

7 Interesting Web operating system Applications - ravindra1982
http://www.dreamcss.com/2009/07/web-operating-system-applications.html

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sjs382
I never understood why anyone would have a desire to use any of these "web os"
apps. Do we really need a desktop in the browser? Apps in the browser sure,
but a desktop!?

~~~
Ennis
I somewhat agree but mostly not I guess. The reality is we are all using
desktops which have had significantly more development hours go into them than
any of the webOS desktops.

They are trying to solve more than one problem but end up creating an
unappealing solution. The real issue here is data portability - not data
migration. Moving my e-life to a web based desktop will never work. Some of my
documents are too sensitive to store online. What if I am using a browser with
limited functionality. I'm a student and in a given day I must be using more
than 3 different computers at least - all of which have a different system
with different access restrictions. I wish flash worked properly or even
existed in some cases but that is not the reality for people who really need
this.

These products are all built on a notion of "what if we could..." not what is
actually needed.

At the end of the day I want to access all my data anyway I want - usb,
internet, ftp, http, pop, imap, ssh, sftp, yada yada. Now that would make my
life so much simpler.

~~~
ravindra1982
I m totally Agree with Ennis. Even Google's upcoming Operating System is also
browser based Operating System.

~~~
sjs382
The "web operating systems" in this post and "the browser as an operating
system" are two different ideas. These web operating systems are essentially a
Desktop Environment within a browser window.

Why would I need a Desktop Environment (a la KDE, Gnome) in a browser? What
itch does this scratch?

~~~
e1ven
I've thought that it would be useful quite a few times, because it avoids
syncing.

Sync is an issue that causes pain for a lot of people- Microsoft has been
trying to fix it since the mid 90s, and Dropbox et all do it well.

So I'm at work, with my email client open, and I've got a list of RSS feeds..
I want to check the same list of RSS feeds at home. I also want my email to
all be synced properly, even the ones from that old POP3 server that doesn't
support IMAP. I want my bookmarks, and browser history to sync, as well as my
saved passwords. I want to pause the song I'm listening to in my office, hop
in my car, and press Play again, then finish the playlist at home on my
stereo.

All of these things have solutions now.. Dropbox, Weave, IMAP, etc.. But
they're all disparate solutions. I'd pay money to have one solution that just
worked. That let me keep my workflow online, rather than having to break it
up. Something that synced everything, rather than each piece.

One of the best ways to do that is an OS where it all lives remotely. That
way, there's no "sync" involved. It's all out on remote servers to begin with.

~~~
sjs382
I do just this already, actually.

I use a combination of web-based applications, a ssh client, a collection of
portable apps on a usb drive (including firefox from portableapps.com) and an
iPod. It all works completely seamlessly without the need for a "Desktop
Environment" in the browser.

I'm still at a loss as to what _bringing a Desktop Environment_ to the web
brings you. I understand the need for web apps, not the Desktop Environment.

(Also, can't you easily setup this for yourself and run existing desktop apps
using VLC? Rather than just using half-baked apps that the WebOS devs have
created?

~~~
e1ven
I often do use Remote Desktop or NoMachines, but most users aren't going to do
that. If you could make setting up Remote Desktop/NX sessions trivial, you'd
obliterate the use-case for web-desktops entirely.

~~~
sjs382
_but most users aren't going to do that_

Most users also don't require a persistent desktop between multiple locations.
This discussion naturally leads itself to a unique set of users. :)

