First steps in cloud-walking
Over the weekend I got my invitation to join those testing the alpha of Jolicloud, a new OS for netbooks based on Ubuntu. Installing Jolicloud was remarkably easy, and I had it up and running with no hitches. The OS is very impressive, responsive and fast, and does not seem as sluggish as gOS 3.1 Gadgets, which I’d installed previously. gOS Gadgets is very Mac-like which I enjoy, but on my eeePC 701SD with only 512 RAM, the overhead was too much. Critically though gOS Gadgets did not allow me to install and use 3G and needed some Ubuntu tweeks to get everything working. The lack of 3G, meant that I effectively abandoned my eeePC for meetings and day journeys in favour of taking my MacBook Pro. Not so with Jolicloud, my 3G card (with USB adapter) was recognised immediately and I was soon surfing.
Jolicloud and gOS Gadgets are based on Ubuntu, and although this shows on both each has its own unique points. gOS Gadgets has its Mac-like interface, while Jolicloud’s is really to do with creating a community of enthusiastic users - another concept perhaps borrowed from Apple. It does this by requiring you to create an account with Jolicloud, and in much the same way in which, say the Apple iTunes store works, you are presented with a range of ‘applications’ to install. Many of these are indeed links to websites and services, rather than applications that are downloaded to the netbook, but run full screen rather than load the default Firefox browser. This approach is refreshing, rather than have a standard set of open source applications included with the OS, which many do. It enables the user to pick and chose which services they want on their netbook. For me, for example, I’d prefer not to have the payload of Open Office on my machine and use Google Docs, or the Zoho suite, accessing documents online while travelling. Jolicloud are adding these services all the time and their list is already large. There are some exceptions though, for example, I’d particularly link to see some Twitter clients like Twittux, Twhirl or gTwitter on the menu. I’m also sure that manual installation of other apps is possible but have not tried that yet. In edition to the ‘apps-store’, a Jolicloud account also provides its own Twitter-like microblogging service for its users.
I’m sure I’m going to stick with Jolicloud over the next few months and see where it goes.
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