JOLICLOUD NETBOOK ONLINE WEB SOCIAL OS

One of the things that has been most-surprising about the advent of Netbooks is that it has become less about the hardware as much as how mainstream operating systems and applications have had to adapt to fit within their confines.

While that is certain to change with the release of Windows 7 in late October, which runs leaner and meaner than Vista ever did (and could even come on a thumb drive), Microsoft's stumble opened things up for other operating systems to come in and fill the gap. Many consumers have more of a choice than ever with alternate operating systems that are becoming easier to install and use on these smaller machines.

One of those, called Jolicloud is launching in beta in the next few months. Created by Tariq Krim, who founded and later left widget-based start page Netvibes, the alternate OS has been designed for Web workers, or people who do most of their work (or play) on Web applications and services.

FIRST LOOK:

Built For Netbooks:Jolicloud is very easy to install on your netbook and it boots pretty fast. WiFi, Bluetooth and 3G modems work out of the box on a growing list of supported hardware.

A Beautiful OS:We have designed a simple and elegant interface to let you access as fast as possible your favorite applications and services.

Super Easy To Manage: Your personal homebase contains all your settings, applications and social features. Switching to another computer and setting up the same configuration has never been easier!

One-Click Application Install:With Jolicloud, add the best programs for your netbook in just one click. The list is curated by our team and also includes suggestions and discoveries from the community of users.

A Social OS:Follow your friends, computers or brands and receive automatic suggestions for new software, features or updates.

Super Easy To Update:Your personal homebase automatically suggests personalized system or application updates. Install them in just one click.

Never Lose Anything:Keep track of all your activities on Jolicloud and replicate if you need the same system on another computer.

Open To Popular Standards:Compatible with Linux, Windows, AIR and web applications that support Flash and Gears for offline web.

Runs Linux, AIR and Windows applications:Windows and Linux applications are designed to be full screen and use optimal space too.

Bring Your Applications To Jolicloud:If you have a cool Linux application fitted for netbooks or a web application that replaces a traditional software.

How it works:

Jolicloud centers on a directory of applications that can be sorted by genre, release date, and popularity. To download or remove them from your computer, you just click on their icon and it does the rest. Jolicloud groups both Web apps and software programs under the same name umbrella, and both are added and removed from your system in the same manner. There's also a normal add and remove programs tool just like you get in Windows, but it's easier to do it from Jolicloud's rounded and simplistic interface.

Jolicloud is designed to let users hop back and forth between apps that all use the entire screen. Apps you have open stay in a top menu bar and can be switched back and forth just by clicking on them. Alt+tab works too.

Interestingly enough, you don't actually launch any downloaded app from the directory screen. Instead, they're housed in a simple three-pane menu that users can hop back to at any time. This keeps apps organized by whatever category they were in on Jolicloud's directory, but it's also a little jarring after using Windows or Mac where you're used to a start button, quick launch menu, or dock.

One of the big draws to Jolicloud is that it takes this list of apps you have installed and backs it up. If you have multiple computers running Jolicloud that share the same account, it syncs up those apps, including any log-ins or shared data. This puts less of an importance on what hardware you're using, meaning you can hop from machine to machine and get right back to what you were doing on the other.

As mentioned earlier, Jolicloud allows users to befriend one another as well as join groups. This means you're alerted to new applications on a constant basis. For many though, this may be a little creepy.

When showing this to one of my friends, their first question was "does that mean everyone will know what video I watched while I was supposed to be working?" Luckily no. For now it's limited to displaying what applications your friends are adding or removing--not what they're doing inside of them. But I could easily see that changing with some apps that share your information with others, like social-gaming site Kongregate, and social networks Facebook and Twitter.

Initial List Of Compatible Devices:

Acer

Aspire One, Aspire 150

Asus

Eee PC 700, 701, 701SD, 704SD, 900, 900A, 901, 904HD, 1000, 1000H, 1000HD, 1002HA, 1005HA, 1008HA, S101 / Eee Box B202, Eee Top 1602 (no touchscreen yet)

Compaq

Mini 700EF

Dell

Mini 9, Mini 10v

HP

Mini 1000, Mini 2133 (partially supported)

Intel

Classmate and derivatives

Lenovo

S-10

MSI

Wind U100, Wind U120, Wind U150

Samsung

NC-10, N-310 (no webcam support)

The good:

• Free (for now).
• Large directory of applications that are easy to install and uninstall.
• Simple way to create a USB key w/included software.
• Multiple types of installations, including ones that can sit alongside your normal OS.
• Windows emulator (WINE) so you can run many applications you're used to.
• OS and applications automatically update.

The bad:

• Can't have multiple applications on screen at the same time.
• Downloaded applications are organized for you and cannot be reorganized.
• Does not work on all Netbooks, only certain models.
• Linux-related hang ups like limited driver support.