

YouOS (winter 07) shutting down? - sown
https://www.youos.com/
:(<p>Correction: That's Winter 06.
======
srini
Hi, I'm one of the founders of YouOS. Yeah, we're finally shutting it down. We
haven't been working on YouOS actively since November 2006. Why it failed is a
long blog post for another time (it centers around not finding a use for it
ourselves).

Since then, Sam started thesixtyone.com, Jeff works at 23andme, and Joe and I
recently sold our new startup, projectwedding.com to eHarmony.

It's this last item, logistically, why we're shutting it down at this time.

~~~
raghus
_it centers around not finding a use for it ourselves_ \- how did you guys get
the inspiration/motivation to work on pojectwedding.com? Either/both of you
got married and found such a service lacking?

~~~
srini
Yes - Joe was engaged when we started it; he was having trouble finding good
wedding vendors.

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maxklein
People don't get it, do they. I have ZERO interest in an operating system. No,
it's not that I have zero interest in an online operating system, I have no
interest in any operating system at all! What I want are quick and convenient
applications, and the OS itself is totally irrelevant. So anyone who tries to
apply a paradigm that was forced on us to something that we choose to use will
ultimately fail.

What is needed is not an OS, it's an organiser. A place I store files, write
letters, etc. Not some multiple window thingy, but some simply thing that
gives me quick access to my applications.

Everyone trying to recreate Mac OS or Windows, but webbased is doomed to
failure. Mac OS and Windows are used because people don't have a choice as to
what desktop paradigm they can use. If one decides to switch, there are no
applications, so you are forced into using a particular way.

But it has always been a flawed design, so don't copy this stuff.

~~~
axod
For me, creating a web OS is the wrong thing to do because the web already
_is_ an OS. It just needs more apps porting to it, and more interoperability
between them.

If you _really_ want to create a new platform, I think it lives or dies
depending on the apps you can get on it that can't be found elsewhere. I don't
know if youos had any such killer apps...

~~~
rokhayakebe
That is correct.The web is an OS, and we only need to structure it a bit more
or find a way to unify applications as Google does. Google is the web OS.

~~~
unalone
The web is not an OS. The web is a layer that operates through an OS.

The distinction is important to make, because it demonstrates both the web's
greatest advantage (the fact that it can reach across many computers at once)
and its greatest weakness (it will always be slower than the desktop
equivalents).

~~~
rokhayakebe
What can you do on a Windows PC that you cannot if you have access to a
browser on a Linux based computer?

~~~
ashu
As of today, play high performance games.

~~~
axod
There's a good argument for buying a games console.

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axod
I'd love to see some insight into what went right, what went wrong, the
decision to shut down etc

~~~
volida
in the case a startup attempt fails this is the most valuable thing that is
left for the founders.

So, asking them to hand it to you is a bit obnoxious

~~~
jedc
Not really.

Roger Ehrenberg has been writing some great posts on what went wrong with his
company (Monitor110) at informationarbitrage.com, and has been getting some
great feedback.

They can leave the private stuff to themselves, but it wouldn't be completely
unreasonable for a y-combinator-funded company to at least briefly post a
"what went wrong" for the benefit of future startups. They'll still have all
their knowledge and experience, and sharing that won't take it away from them.

~~~
volida
Doesn't mean it must happen public. You can be certain when someone decides to
shut down they've already had that kind of discussion, with people the would
like to share these thoughts.

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listic
When you launch, they say it's a cool new idea. When you quit, they say it
wouldn't work. Why are people so inconsistent?

~~~
unalone
It's a different group of people that speak up each time.

Group A doesn't care about looking at shut-downs, only at the "blooming
opportunities of the Internet." They talk all the time about cool new things.
Group B doesn't care about blather, but when Group A asks why something isn't
working they'll explain it.

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pavelludiq
I remember showing this to all my friends at school. I opened it up and opened
the browser, then i opened it in that browser and opened a browser in that and
i did that until IE crashed :D They were all like "Wow, cool"

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globalrev
So what do we need? More advanced browsers?

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jacobbijani
Didn't they move on to thesixtyone.com?

~~~
sown
I dunno. But I keep seeing this <http://www.projectwedding.com/> link around
their pages.

~~~
KB
Its interesting that projectwedding.com has © 2006-2008 eHarmony, Inc. at the
bottom.

~~~
bigbang
<http://www.kellyoshiroevents.com/blog/?p=511>

------
zeben
LOL EBAUMSWORLD

