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Jolicloud private alpha2b

Marko Zabreznik — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 14:50:32 +0000

: Image via CrunchBase

Finally got my turn to try out Jolicloud, a “cool new OS for your netbook“. I learned about it several weeks ago and it took quite a while for me to get a invite.

First off, I tried the live boot. I selected my native language etc. and while it was booting, I stepped away for a few. Upon my return I glanced on the screen and much to my surprise, it seemed as if the netbook just loaded my regular system, Ubuntu Netbook Remix.

No – wait. It was the new OS, but with only subtle differences separating the initial state from its parent OS. A quick glance trough the installed applications revealed only “facebook” to be added initially – a shortcut to a prism application.

Ok, time to try out the jolicloud applications. When I logged into the application with my user name - picked when I got the invite, I choose “MSI WIND 100″ as my notebook, as Medion Akoya e1210 was not on the list but afaik is just a re-brand of a WIND anyway.

The jolicloud application itself, as most of the applications it serves, is built upon Mozilla Prism. A “web OS” built upon the web itself – perfectly integrated in the social media system.
It synchronizes itself into your jolicloud profile – so couple that with a Dropbox and you have a notebook to carry around without having to think about the consequences of it being ( stolen or in any other way ) unrecoverable beyond losing a piece of hardware. No data or settings would be lost – or be easy to steal with some encryption.

One click is all it takes to install any application – native or web/prism. With my favorites like Google’s Picasa, Skype, Dropbox, Last.fm and Google Chrome already there – not to mention most of the biggest social media sites and web applications there as prism apps. Also there some Game and Education titles I have yet to see anywhere else. How to install the from the regular ubuntu stream – or adding more sources – is a mystery because no package manager is present. Besides that, system and application upgrades are fast – one click – operations.

Other changes might not be as apparent to the average user, but the kernel itself was – as I learned from one of the developers in #jolicloud – optimized for this specific use. Why this was needed and what this brings to the end user is – to me – unclear.

All in all, I can see a lot of this changes being up-streamed into Ubuntu Netbook Remix. The applications selection ( my personal favorite in jolicloud ) is something that could do Ubuntu (or Linux in general) a lot of good. Installing applications is easy in the Linux world but the hard part is actually finding a application to install. Did you know there are 5 excellent - insert appication type – to be installed on your system via the install system, but most actually just stick with the one that is already there and never even think there might be something out there that would suit them better ?

If you want to try it out yourself, you have to register for a invitation.

Jolicloud Private Alpha Social Netbook OS Launched (ubergizmo.com)
Checking out the Jolicloud Netbook OS (slumpedoverkeyboarddead.com)
Jolicloud OS alpha release struts its stuff… on video! (engadget.com)
Nice timing: Netbook OS startup Jolicloud raises $4.2M (deals.venturebeat.com)
Jolicloud lands funding and takes on Google (vator.tv)
JoliCloud.com – New OS For Your Net Book (killerstartups.com)

About IE8 Marketing

Marko Zabreznik — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:19:48 +0000

Microsoft once again on the trail of mischief, as the old “get the facts” got hold of Internet Explorer 8.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/get-the-facts/browser-comparison.aspx

If you looked at that and got a head-spin, you are not the only one. First let me note the language the so called “facts” are presented in. One would expect more from the “worlds biggest software company”. http://kilianvalkhof.com/ie8fun/ makes more sense.

Now lets talk about the lenghts MS is going to promote IE8

First off, a connection of videos http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/videos.aspx that surely cost them plenty

Secondly, more videos promoted by several celebrities: (for free ? i think not)
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/nethistory/

Thirdly, they are trying a pure giveaway on a pay per download to charity
http://browserforthebetter.com

$1.15 per download to Feeding America® up to a maximum of $1,000,000

They only want to get 860k downloads ? Firefox 3 got 8mill in 24hours http://www.spreadfirefox.com/en-US/worldrecord/ and Safary got 11 mill in 3 days http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/06/12safari.html.

Hey, if they are giving away loads of money why not give it to the people, eh ? Or at least the lucky fella who will get the 10 grand promised by Microsoft today:

http://www.microsoft.com/australia/ie8/competition/default.aspx

* Hekos expects a banner with ” you just won 10,000$ ”
blinking and all
you can only see it in IE8 cause FX has a working ad/popup blocker
and you cant see it in That’s for making me stay up late to debug IE again, M$.

Hey MS what do you think about people just not caring about you ? Fact is, if they KNOW about other browsers, they are using them. If they are using them, they know you are full of sh1t. No add is going to help you. If you want people to upgrade, why not force the upgrade on them with a Update like you always do ?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4MwTvtyrUQ

On June 16th at 9:00 a.m (CEDT) Opera will reinvent the Web.

Marko Zabreznik — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 06:27:35 +0000

From http://www.opera.com/freedom/ HTML source code comments:

We start our little story with the invention of the modern day computer.
Over the years, the computers grew in numbers, and the next natural step in the evolution was to connect them together. To share things.
But as these little networks grew, some computers gained more power than the rest and called themselves servers.
Today, millions of people are connected together in a great web …

Wonder what they have for us ? Check it out in 30 min
http://www.opera.com/freedom/

Edit:

Opera Unite: a Web server on the Web browser

http://unite.opera.com/

Take control of what you share online
Opera Unite allows you to easily share your data: photos, music, notes and other files. You can even run chat rooms and host entire Web sites with Opera Unite. It puts the power of a Web server in your browser, giving you greater privacy and flexibility than other online services.

Share with other Web browsers
What if you use Opera at home, and a different Web browser at work? Opera Unite services can be accessed from any modern browser, including mobile browsers! At home, just select what you want to share, and you can view it later using your work Web browser without any problems.

Integrated and extendable
Simply enable Opera Unite when you start Opera 10 beta, and you are ready to go. Find and install services with one click from our online catalog or easily create your own by using Web standards like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SVG and AJAX.

Google urges IE6 lusers to get a Browser

Marko Zabreznik — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 11:00:56 +0000

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 was released on August 27, 2001, shortly after Windows XP was finished. Now, 8 years later, both are outdated but still used by a multitude of users. That of course is little concern to the average joe, but it makes web developers everywhere want to kick the bucket sad.

But uncle Google is finally taking a firm stand against the evil overlord with taking IE6 out of the list of supported browsers for Gmail and showing users of the mentioned browser messages to upgrade to ither Chrome or Firefox. That same message was shown weeks ago to IE7 users, but later removed.

Here is hoping the browser wars will get interesting again. The standard is ready to boom out of proportion with more and more features being added by different engines regulary. But will the users follow, or stay with their captive untill they are finally left out in the dry ?