re:It's not an OS (Score:2)
You mean something like X11?
Re:It's not an OS (Score:2)
-matthew
Re:It's not an OS (Score:2)
...it sort of is, as a matter of fact (Score:2)
It's implemented in high-level languages, and from a developer standpoint its "native" code is Javascript, but IMO it performs the services of an OS and has the interfaces of an OS, so I'm fine with call
How deep can it go? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:How deep can it go? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:How deep can it go? (Score:2, Interesting)
This is about the same as someone who runs Linux inside a Linux Xen VM inside a Linux VMware VM......
The question is, what does make sense?
Re:How deep can it go? (Score:3, Interesting)
EyeOS (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:EyeOS (Score:2)
Re:EyeOS (Score:2)
Still, I can see how it would appeal to non-geeks away from home - and it's not much different to placing your trust in online mail, online shopping or online tax return services - all of which have a healthy take up and get a splodge of your personal data.
Re:EyeOS (Score:2)
On Noes!
*kaboom*
Apache terminated.
Re:EyeOS (Score:2)
And what do people do away from home? Check email? Practially all mail services have a web based client these days. What else? IM? Try http://www.meebo.com/ [meebo.com] . And anyone with more elaborate needs will most likely have a notebook computer with them when
Re:EyeOS (Score:3, Informative)
To me, the really exciting aspect of YouOS is its persistance. Open apps, logout, login again (on the same a different PC ans your
Online mp3 player (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Online mp3 player (Score:2)
Re:Online mp3 player (Score:2)
"Too many users online" (Score:4, Insightful)
This is just another playground for the next gen. of Dot-Com-Companies, nothing serious.
a.) web-applications rely on high-speed-always-on internet connections (I'll be in an airplane this afternoon, no text processing for me then?)
b.) Will always offer less features and a bad UI compared to classical desktop applications, because restricted by web browser capablilites
c.) are currently much harder to code than classical desktop apps (e.g. editable drop down boxes anyone? Easy thing in NetBeans/VS
d.) collaborative features are easily added to classical desktop apps
Conclusion: less possibilities, harder to code (you'll always be tricking, hacking to get a nice effect), bad UI (restricted by browsers)
The only competition to desktop apps I do currently see is MS XAML.
Bye!
Re:"Too many users online" (Score:5, Insightful)
a.) web-applications rely on high-speed-always-on internet connections (I'll be in an airplane this afternoon, no text processing for me then?)
That may be the case now, but give a few years or so (3-7 years maybe), and high speed wireless internet will be ubiquitous. Also, the final forms of these applications will probably involve some kind a hybrid between desktop and web applications, with some kind of caching mechanism for when no connectivity is available.
b.) Will always offer less features and a bad UI compared to classical desktop applications, because restricted by web browser capablilites
Current browser companies/groups, standards organizations, and OS vendors are all well aware of the current browser's limitations and are working feverishly to create full-fledged networked baeed application frameworks. You can already see bits and pieces with XAML, XUL, SVG, AJAX, etc. Yes, we're not there yet, but it's inevitable.
c.) are currently much harder to code than classical desktop apps (e.g. editable drop down boxes anyone? Easy thing in NetBeans/VS
long-lasting GET requests? I'm not sure what you are talking about here - is this something that is utilized with AJAX? Regarding the rest of this bulletpoint, see my response to (b). Also, I'm sure as web apps become more critical to businesses, firewall software as well as their admistrators' configuration preferences will adapt.
d.) collaborative features are easily added to classical desktop apps
You are kidding right? This is the big *advantage* of web-based apps. Have you tried using Google's spreadsheets yet? Contacting a user through g-mail and sharing the same spreadsheet... it doesn't get any more collaborative than that.
LS
Re:"Too many users online" (Score:2)
In Excel, I can "drag" a formula across multiple cells with my mouse. I can't seem to figure out how to do that in Google Spreadsheets. Anyone know what I'm talking about? Anyone know how to do it?
Re:"Too many users online" (Score:2)
Thank you kindly! That has been driving me crazy for weeks.
Re:"Too many users online" (Score:2)
Hybrid between desktop and web applications is just begging for security problems. The only reason the web is as secure as it is (and that isn't saying very much) is because the browser is
Not quite new, but (Score:5, Interesting)
If you're interested in this area, check out also:
FlyaKiteOSX [portraitofakite.com]
the 30Boxes Webtop [30boxes.com]
EyeOS [eyeos.org]
Computadora [computadora.de] (in Spanish, even though
Goowy [goowy.com] (it's in Flash though)
And of course, because this is Slashdot, I couldn't go without mentionning that Google is probably preparing their own [aymnetwork.com], since their recent focus on releasing equivalents of desktop applications online (Notes, Excel, Word, Calendar, Picasa, etc)
Re:Not quite new, but (Score:2)
Interesting... (Score:2)
Just saying. Could use more articles about the alternative OSs on weekdays. (Well, maybe not the Windows XP stuff.)
Re:Interesting... (Score:2)
How is it interesting that they're winning? They're winning only because of the massive misinformation of the general public, and the incompetence of IT services (I happen to agree with this post [slashdot.org] earlier; IT services from different companies should cooperate and recruit developers who could juste code what they need as Free Software -- F/OSS is also about mutual interest, it'd be cheaper for them to solve their problems that way than buying new proprietary software or rene
Uh-Oh (Score:2, Funny)
I have spent almost a year working on a project that is nearly identical to (if less mature than) YouOS. Atomic OS [sourceforge.net] is not as advanced as YouOS due to lack of hackers and poor timing.
This is driving me nuts. I logged into /. went through the headlines, then posted an article about Atomic OS. When I got back to the developers headlines... Boom. YouOS.
Aaaarghh!
Re:Uh-Oh (Score:2)
From what I see, you're definitely going to scratch one of my itches too. If I take a USB key drive into a client site and they have a locked down version of Windows (so no Cygwin), I desperately miss my *nix command line. Good luck with it, I'll be checking back now and again - assuming the scenario I've described will be possible when it matures a bit more.
Bob
Re:Uh-Oh (Score:2)
Anyway, don't worry about YouOS. It'll fail.
-matthew
Re:Uh-Oh (Score:2)
I dont' get it. JS/UIX is just a similated unix shell with no real utility and TiddlyWiki looks like a regular Wiki with inplace editting and some interesting but superfluous effect when you click on new sections. Actually, the effect is somewhat annoying because it is delayed. The new section appears first and the "window" slowly expands af
Re:Uh-Oh (Score:2)
Nothing you mention would seem to change that.
I use Plan 9, we have effectively no users either and we're a mature OS (15 years +) out of one of the best research labs on the planet (Bell Labs) with good apps.
good luck
Damn! (Score:2)
Warning:
Your browser will most likely not work with YouOS. See our FAQ for more information on browser compatibility.
-
Tell you what, I'll stick to playing MP3s and doing WP locally then.
WebOS? Quite honestly... (Score:2, Insightful)
And for a fully-fledge WebOS 2.0
2x OS (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:2x OS (Score:3, Insightful)
Admittedly, the client will need blazingly fast processors and network connections, but presu
nx OS (Score:3, Funny)
Operating System? (Score:4, Informative)
An operating system is the code that provides the operating environment in which these programs run; not the programs themselves; a layer between the hardware and the application programs that provides a uniform environment, manages resources, arbitrates contentions, provides synchronization primatives such as semaphores, schedules CPU utilization, etc. Its "users" are programs, not people; its user interfaces are APIs; not shells. Shells and other application programs provide what we traditionally think of as USER interfaces for interacting with humans.
Along with the operating system one often finds a suite of shell programs (textual or GUI), basic applications and administrative programs to provide a user environment. These may be included in the operating system package, and are helpful or even essential in making the operating system usable but are not themselves the operating system or part of it.
This important distinction seems to be lost on the likes of Microsoft. Perhaps as a result, this disturbing misconception seems to be spreading throughout the community.
If the "You OS" involves somewhere an operating system, it lives on their server infrastructure and the users never see it.
Re:Operating System? (Score:2)
> and a handfull of basic functions with an "Operating System"?
Since Windows 95.
The name makes me wonder (Score:2)
Pretty impressive demo. (Score:2)
As a fan and an Irishman (Score:2)
done before... (Score:2)
Tried it..it's cool but WHY? (Score:2)
But I have to ask myself. WHY? My desktop already works. Why do I need this?
Re:Tried it..it's cool but WHY? (Score:2)
That would be pretty pathetic, but if I really want to do it, I'd just install VNC on my home PC.
Re:Tried it..it's cool but WHY? (Score:2)
Creating a desktop that runs within a web browser that is NOT using JAVA (XML + Javascript + Ruby + something + ect..) is a interesting prototype but lets be serious here. Your typical PC/MAC/LINUX desktop can run cirles around this stuff and will continue to do so.
And I don't see that changing.
A better solution (Score:5, Funny)
Re:A better solution (Score:3, Funny)
"emacs is my operating system, linux is my device driver"
Re:A better solution (Score:2)
Re:A better solution (Score:2)
How boring!
interesting - they seem to be using.. (Score:2)
YouOS is a misnomer (Score:3)
Think Citrix or Terminal Server or X or.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes, technically it isn't an OS and it's performance isn't all that great, but they're not exactly promising anything; this makes for a good proof of conceptm and I wouldn't be surprised if somebody like SalesForce takes the idea and runs with it; I think we'll probably see *real* web-based desktops within ten years (where the apps are full enough featured and fast) and don't need activex or java.
Re:Think Citrix or Terminal Server or X or.... (Score:2, Informative)
I'm not so sure about that [jcraft.com].
FWIW, it works ok on a LAN
Not particularly useful w/o other apps (Score:2)
OS no no, Shell yes. (Score:2, Insightful)
You cant print from within a shell without an OS. Just like these Web shells or pages with dynamic web content..
Remember when win 3.1 was called "OS"?? When it really was a shell on a Disk OS.
OS? (Score:2)
what about my taxes ? (Score:2)
Great idea, but is really your browser the tool? (Score:2, Interesting)
Basically, AJAX and these "Operating Systems" have arisen from the browsers capability nudging towards that of a remote desktop client, or so it seems. The browser is still made to deliver HTML, remember that.
What if someone made a much more powerfull client-side application that could do what the Javascript/DOM model does, but
Re:Ok.... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Not the first... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Personal Exerience with YouOS (Score:2)
chmod does not an OS make
Re:Personal Exerience with YouOS (Score:2)
Joking... at least I am.
Re:i'd go another level (Score:2)
Re:Not really an OS (Score:2)
In practice, nobody sells PCs with blank HDD (Score:2)
When you bought a new PC, its hard drive did not come blank. It came with Mac OS X (if you bought it from Apple) or Microsoft Windows (if you bought it from any other major OEM). But even Windows runs on top of an operating system implemented in the microcode of the CPU of your computer.
Re:In practice, nobody sells PCs with blank HDD (Score:2)
And there are some minor OEMs that will actually build and ship a computer without an OS. So what's your point?