Slate : I want my GoogleOS

Open editor, start writing.

After a few seconds... "autosaving..." I wonder where?

Maybe tomorrow.... seventeen edited versions of my document appear on the web with AdSense ads plastered all over them.

so an os that sits on top my os and bestest feature is a desktop sticky?

hold the phone, i smell a revolution.

no lag on dragging stuff around which I find nice but its not really an OS if you need to use an OS to get there as Steve said. There would have to be some very compelling features to give up on microsoft for this kind of thing.

Google controls this?

I saw a lot of amazon stuff load when I clicked on the link.

And, they need an F11 "Make the windows go away" key like there is in the mac for me to use it.

Nothing there I don't already have through my Mandriva desktop (and probably a lot less). Yeah, I'm in the minority, but as soon as they launch, they'll be up against these comparisons - or worse against mac users.

so what does it show, i just get some cack "loading" message and FA else?

I love this concept, and I hope someone puts together a more functional version soon (come on Google). It is super-useful when you live in a kombi and the only net connection you have is from the internet cafe in whichever town you happen to be stopped at. As a publisher working with writers the project management of something like writely really appeals to me too.

Halfbrain, Oddpost and others duplicated desktop computer behavior earlier in the decade, but it never really took off. I think the time is right this time for this strategy to work because:

- more broadband connections
- more capable browsers and faster computers to support them
- more acceptance of having your stuff on the web.

WebOS are pretty useless i've tried so many, the best ones probly are
http://desktoptwo.com/
and
http://www.fenestela.com

However, i think it's more a "gong back to the AOL explorer 6" trend.
Now you get a windows in a windows in another window.... plus a loss of speed...great.
pointless so far

ok, let's look at it this way.

The system requirements are tiny, extremly tiny (pocketpc level tiny in terms of Horsepower needed). This means no harddrives (flash drive, just a fraction of the ram that is needed now, and hardly any software).

The reason the hardware requirements are tiny is because the computer that we are discussing is this Browser with tiny OS that just connects to the Internet via a broadband connection, this could be stored on a tiny flash drive (the amount of software needed).

The machine could be bought for 100 bucks or less, and there is no need for software (no 500 dollar Office package for example, No 300 dollar OS) as all the programs are online.

It's nothing more than a dumb terminal, but you could literally staff an entire office of 9 people for 900 bucks total... as compared to today that could just get you one decent P4 box with a Gb of ram and a few software packages.

As with all these cost postives there are negatives... IE: your stuff is stored on a server that you don't own.

It's not so much the issue that your stuff is stored on a server you don't own - as much as the huge potential for data-loss in the event of technical problems.

At least if your PC fails, data can be relatively easy to recover (as I found out a few weeks back).

Any "online OS" system is going to need a very serious back up strategy to preserve user data.

Traditionally, though, hosting providers don't offer guarantees that data will be backed up, and accept no liability for data loss.

If an "online-OS" can address these issues, then maybe it's viable for business use.

Personally I can't see the risks justifying placing key business data with a third party.

a very clever implementation of what can evolve into a web based OS as envisioned by Google. A step in the right direction. Maybe Google will buy this company and rebrand the product.

I can think of some great uses for this:

- you could store client agreements on it.
- better yet, you could write and store Non-Disclosure Agreements on it.
- if you're a doctor, you could store letters to patients on it.

After all, if the reason is that it's "convenient", what the heck?

But, on the real side, by now most of us are cognizant of the need to back up data, and with prices for rewritable DVDs and external hard drives as low as they are now, that's hardly an excuse.

If the issue is accessing your data while you're out of the office, there are safer ways to do that than writing and storing what may be confidential information in circumstances that are not under your control.

Or has AOL's data disclosure snafu already been forgotten? (And those were customers; it's unclear whether one would actually be a "customer" in this case.)

As clever as this is, I don't see the practicality.

I think you could get this to work if done right.

If you could buy this 'terminal box' for 100 bucks or so it could work.

As a business owner my concerns would be sending this stuff over the wire to some other firm.. and of course DianeV's concern regarding the AOL issue where all the data was spilled out over the internet...

As a business owner as well however I would like the low cost per workstation (10% the cost per employee per workstation).

Now the bigger picture:

Microsoft is allocating resources to SEARCH to try to get at Google's core revenue stream... Google in turn, if done correctly, would be able to attack Microsoft's core revenue stream (OS and Office) using a product like this.

This would decrease Microsoft's revenue and gives them less tools to fight Google... (Stretch again, but it would appear to be the strategy).

It would be in Google's best intrest to make a product like this work and be viable.

Bills got 10 x more than he needs to buy out those two upstarts anytime he wants.
Dont imagine he's shaking in his shoes now or anytime soon.

You guys must be living on a different planet than me. Last time I checked the governments of the world were steadfastly merging with and/or completely cooperating with (and vice versa) the major trans-national corporations, of which Google is one of the largest (tho we seem to stupidly associate it with only America).

In every single case historically, there becomes a certain point where this government-corporate intermingling becomes so entrenched that corrupt government lower-level workers will whole-heartedly dish out corporate trade secrets from virtually any non-NGO corporation to any one that pays a pittance. And before that point, governments have always, habitually, spied upon and then *sold* to *any* bidder, any and all information about individual citizens that is asked for.

Actually, this has only occurred since the 19th Century. Why? Because fascism is the corruption of democracy. It cannot take root in a non-democratic atmosphere (otherwise you get overt juntas); Fascism is *popular* tyranny, lead by a generally small percentage of gun-toting, "freedom-loving" supporters of the Strong Leader Who Will Keep Us Safe, and who generally have very strong beliefs in both God and that they would be / are helping save various and sundry "uncivilized" people in the world by spreading their core principles such as their particular form of government via overt force, subjugation, and subsequent colonization (i.e., Poland).

And in case you're wondering, in the above I was referring to supporters of Hitler.

I just think it's nuts to rest more and of our sensitive data in any one's hands, when so much more can be gleaned about our inner thoughts than any other time in history (e.g., search engines as "intention vehicles"). We really need to be encrypting more nad more and saving it either locally or in a distributed, anonymizing medium.

This is only an emulator. Hard core application will surely slow it down.

Nothing new here. Better would be to run one from your own server: http://www.eyeos.org/