Here’s another option for road warriors that believe in travelling light: Operating systems that run within the confines of your web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox). With such a service, you could access your data from any internet-connected device, anywhere in the world since everything would be online.
An online operating system (OLOS), also known as webOSs, is one that runs inside your web browser and can contain various features and functions within it, like online storage space, chat clients, calendar, MP3 player, RSS reader and so on. Most of these online operating systems are built using Flash, which makes the whole experience very intuitive. But Flash-based applications do gobble up a lot of bandwidth and this could make your interactive experience a little bit slow if you are on a slow connection.
There are plenty of such services that you could choose from. Though most of these webOSs are still in their early stages, they do look promising. Here are three of the most promising ones:
DesktopTwo: Though DesktopTwo (www.desktoptwo.com) is in the beta stage, you will be astonished with the features it has to offer. What you have at your disposal is 1 GB of online space, website editor, and support for POP email, blogging, MP3 player and instant messenger, to name a few.
You can also read your documents, including file formats such as PDF, DOC (Word files), XLS (Excel sheets) and PPT (PowerPoint files) and chat directly with other DesktopTwo users using the chat client, Live.
Once you sign up at the site you can straightway make use of your new email address, @desktoptwo.com.
Now to access your page, simply log in. Here you can choose to either go in for a windowed, full screen or a current window view. Unfortunately, each time I tried to log in while using both Firefox and IE, I was greeted only by an error message.
GLIDE: Glide (www.glidedigital.com) is another Flash-based online OS that offers features almost similar to DesktopTwo.
As far as registration goes there are different options to choose from, including ones that will cost you money. The free plans include the ‘Free Individual’ and the ‘Free Family’ plans. While the former offers 300 MB of online space, the latter offers 1 GB of online space and supports four users. The plans go all the way up to ‘Family Premium yearly’, where you are offered 8 GB of online space and support for up to eight users. But this package will cost you $149.95 a year.
For free users, during the registration process, you will need to provide your cellphone number on which you will receive a six-digit code via SMS. As we said earlier, the features offered by Glide are similar to DesktopTwo, which include 1 GB file storage, RSS feeds and IM. You can also create documents and view pictures. What sets this one apart is its simple and intuitive interface.
GOOWY: As the site (www.goowy.com) mentions, the creators chose to call this webOS Goowy so that it can be playful and easy to remember at the same time. This is another neat looking webbased operating system with useful applications and games. Other features include file-uploading facility, RSS reader, instant messaging, bookmarks and so on.
To register, you simply need to fill in a few details on the main page and you are ready to go. The whole process is real quick and within seconds you can access your online OS page.
If you are like computer games, you will particularly enjoy using this OS as there are dozens of games to choose from various genres. The other applications can be accessed by clicking one of the icons that are neatly stacked at the bottom of the screen.
[Taken from Times Of India - Pune, Page 16 Dated 29th Dec 2006]
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