Jolicloud preview 2 July, 2009
Today I got an invitation for Jolicloud, I was really excited about that project and I’m really happy for this opportunity to test it.
Jolicloud is not the first Linux distribution I have installed on my Samsung NC10… I’ve tested also Ubuntu Jaunty/Karmic, Fedora, Arch Linux and Moblin (latest snapshot).
Which is the technology behind Jolicloud?
Basically Jolicloud is a derivate of Ubuntu Netbook Remix with wide Prism usage across the desktop environment: the majority of “applications” you have seen in the screenshots are small packages which provide an independent Prism session on a specific website: for example, if you install the twitter application you will get a new icon inside your application list, that icon will start a new fullscreen Prism session for twitter.com.
Common desktop applications are also included, like Firefox or VLC, but it is highly focused on web services.
Installation
It is just like Ubuntu, nothing more/nothing less (you are in the Jolicloud desktop, but the installer is the same used by Ubuntu).
First Run
As said, the “core” is an Ubuntu Netbook Remix, so we firstly see an Usplash booting sequence (nice and simple theme)…
Followed by the GDM session (simple and nice theme too)…
After the login procedure the desktop environment starts. It’s a GNOME desktop with the Netbook Remix session: the custom panel on top shows the title of the current application in the middle, a list of the running application on its left and the status icons on its right. In the center of the screen Jolicloud asks to login on the website and then it opens the default screen you might have already seen (the dashboard shown in the screenshots is nothing more than a Prism session running http://my.jolicloud.com).
Jolicloud is now ready.
The home screen, dashboard, how do you call it 
As said, the main screen is a Prism session (so a website, no Clutter, no Cairo, no Gtk+…) with useful links to your applications and your settings. It is great to see how it is simple to use, really: installing and removing applications is a matter of a click, browsing and viewing the catalog of applications is very easy. For everyone. I like it.
Running applications
The separated fullscreen Prism sessions work surprisingly well… In the reality you’re running a web browser, but they give you the feeling that they are just like normal applications: if you run gmail, twitter, facebook (etc etc) you have their icons in your taskbar and you switch between them like they were a real application.
It’s the web now the protagonist of your netbook because you are actually using each web 2.0 service as an individual application: something that has been imagined for years by almost every company (Microsoft too) realized in Jolicloud really well.
A desktop replacement?
This distribution is absolutely amazing to surf the web when you’re on a train, in the university, when you just want your social websites up and running, when you want to update all your services and work with your documents.
But just like Moblin, in my opinion it is not meant to replace your Ubuntu… it will be likely added to your grub in a small partition dedicated to your social virtual space. And that is a good thing… when you need you have a quick access to the web. Great!
Comparison with Moblin
They are two completely different projects, even if they share the same love for the web.
Moblin is like a smart interface for your netbook providing a mix of useful applications with incredible tecnologies behind (KMS, fastboot, Clutter…) optimized for your netbook, with Jolicloud the web becomes your operating system (it provides the applications) trough an efficent environment for your small laptop.
I’m sure they will live together on my hard disk soon
Posted in English, GNOME, GTK |
2 July, 2009 alle 9:32
you are lucky. I’m waiting invitation code too.
2 July, 2009 alle 10:14
Nice overview. I tested moblin too, but found a couple of problems with it (not to mention the instabillity). The biggest beeing that you do not have all the software you are used to at your finger tipps. With Jolicloud (just judging from the screenshots, since I have not yet received an invitation) you seem to have all the software available that is in ubuntu with the added feature of having the extra web software. For example Jolicloud comes with Geany, which I use heavily for coding. I think Jolicloud is more than just a way to keep your online live on the go, it seems like it offers the best of two worlds, whereas moblin is targeted at just mobility and “online lifestyle”.
2 July, 2009 alle 14:26
Bah, Linux fails, yet again.
It’s a UNR + Prism yet the website makes zero mention of that. So say the user likes it. For all they know, Jolicloud made this thing from scratch. If they want something like this on their desktop (read: ubuntu, what it’s derived from), they won’t know that this is available.
… and people whine when Canonical even tries to enforce their trademark. In the OSS world, you can steal credit and people will applaud you, shooting their own efforts.
2 July, 2009 alle 17:13
Thanks for this review, I have not yet received my invitation for Jolicloud and may not even be interested by the time I do….
I think Moblin is a far better project than Jolicloud for this category of operating system. I think Moblin is going to boot faster and be much better…but ultimately both are suffering from the exact point you brought up…It doesn’t have all the tools one might need from a full-featured operating system.
Now, the sad part is these “remixes” take an existing system (Moblin - Fedora and apparently Ubutnu for Jolicloud) and strips them of some important features. It also makes it hard to actually get other software you might normally use.
Maybe it’s an exchange for fast boot speeds, smaller hard disk usage, etc.
It’s great to have it as a quick “instant-on” solution - but I would want to then boot the main OS from these initial operating systems (in addition to an option in grub) because what if I miss the grub prompt? That’s annoying. What if I start off checking my e-mail then realize I have to dive into work? Then I’d like to “continue on to…” the main OS. Much better workflow. As it stands now, there really is no point because my full featured linux distro (Fedora) can do all that Moblin and Jolicloud can. So it doesn’t look as pretty, so what. The real benefit is the speed to boot — but not when you have to restart and press keys quickly with grub. Eh, pass.
4 July, 2009 alle 7:04
[...] information related to your search Andrea Cimitan: Jolicloud preview is now available in this link…: News [...]
22 July, 2009 alle 16:59
I wrote a short review about Jolicloud, including some screenshots. But it is in Indonesian though. ^^;
http://animaster-talks.net/blog/2009/07/22/mencoba-jolicloud-sistem-operasi-baru-untuk-netbook/
11 November, 2009 alle 4:06
Hello All,
I am an avid user of Jolicloud, having used mandriva and ubuntu for the last 3 years I can say undoubtedly this is the easiest linux environment I have used. What I like is that I still have a terminal and can add any software I desire. I am running wine and virtual box from my jolicloud. I can do everything that I could do in ubuntu except compiz. With that said if you love compiz you can use the newest 9.10 ubuntu remix and get the compiz effects. However the app installer for jolicloud is rather easy to use.
I also enjoyed the “out of the box” readiness of this. I have tried moblin on my aspire one and cant get wireless to work. If you need an invite apply at the website, I received mine in less than 24 hours.