Jolicloud - may just become the best Linux for your netbook?

I've been waiting to write this for about 6 months, since I first heard of Jolicloud, a revolutionary new linux based OS for netbooks.

The fact that Jolicloud is based on Ubuntu stands it in good stead already. But Joliclouds developers have invested a significant ammount of effort in changing the way the the OS approaches applications and - the clue is in the name - takes a more cloud computing friendly approach to their deployment.

Installing the alpha was completed in about 25 minutes from a 2GB USB stick and was a very simple process. Clear instructions were provided on the site for both creating the USB and running the installation. The installation is also familiar - it's the same as the standard Ubuntu installer and making the same choices delivers an installation.

So what's the difference? Well, Jolicloud is designed to take a much more web-based / cloud computing approach to delivering applications and services to your netbook. After the install has completed, you have only a relatively basic set of applications in place, and, on first inspection no obvious way to add them (Synaptic doesn't appear in the application menu as it normally would) ... then you follow the instructions and log into the Jolicloud and it all starts to make sense.

This is where the key difference between Jolicloud and other Linux distributions shows up. Synaptic is now replaced by a much more visual and interactive menu that includes updates, application installation as well as including notifications, profile management and (in the future) community elements. It's this that helps to make Jolicloud such an interesting package.

Where have I go to now? Well. I have the usual Firefox / Mozilla / OpenOffice combination installed. In addition, I have Wine and Winedoors (the latter had to be downloaded and installed manually), and running on that I have Flash 8, Dreamweaver 8 and Photoshop CS2. The only thing that I needed to install by hand with Synaptic was Rhythmn Box. A music player is available, but just wasn't what I wanted. I think the key point of this is that should you need to do something by hand, you can, and it doesn't break everything.

I've been running for over a week now, and it's all good. It's easy, even for an Alpha, I haven't yet found something that doesn't work. I like it, and by the time this has reached a final release I suspect Ubuntu 9.04 is going to face a serious challenge (if not and outright winner) in the netbook market.

Netbook + Windows XP = Still the most usable combination?

I hate to be writing this. As you may have spotted from the rest of my blog, I love Linux and I own an EeePC 900. OK. I've tried a number of distributions and I have come to a conclusion that I don't actually like: Install Windows XP. Because in the end, it is just easier, and you'll be more productive because more of the software that you want to use will work.

It is a sad state of affairs really. We all know that Windows XP isn't all that - let's face it, we're talkign about an OS that has some fundamental flaws. But what it offers, and what I really hope that the Linux community will soon provide is true ease of use.

For example, I have a 3G usb modem that I can use while travelling. The device has a memory stick built in that contains the drivers - for both Windows and Linux. The Windows drivers install first time and work, the Linux drivers won't install properly and don't provide any feedback on why.

I don't actually want to use Windows XP - it feels like a step backwards. It just happens to work better. I'm hoping that JoliCloud will provide a real alternative ... then theres Windows 7 ...

Jolicloud - one to watch

Jolicloud is a new, linux base netbook operating system that is being hyped at the moment aso one of the next significant OSs to be released with the netbook platform in mind.

Wired discuss Jolicloud in their blog at some length here "Netbooks Offer a Chance to Challenge Windows' Long Reign" and provide a screenshot of what looks to be a nice tidy interface.

Jolicloud can also be found on twitter.

I'm looking to review this either as soon as I can get access to a beta version, or when the final release arrives.