Jolicloud: the OS your netbook has been screaming for
By Darren Murph 
posted Jan 25th 2009 3:53AM
posted Jan 25th 2009 3:53AM
[Via Engadget German]
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At first glance, it looks like a little more dressed up version of the Eee Netbook.
In other words: I like.
Also, It looks like its using gnome, which i like. Im not quite sure what the hell the original Eee was using (i think it was a modified version of gnome) but i like this.
People complain linux is hard to tinker with (which i would argue is BS but thats besides the point) but thats only on engadget. In all seriousness, the only thing i ever see real noobs do in the way of tinkering is change their wallpaper and very occasionally the colour of the theme in XP.
With Gnome, KDE and XFCE (the 3 most common window managers) both of those things are a point and click case (infact easier than windows even to install new themes specifically gnome). So really the goal is to make a system that people are happy with out of the box. Not just make every single option point and click.
I hope for its sake it isn't Gnome or KDE, both of which are actually quite resource-hungry (admittedly much better than Vista Aero, but still pretty heavy). XFCE should be capable of producing that screenshot, and would be significantly more lightweight for netbook purposes -- as long as the developers aren't insisting on fancy window effects and the like.
No thanks.
I'll take a big ol' helping of Win 7, please!
Icons of that size and then navigation lower center of THAT SIZE. LOL
says it all about UI...
I could put this on my old P3 1GHZ, 128MB Ram PC that is struggling with WinXP...
It looks like an iPhone widget list with a Android header
That was meant to be the Eee netbook's OS, Ubuntu.
The EEE PC comes with a Xandros distro.
It will be nice to have a viable Xandros replacement. Ubuntu et al work well enough, but pale in comparison when it comes to the all-important stock Eee boot time. That said, there's no evidence that this will be one. The main problem with Xandros is the generally undersized application repository and the lack of timely and widespread security patches and updates. If I'm reading this right and Jolicloud is a new distribution rather than a derivative of Debian/Ubuntu/Fedora/whatever that can still safely share their repositories (simply giving Jolicloud's custom repos a higher priority), it'll likely still fall prey to the same issues for much the same reasons as its other semi-commercial competitor, Xandros.
wow...wonder if it will run on a underpowered desktop w/ 444mb of ram?
"...less RAM than any PC should be booted up with"
I hope that's a serious claim because many netbooks today have over 1 GB of RAM. If this thing will be free and won't require the user to be a rocket scientist (like regular linux), i might consider installing it on mum's PC with 256 MB of RAM. The only think she does with it is looking for recipes on some cooking website.
Yeah...cooking.
Now that looks amazing. Well done Tariq Grim (?!?), i wish you best success with this. You deserve it. Many, many OS manufacturers could learn from this.
As sir John Cleese said on Michael Coogan: "He's a very talented young actor is he? I do wish he has cancer".
@ rubbish.ending
John Cleese said that about Steve Coogan.
Holy microsoft... I've seen this interface in a dream once!
Yeah, the system you saw in your dreams was Mac Os X.
Oh Blurry, now you are getting blurry.
@blurry
You face looks like OS X you patent offender
So the point of this given that 80% of netbooks now ship with XP which, of course, will change to Windows 7 is...?
That you're rapidly becoming the polar opposite of Paul Chapel?
The point is, this is more like a Smartphone OS than a full computer system, which is exactly what Netbooks are becoming, what with Built-in 3G modems and rediculous battery life.
And let's face it; the whole point of the Netbook revolution was a cheap, small, and excessively intuitive mini-computer for children and old people to get online. Then some geeks found out that they were easy and cheap, decided that they wanted, all the big brands decided to release their own versions, Microsoft got in on the act, and Netbooks just became another branch of the ever-increasingly confusing laptop tree.
Let's get back to the roots, I say. Instant-on OS and big, easy to see menus. Something that old people can tout without feeling like idiots for not being able to use it.
So the point of you being a dimwit is...?
@CJ
Agree with you 100% ! I really hope Netbooks get back to their roots.
If this Jolicloud, or any other variant were to become a Netbook standard that would be great too.
What's killing the Netbooks with Linux is that each one has its own largely incompatable variant OS. Standardization would be great for the end user. More apps available and it would unite all of the various user support forums making troubleshooting/configuration information much easier to find.
@j.d.ripper
I love how the answer to too many incompatible OS's is another OS :P
Point is that 80% of netbooks are turning into p!ssweak underpowered laptops by having XP loaded on them - as soon as you load XP on a netbook it ceases to become a netbook.
Why? Because people then view it like a regular PC, start shovelling pigware onto it, and then wonder why it won't render a 3D animation for them before suppertime. You're missing the point!
I have an EEE701 with Linux, and I use it everywhere that I WOULDN'T use a regular laptop.
#1, it has to have an SSD - so I can throw it my bag in the back of the car with my surfboards, or toss it in to go camping or backpacking.
#2, it has to have a small screen and be lightweight. see #1
#3, it has to be low power to keep it light and efficient on the juice. I don't want a hot, power-hungry, high performance CPU because I want to charge it in my car, and be able to wake up in the bush miles from power and spend 3-4 hours tapping away over a cuppa 'round the campfire.
#4, it has to be cheap, so I can do all of #1-3 without worrying about how much it'll cost me if I break it.
So to all the idiots loading it up with XP, pushing specs and prices up - buy a bl00dy laptop and stop ruining it for the rest of us!
Good prediction! I can't wait to get a full version of W7. It is 2009 already......
EvilPixie gets it, the rest of you don't get a cookie this time round.
When Netbook's were first introduced Linux was a great idea because they ran low cycle CPUs with relatively small amounts of RAM. Unfortunately, the market's moved on and OEMs are shoehorning 1.6GHz (and higher) Atoms and 1 to 2 GB or RAM into them and when you do that what you really have is a small notebook which people expect to run the applications they're familiar with.
And that's what people are buying so that's the direction OEMs will continue to moves in so I it's not Windows love or anything I just don't see the point in these operating systems given the limited target demographic.
But hey, if they can make money out of this then more power to them. I just can't see how.
And no, I am not becoming another Paul Chapel. Jesus, that's a horrible thing to say.
its not a completly new OS. Its a Linux varient. That means porting apps is a breeze. If all else fails just build it yourself. Repositories are handy but are not the only way of installing apps.
For an interface that is filled with large icons for easy targeting, they sure don't make switching between pages very easy.
And I swear I've seen that Youtube icon before somewhere. Can't quite put my finger on it...
"Put my finger on it"
I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE!
Yes Carl YouTube used that icon for itself long before the iPhone, but no doubt Apple will have tryed to patent it by now.
Oh look at my post i used a western font on a computer screen how dare i copy Apple so carelessly, I'm sure they'll sue me to death in the next ten minutes......
Out of nowhere ????
Tarik Krim is the guy behind www.Netvibes.com, wake up guys, not only the US is thinking or innovating.
Well.
This looks a lot like the IPHONE OS.
I think we all know where they took theri inspiration....
Just look at the YouTube icon! If that`s not enough.... hold your iPhone, or an iPhone image against it....
-.-
First Palm, now Jolicloud (next Microsoft)?
why does everything have be about IPhone and everybody has to copy from them?cmon ppl, stop being a douchbag, its a f....ng icon. so what? do u actually think the interface is copied from iphone?..i don't think so...its pretty original in a way and looks much better than anything i've seen...
apple fanboys...ewww
omg it has icons they must've copied the iPhone
I'm sorry this "looks like" the iPhone OS ?
really ?
Have you ever seen an iPhone in your life or is it some kind of a mythical creature for you ?
What does this GUI has in common with the iPhone's one ? iCons ?
Cut the crap and go troll somewhere else.
Btw Engadget the unknown Tariq Krim is the creator of Netvibes and Generationmp3.com (a french techblog)
That icon is YOUTUBE property not Apple's you iDiot
Apple is the only company that has general public drones buzzing around defending it's patent portfolio, if only any of them were educated enough to know what it actually contains.
The UI looks like a perfect fit for the Pandora.
What guys are you talking about? WHERE is the OS? I see only an application starter frontend that can be created in one day with any normal system programming instrument for any OS.
An what are "1 2 3 4 5 6" cyphers on the bottom of the screen? They look like page selectors for current tab. Wow! We have 1" icons on tab and 1/12" page selector. :(
I beleave these stuff CAN BE interesting OS. But it's only an assumption.
This looks like a modified version of the Ubuntu Netbook Remix.
GO PLAY WITH YOUR POS WINDOWS 95 MACHINE YOU REPUBLICAN HERMIT
wtf do you want from a screenshot? If they had a SS of the source code would that be more representative of an OS for you? There could be any kind of code underneath that UI.
the pic for Windows 7 was a shot of the dekstop, did you complain in that post about how it wasn't an OS it was just an interface?
I'm russian. Citizen of Ukraine.
So, I am the first of kind russian-ukrainian republician. :-D
@rorenn - I think it _*IS*_ a derivative of *buntu NBR
See this article at TechCrunch where they interviewed Tariq some time ago when he was getting started -
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/09/netvibes-founder-building-iphone-like-operating-system-for-netbooks/
check the screenshot!
drool
It's obviously an XMB ripoff (since everything absolutely HAS to be a ripoff of something).
Anyway, it looks pretty good, and easy to navigate.
A.C.E.R., you are right. Indeed. But people here discuss the OS. And whole discussion is based on one trivial screenshot.
It looks like a website
Sorry, but I see nothing special here ...I need to run essentially the same applications that run in my desktop. I have an Asus 900, 1 MB, 20 GB, that runs Visual Studio 2005, slower, of course but still I can make demonstrations and changes outside office (outside office here includes taking a beer at mall, for example).
probably shouldn't be drinking at a bar and working at the same time.
and if you need to run visual studio why are you even remotely concerned about a netbook running anything but windows? its not like it would could VM very easily AND run VS2005...
you're asking a lot from a ~500 dollar computer.
So, basically, you're saying most Netbooks don't fulfill any of your needs. Nothing wrong with that.
Linux has the most potential to create an optimized OS + UI for netbooks (eg. ubuntu eee). Problem is, outside the nice icons, the linux community doesn't seem to be interested in polishing the rest of the OS, especially configurations (pointing back to ubuntu eee, where many things still requires editing config files or doing command lines), which are far from user friendly.
I tried couple linux distros on my eeepc, and in the end, I'm back to XP because I want to actually use the device, not having to tinker around and search for some command line fix for some basic configuration issues, or having to figure out how to download the correct updates from certain repositories.
Right on the money!! XP is lean enough to run netbooks, no need to complicate your life with figuring out which is the best distros to run on your netbooks.
You need "command line" for "basic configuration fixes" on a eeebuntu (which is a out-of-the-box-totally-optimised-and-fully-pre-configured-distro specially for the EEEpc) ?
But you can install XP and all the drivers and so on ? yeah right....
By the way editing a config file means opening a text file on notepad, not that complicated.
That's the most efficient and easy way to configure most stuff as long as the options are clearly explained via notes and help.
And don't tell me they are not in eeebuntu.
That's simply words from someone who seemingly never touched any netbook variation of Linuses, which are typically perfectly optimized for the machine they are intended to run on. Admittedly, things get a tiny bit more complex if you want to put a distribution that's not optimized for the machine. But in such a case, you're asking to be put in the "tinkerer" category: assume it! Tinkering only in GUI is reserved for Mac users (don't feed my troll!); Windows and Linux both require extensive knowledge to do it. Anyway, if you don't have such knowledge, Linux distros communities are vast and willing to help you out.
Config in Linux should be better explained and probably put under a nice GUI, translated to each user's language (typically not the case in config text files). I'm a power user, but not a tinkerer in itself: if it works as I want, why change it?
On the other hand, about the OS itself, "always connected in 3G" is pure BS in some places: when riding the subway, you likely don't have 3G network. When you're in range, 3G subscribtion fee is typically another $30 to $60 a month, for a ridiculous few _*hundred*_ megs of data transfer. There's no way I would try to do a heavy OS update that can weight tens of megs without anxiously keeping an eye on the download meter. And that's on top of a normal, budget, $40 cell phone plan. 3G will not take off as a netbook primary link unless large discounts are made. 500MB should be priced accordingly to applications weight: $10 at most in a plan. Watching Yout[]be intensively (for example, no ad intended here) can easily consume tens of gigs a month, and loading those pages overloaded with flash ads about 8 gigs.
Plus, some netbooks still don't have the option of a bigger battery, and the default 2.5 to 3 hours forces oneself to bring the charger, defeating the intended purpose of day-long mobility.
Some of the comments here seem to find that a $500 netbook must be underpowered. It is...especially considering that first-price laptops hover around this price (admittedly, very cheaply made) have double power processors and at least a gig of RAM, often wully-equipped with DVD-burner (an option around $40 for a netbook, interface and drive included) and a more comfortable screen. Mobility comes at a premium, and I bet netbooks priced the same as regular laptops are a very profitable market. My not-at-all teksavvy father wished he could have a very small "netbook" (he simply called it "miniature laptop") two years ago (before the crave) that would be sufficient to do emails, view documents and search the net (yes, light multitasking!) while on the road, but all for $200CDN or less. He was in a deception when I told him that it didn't exist yet, but even smaller and incomplete alternatives existed (smartphones).
Clearly, manufacturers aren't willing to put an honest price on these standardized machines (the Atom platform is sold as a bundle by Intel), as the cheapest netbook available (An Asus EEEPC "surf" with 2Gigs storage, I guess) still goes over $300CDN and is severely limited in its upgrade options (My father is using Ubuntu as his main OS, on my advice when I grew tired of Win slowing with each update and requiring frequent maintenance and pirated softwares).
I still hope that AMD and Motorola will be able to make compatible and competitively priced alternatives to Intel's platform, bringing prices down. In the meantime, I will stay with the most comfortable, sturdy, mobile and powerful machine I could find, MacBook.
I'll say this much: just because Asus are known for being assholes about not opening up their specs to the linux community, and in turn, preventing that community from building smooth, clean drivers and support systems, doesn't mean linux sucks. It means that Asus are a bunch assholes when it comes to supporting the linux community.
Sadly, the end result is still that the eee, especially the 900 series, is a tricky little guy for getting your own linux distro running. But it's not because of Linux as much as it is because of the manufacturer.
For more classic examples of this, look into the history of linux support for Aetheros wireless chipsets.
Pika, you are SO RIGHT! I seriously tried *buntu and even got a brand new laptop for it. Within a month I gave up on it as being ONLY for Geeks. And that's FINE; no problem. Only I'm *not* that geeky. My experience lives at http://www.sticksite.com/linux/
-or you could spring for a screwdriver and a stick of RAM and use a "big boy" OS.
looks like Tariq and that iFrame guy have been comparing notes, or sleeping together
its see beauty...
http://notebooksplanet.com/en/
I smell your stinking spam
I'm very much interested.
I, however, am NOT interested. On a tiny screen with a cruddy trackpad (I LOVE my eee701 but it's not the greatest trackpad), I'd far rather use Launchy and/or hotkeys to launch apps and the less busy crap I have on my desktop, the better.
This is not bad but if you're going for this sorta look-feel, check out Canonical's ubuntu-netbook remix.
Am I the only one that thinks this looks ugly? I just got a MSI Wind rebadge at Circuit City for $315, and the first think I did was reformat it and throw Windows 7 on it and I couldn't be happier. It runs just as fast as any of my other computers for the tasks i need it to do, (Email, Word Processing, Internet, Spreadsheets) and the os looks great on the small screen. Not to mention that Areo runs fine on it and I am only using 56% of my memory ans 36% processor with Firefox, Thunderbird, and Word 07 running. Pair that with the 25 second boot up time and I am doing just fine.
That's hot; a student! I'm sure they partially copied some org. but organizations copy others. Congrats; windows needs a huge makeover but has never happened.
While it does look similar to Ubuntu NBR, I like the addition of an email/facebook message notifier and web/computer search bar at the top. It has a familiar web feel to it that way.
Looks interesting. I'd like to throw it on my AAO to try it out.
I call shenanigans on this whole Jolicloud thing. Any good FOSS or FOSS-type project would have some sort of collaborative project page (example: sf.net) and a mailing list. All I can see from the "read" link is some artse-fartse home page with zero content.
I'm guessing this is going to be some overpriced netbook distro with all sorts of GPL violations that won't ever make it off the ground. It reminds me of CherryOS.
Didn't we have this on the iPhone?
I dont know but this OS reminds me of boxee.
Attractive but far from original.
It looks like Phoenix's HyperSpace solution.
OS lite is all I ask.
Get me onto the web, let me do a little text editing with some sizeable files and I'm good.
I'll keep my gaming PC separate. On my Netbook I just want a browser for on the toilet...er, I mean couch.
As much as I was hoping to see Linux flourish on the Netbook, most people don't want to learn anything new. As such, Windows XP has become the standard OS for netbooks, and I can guarantee that Windows 7 will replace XP on the Netbook. Unfortunately, most people who buy a netbook just want a really small laptop.
Sure it would have been much better for the Linux community as a whole to push just one distribution for netbooks, but anybody who's been a part of the Linux community knows that there is no such thing as consensus in the Linux community.
The Linux community also needs some great marketing. Unfortunately, most people think that Linux is for geeks, which is a shame since there are some really great distributions that are very easy to use. I do think that the Linux distributions could use a better looking desktop, I've used Gnome, KDE, and XFCE, and I find all three to look really old.
This one does look good, unfortunately I don't think it will go anywhere.
This is the real deal guys. Tariq showed me his new OS during CES and this thing rocks. I think this will go live at WEF in Davos next week.