YouOS - Web based OS

[Parangles]

Is this another time I'm posting stale news that everyone has seen ?
Hope not !

http://www.slate.com/id/2144896/

[faulkner132]

The ironic thing about this is you still need an OS on your local machine with a compatible browser and the appropriate plug-ins.
Great inovation and the way to go in my opinion.

[ghost2003]

Remote shells have existed since before I was born. I dont see whats so inovative about this.

[faulkner132]

Originally Posted by ghost2003 Remote shells have existed since before I was born.

I would actually love to see this in action, could you send me a link to information about a current working implementation?
(Note, I am assuming by "remote shell" you do not mean VNC or Terminal Services... these are completely different than what YouOS is doing.)

Originally Posted by ghost2003 I dont see whats so inovative about this.

Assuming there is not a current working model, the innovation comes from the implementation. For a similar analogy, the idea of flying cars is not innovative, but the actual development of one is.

[ghost2003]

Same idea, different implementation. Its verry different than a vnc session but yields the same results at the end (vnc can also be used through a browser with java).
I know they're trying to do the whole net OS thing but remote shells are basicly the same thing. All they're doing as adding a cheap GUI (web app GUIs always make me want to wack my computer with a big stick).
In the end, wether its vnc, a remote shell session or this thing, its all just a way to controll a remote machine.
I havent been able to get an account to try it out (their registration thing seems to be broken at the moment or very slow and badly made) but from what ive seen they're trying to give you a desktop to a remote machine.

[faulkner132]

The big difference, however, is that each user is their own admin. VNC and Terminal Services work great assuming you are the system admin and can install/update programs. This is completely different as each user is their own admin and can control what programs are installed on an individual basis. The YouOS idea has leaps and bounds more potential than does VNC or TS.

[ghost2003]

Got it working, NoScript was getting in the way.
First of all, no self respecting admin would ever give root (or superuser or whatever the platform in question calls it) to a user. You arent admin in YouOS. You cant really install anything, they are all little javascript apps that you enable/disable that dont really do anything. Its the browser that does all the work anyway.
This works the same way as a remote shell account, each user has their own little niche although youOS makes you feel more isolated (mostly because it gives you no power...which is why it would never replace a real OS)
YouOS does not leap bounds over anything. Its just a bunch of cheap java script making a low quality GUI (and we all know how GUIs are bad, having a cheap one running through another one is twice the trouble). All it does is give you disk space and load a bunch of JS that seems to have been made by anyone.
Ill take an SHH connection to a remote unix shell over that any day.

[faulkner132]

Originally Posted by ghost2003 Got it working, NoScript was getting in the way. First of all, no self respecting admin would ever give root (or superuser or whatever the platform in question calls it) to a user. You arent admin in YouOS. You cant really install anything, they are all little javascript apps that you enable/disable that dont really do anything. Its the browser that does all the work anyway. This works the same way as a remote shell account, each user has their own little niche although youOS makes you feel more isolated (mostly because it gives you no power...which is why it would never replace a real OS) YouOS does not leap bounds over anything. Its just a bunch of cheap java script making a low quality GUI (and we all know how GUIs are bad, having a cheap one running through another one is twice the trouble). All it does is give you disk space and load a bunch of JS that seems to have been made by anyone. Ill take an SHH connection to a remote unix shell over that any day.

Nevermind. We are talking apples and oranges here.

[catacon]

I don't really see the point in YouOS. You need an OS (whether it be Windows, Linux, etc.) to get YouOS, so it seems like a waste to have an OS in and OS. Really all it gives you is disk space.

[Kareeser]

Really all it gives you is disk space.

Which is useful if you were in an airport, and needed the business document you saved in YouOS while working on it at home.

All it does is give you disk space and load a bunch of JS that seems to have been made by anyone.

Ghost. You forget that this is an experiment by a couple of innovative people with not much money. Imagine how this would be enhaced with billions of dollars in government and user investment, with rooms upon rooms of blazing fast servers to do our bidding. Tons of potential processing power.

Or stick to your puny Pentium. It's up to you.

YouOS is web-based, which means it has limitations, but there are certain functions that are native to a web-based OS (think of the situation I presented in the first sentence) that you simply cannot do in a traditional OS without several pieces of software, and loads of configuration.

[ghost2003]

Originally Posted by Kareeser Which is useful if you were in an airport, and needed the business document you saved in YouOS while working on it at home.

Webspace is available anywhere these days.

Ghost. You forget that this is an experiment by a couple of innovative people with not much money. Imagine how this would be enhaced with billions of dollars in government and user investment, with rooms upon rooms of blazing fast servers to do our bidding. Tons of potential processing power.

It already exists. It has for a long time. Exept this is just a little JS in a browser. Try a real remote shell, connect through an X session (if you want all the flashy stuff) and there you go. Apps running on a remote server getting displayed on your local machine. You have your webspace and depending on the provider hundreds of applications. Im not saying its not a good idea im just saying it has almost always existed. I dont see why people get all exited over this one. Just because its a little GUI inside a browser.

Or stick to your puny Pentium. It's up to you.

How do you think most open source developers compile code? They connect to shells to server more powerful then anyone could hope to own so they dont need to compile on a little desktop. And also allows them to compile to all kinds of platforms even if they dont own one.