online operating systems: YouOS

Posted on | August 9, 2006 | 3 Comments

during the past year, AJAX-driven portals have sprung up like mushrooms. most of these sites don’t offer more than consolidating RSS-feeds and other (3rd-party) web-widgets. examples include startups like PageFlakes, HomePortals and Protopage as well as Microsoft Live and Google IG.

YouOS (discovered on Zinnaglism) is a browser-based ‘collaborative web operating system’ which goes far beyond. like traditional operating systems, YouOS offers a user-interface-toolkit and open APIs, which 3rd-party developers can use as a fundament for building rich internet-applications in JavaScript.

YouOS’ user-interface is based on the traditional desktop-metaphor, well-known from current operating-systems like Windows or Linux. preinstalled applications include a web-browser (which of course is just a div-element filled by the local browser, so to call this an app is a bit far fetched), a very simple command-shell (including unix-like commands, f.e. ps, kill…), IRC-client, mailbox, richtext-editor and file-manager. the apps offer only minimal functionality and reassemble the look & feel of early Linux/X11-programs.

currently there are almost 300 additional applications available. highlights include P2P-networking among YouOS-users, the obligatory RSS-reader, a Java-based Nintendo NES-emulator, Spreadsheets, ssh-client, mp3-player and an IDE. ‘installing’ apps into the start-menu is a matter of a single click.

without a doubt, YouOS is an ambitious attempt to create a common platform for online-applications like Writely or other app’s I reviewed in my office-is-dead series. I’m just afraid big names like Google will rather continue to consolidate their brand services among another, than switch to an open platform like YouOS. without support by major application-providers, YouOS will never be more than a cool demonstration of web-technology.

 

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