Qimo: A desktop OS designed for children

asnyder · on April 13, 2009

The first thing I tried to do was click on the center image. Several screenshots of Qimo in use would improve the site tremendously.

mahmud · on April 13, 2009

Here:

http://www.quinncoincorporated.org/screenshots.php

I had to do a little snooping first, only because their "donate" link figures so prominently on their site that it triggered off my scam detector. They're a legit non-profit founded by a couple.

frossie · on April 13, 2009

I hope the keyboard repeat is set to off by default, because this is how my kid tttttttttyyyyyyyppppppppppeessssssssss

tptacek · on April 13, 2009

Nope. Prove me wrong, Qimo: nobody is going to know what Qimo is 2 years from now.

* It uses the exact same desktop metaphor as OS X.

* My kids (starting ~age 5) have had no trouble picking up enough Finder and Firefox to use their Mac.

* Its one killer app (TuxPaint) is far easier to install on OS X than it is to install Qimo anywhere else.

* The remainders of its apps are pretty much just that, especially compared to what kids can get from the web now. Sorry; calling it like I see it.

A real, supported, up-to-date web browser for kids with a rock-solid "kiosk" mode, yes. Give me a Paypal link. An Ubuntu distro, no.

ZeroGravitas · on April 13, 2009

Are you reviewing this as a startup idea? Your response seems a bit harsh for an open source educational charity.

One benefit of open source is that Qimo could disappear tomorrow and others could carry the torch and build on anything of value they produced.

I use OS X myself and am aware that they have a simplified Finder for kids and old folks, but I see value in having something to put on old junker machines for kids, particularly younger ones that are more likely to spill paint on them or whatever.

You're right that the web is important for accessing the widest range of material. The only real knock that Linux has from the point of view of web kiosk for kids is the lack of shockwave plugin that some older content on e.g. the BBC kids sites uses.

Also, did anyone else think that Qimo sounds too close to Chemo (as in therapy)?

uninverted · on April 13, 2009

Their site runs in ASP on Windows? That's a bit messed up for a linux distribution.

zain · on April 13, 2009

What makes you say that? Looks like PHP/Apache running on Linux: http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.qu...

uninverted · on April 13, 2009

Take a look at their FAQ:

"Q: Why is Qimo4Kids.com running on Windows and .Net? A:Both the design and hosting for this website is being donated to us by TMR Agency. While they are not a Linux shop, they wanted to be involved in helping us get educational software to kids in the capacity they could. We are extremely fortunate and grateful for the amount of design and development effort they put into our website, as well as their continued hosting space and bandwidth."

bmelton · on April 13, 2009

What-is-Qimo.aspx is the URL to the home page.

I mean, you can of course play with MIME types and serve arbitrary file extensions, but why would you want your Linux distro to seem as though it was served by IIS?

_tggb · on April 13, 2009

Maybe they have better things to do (like work on the distro) then care about some nitpicks. The audience here isn't geeks. It shouldn't matter that much.

trickjarrett · on April 13, 2009

Just a quick note that you may want to consider a new name, when I read the brand name I mentally pronounced it as 'Chemo' as in chemo-therapy.

metachris · on April 13, 2009

great idea! reminds me a bit about the olpc-approach to design ui's especially for children and exploring new concepts.

i couldn't find out too much about qimo on the homepage though... i think it would be a good idea to write how qimo differentiates from other distros. and link in the screenshots! :D

Keep up the good work -- We need more projects dedicated to children!