A major fear of moving to a linux system is that you can't run your favorite apps. Apple says they fix this with Bootcamp, but that requires rebooting and doesn't actually fix anything because any computer can do that. We hope to fix this by using stream lined virtual machines, like those used by Windows 7 to run applications in XP Mode for the first year or so of Windows 7. That will allow native support for Windows applications to use 100% of Windows applications successfully, without rebooting, and while having a the core still be linux to give you better antivirus protection.
Microsoft though is very particular using their libraries, therefore this feature will only be available to people with valid Microsoft licenses. Without a valid license we will offer a Wine-like virtualization which doesn't have as good of support for all Windows' applications, but it does run Diablo II so you can't complain there.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Communication Integration
Communication is a huge part of the Internet, was half of the original purpose of the Internet but by far the biggest use of it. Social networking, instant messaging, e-mail, google wave, status updates and microblogging, normal blogging, Voice Over IP, SIP Phones, Skype, Video conferencing, text messaging and probably more are major habits of the modern computer advocate.
NetOS will have all of this built in, with integrated account management tools you can easily add in any email, social network, or IM account and instantly start receiving your updates directly from your desktop.
An advanced address book will allow you to see all your contacts or separate them per-account or through many other filters. You'll be able to combine contacts, merging the same person together that you might have on multiple accounts making it easy to find the best way to communicate with that person.
Using services online we also hope to offer phone services for calling landlines and mobile phones and texting mobile phones using existing free services. When possible we hope to allow you to add in your own phone number so it will appear as you calling from your own phone when you call from your computer.
We also hope to allow you to connect your phone via Blutooth to your computer and allow your computer to intercept phone calls and help sync your address book on your phone. Later we hope to offer mobile apps to sync automatically.
Using the cloud-storage service as well we hope to offer secure storage of your communications, allowing you to log all your conversations, even your text messages, call logs, emails, instant messages - securely and index them all so you can search through them and view your conversation logs with a certain people.
Another commonly used feature is a Calendar. We hope to integrate use of a calendar and allow you to invite contacts to events you create and have them be invited independent of what service they're on, so if you invite a friend on Facebook it will appear as a Facebook Event, and if you invite someone through am Email it will send them an invite link.
We do not hope to create a new communication protocol or even a new instant messaging service, that seems pointless to use as XMPP is a very good protocol and it'd be impossible to beat Skype's amazing voice quality. Therefore we hope to only integrate support for all the major communication methods and make it robust enough to allow other people to add support for other services.
We also hope to design this system to be a realtime system, allowing for services to push data to the user when available, when most instant messaging services are already doing this, most social networks and email accounts don't. We hope to be able to use the recently added push features offered by Twitter and make the most out of email providers that allow pushing of data. We are looking at Android 2.2's push data API being added for developer use currently to reuse the same concept.
NetOS will have all of this built in, with integrated account management tools you can easily add in any email, social network, or IM account and instantly start receiving your updates directly from your desktop.
An advanced address book will allow you to see all your contacts or separate them per-account or through many other filters. You'll be able to combine contacts, merging the same person together that you might have on multiple accounts making it easy to find the best way to communicate with that person.
Using services online we also hope to offer phone services for calling landlines and mobile phones and texting mobile phones using existing free services. When possible we hope to allow you to add in your own phone number so it will appear as you calling from your own phone when you call from your computer.
We also hope to allow you to connect your phone via Blutooth to your computer and allow your computer to intercept phone calls and help sync your address book on your phone. Later we hope to offer mobile apps to sync automatically.
Using the cloud-storage service as well we hope to offer secure storage of your communications, allowing you to log all your conversations, even your text messages, call logs, emails, instant messages - securely and index them all so you can search through them and view your conversation logs with a certain people.
Another commonly used feature is a Calendar. We hope to integrate use of a calendar and allow you to invite contacts to events you create and have them be invited independent of what service they're on, so if you invite a friend on Facebook it will appear as a Facebook Event, and if you invite someone through am Email it will send them an invite link.
We do not hope to create a new communication protocol or even a new instant messaging service, that seems pointless to use as XMPP is a very good protocol and it'd be impossible to beat Skype's amazing voice quality. Therefore we hope to only integrate support for all the major communication methods and make it robust enough to allow other people to add support for other services.
We also hope to design this system to be a realtime system, allowing for services to push data to the user when available, when most instant messaging services are already doing this, most social networks and email accounts don't. We hope to be able to use the recently added push features offered by Twitter and make the most out of email providers that allow pushing of data. We are looking at Android 2.2's push data API being added for developer use currently to reuse the same concept.
Media built in
Everyone knows Cable is slowly fading out. With the conception of Google TV, Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, and all the major television networks putting their tv shows online for viewing - there is a high demand for having the ability to watch all of these amazing services easily.
Boxee, an open source media hub designed for your TV, is a great movement for that idea.
NetOS will focus on having a built in media library to manage your Photos, Music, Movies, TV Shows, eBooks, and Broadcasts (Podcast, Audiobooks, Pandora). Using the same idea of Boxee, when you search your own library, it will also search online, so when you search for a song and don't have it, it can be played from dozens of services that might have it so you can always listen to what you want.
Same thing for TV Shows, you can easily subscribe to the TV Shows you like and get updates when new episodes come our right from your desktop - allowing you to stay updated and you won't ever miss the beginning of a new season to your favorite show. Easily find your preferred host for the TV Show and watch it from any supported host.
The media library will be extensible, so anyone can add support for their network, so if you have a Netflix account you will be able to have those shows come up in your search results. If you have a TiVo you can have your recordings come up to easily be able to watch your prerecorded shows.
Easily rent movies from Amazon Video on Demand and other supports services, and buy movies online from other services. We hope to also support the iTunes store, but that is a pipe dream still, so only have moderate hopes, Apple is very picky about things like that.
eBooks is also a growing movement more recently. Support for reading multiples of eBook formats will be built right into your computer, allowing you to easily find and buy your favorite books or new books you want to read, and then read them from your computer or other devices easily. We hope to push for more open formats for eBooks, but still include support for Amazon Kindle books if possible.
Using the cloud-storage service, we also hope to offer backups of your library so you don't have to worry about losing your library. And if you purchase your media from an integrated store you can always redownload it. We also want to have support for media devices - including music players, tablets, phones, remotes, wireless TVs, local media shares and more - allowing you to use your library anywhere. Combining support with the cloud-storage and devices, we hope to offer applications for mobile devices to allow you to stream your own library anywhere without taking up a ton of space on your phone, iPod, or tablet.
Boxee, an open source media hub designed for your TV, is a great movement for that idea.
NetOS will focus on having a built in media library to manage your Photos, Music, Movies, TV Shows, eBooks, and Broadcasts (Podcast, Audiobooks, Pandora). Using the same idea of Boxee, when you search your own library, it will also search online, so when you search for a song and don't have it, it can be played from dozens of services that might have it so you can always listen to what you want.
Same thing for TV Shows, you can easily subscribe to the TV Shows you like and get updates when new episodes come our right from your desktop - allowing you to stay updated and you won't ever miss the beginning of a new season to your favorite show. Easily find your preferred host for the TV Show and watch it from any supported host.
The media library will be extensible, so anyone can add support for their network, so if you have a Netflix account you will be able to have those shows come up in your search results. If you have a TiVo you can have your recordings come up to easily be able to watch your prerecorded shows.
Easily rent movies from Amazon Video on Demand and other supports services, and buy movies online from other services. We hope to also support the iTunes store, but that is a pipe dream still, so only have moderate hopes, Apple is very picky about things like that.
eBooks is also a growing movement more recently. Support for reading multiples of eBook formats will be built right into your computer, allowing you to easily find and buy your favorite books or new books you want to read, and then read them from your computer or other devices easily. We hope to push for more open formats for eBooks, but still include support for Amazon Kindle books if possible.
Using the cloud-storage service, we also hope to offer backups of your library so you don't have to worry about losing your library. And if you purchase your media from an integrated store you can always redownload it. We also want to have support for media devices - including music players, tablets, phones, remotes, wireless TVs, local media shares and more - allowing you to use your library anywhere. Combining support with the cloud-storage and devices, we hope to offer applications for mobile devices to allow you to stream your own library anywhere without taking up a ton of space on your phone, iPod, or tablet.
Advanced System Recovery, Syncing, and Sharing
Computers crash, it happens. You can try and prepare yourself with an external hard drive and manually backing things up, or paying for a backup service to put some files on a server somewhere. If you use Windows you might use the integrated backup features to automate backing up of certain files, and if you use Mac OS you might have a Time Machine to secure your backups.
Another major issue is when you use multiple computers, if you have a desktop and a laptop, a mobile device, netbook, tablet, or mobile phone - two of any instantly make you wish for some kind of order to the chaos. There are some applications that can help, Dropbox is a great service if you have a small amount of stuff you want to sync up, but dropbox can't be used for backups.
If sharing files and folders with people is also a huge pain, Windows has tried to solve this through many different solutions, and most of the time computers only allow sharing for local network computers, but lets face it, we're a mobile age, we can work remotely, we shouldn't be tired down and we still need to collaborate with our files. Dropbox again helps here, and many other services like Google Docs, version control systems, and more touch on this issue.
But let's face it, simplicity would be best here. To fix this, NetOS is considering implementation of a totally redesigned file system - now, we're not talking about getting rid of NTFS or anything, we want to keep support everywhere, what we mean is that all your files can be synced off site - version control is kept letting you undelete anything, see your edits to a file, and more. All files stored off site will be encrypted using a private key file, giving you complete security.
That instantly takes care of backups.
As for syncing your files and sharing with others, every folder on your computer can be shared, invite yourself on another computer or invite your friends and coworkers to a folder and your files will be synced through a client-to-client system. Meaning that you are not dependent on another server to host the files, instead, each person being shared with holds a HEAD file containing revision history, and the master user (the person who starts to invite people) holds the revisions. The master user can then have those revisions stored on their own secure server to save space. Each member of the shared folder will always have the most recent files, so if you edit something it's sent out to the other members, and their local file is updated.
If you have two computers, you can have selected folders be synced by logging into your own server holding your backups and selecting the folders or you can choose to sync up your entire home directory.
Now for simplicity, you do not actually need to have your own server, a service will be offered by NetOS to use cloud-storage to offer peace of mind for secure and safe backups and revisions of your files. Pricing for the space is not decided, but you can be sure we're aiming for something close to what Google Docs charges for extra storage - this will likely be a main source of income for the NetOS core development, as we want to keep NetOS free and open source, we need to somehow have a way to get a stable development.
And now, if you're computer ever breaks, you just bootup your new NetOS install or use the NetOS app on a different operating system and you have complete and transparent access to all your files again.
Another major issue is when you use multiple computers, if you have a desktop and a laptop, a mobile device, netbook, tablet, or mobile phone - two of any instantly make you wish for some kind of order to the chaos. There are some applications that can help, Dropbox is a great service if you have a small amount of stuff you want to sync up, but dropbox can't be used for backups.
If sharing files and folders with people is also a huge pain, Windows has tried to solve this through many different solutions, and most of the time computers only allow sharing for local network computers, but lets face it, we're a mobile age, we can work remotely, we shouldn't be tired down and we still need to collaborate with our files. Dropbox again helps here, and many other services like Google Docs, version control systems, and more touch on this issue.
But let's face it, simplicity would be best here. To fix this, NetOS is considering implementation of a totally redesigned file system - now, we're not talking about getting rid of NTFS or anything, we want to keep support everywhere, what we mean is that all your files can be synced off site - version control is kept letting you undelete anything, see your edits to a file, and more. All files stored off site will be encrypted using a private key file, giving you complete security.
That instantly takes care of backups.
As for syncing your files and sharing with others, every folder on your computer can be shared, invite yourself on another computer or invite your friends and coworkers to a folder and your files will be synced through a client-to-client system. Meaning that you are not dependent on another server to host the files, instead, each person being shared with holds a HEAD file containing revision history, and the master user (the person who starts to invite people) holds the revisions. The master user can then have those revisions stored on their own secure server to save space. Each member of the shared folder will always have the most recent files, so if you edit something it's sent out to the other members, and their local file is updated.
If you have two computers, you can have selected folders be synced by logging into your own server holding your backups and selecting the folders or you can choose to sync up your entire home directory.
Now for simplicity, you do not actually need to have your own server, a service will be offered by NetOS to use cloud-storage to offer peace of mind for secure and safe backups and revisions of your files. Pricing for the space is not decided, but you can be sure we're aiming for something close to what Google Docs charges for extra storage - this will likely be a main source of income for the NetOS core development, as we want to keep NetOS free and open source, we need to somehow have a way to get a stable development.
And now, if you're computer ever breaks, you just bootup your new NetOS install or use the NetOS app on a different operating system and you have complete and transparent access to all your files again.
The Concept of NetOS
NetOS is a codename for this project, as it's in an initial startup phase it was the quickest and more direct name we could come up with for now. Pay little attention to the name.
Now the concept for NetOS is to create a new Linux Distro that is redesigned with everything modern in mind - considerations for cloud computing, advance desktop computing power to limited netbook processing power, availability for tablets, social networking, instant messaging, communication, e-mail, contacts, calendars, integrated web browser (Chrome OS concept), usability (amazing user interface - Mac OS X concept), quick bootup time (Chrome OS concept, now a goal for everyone), mobility and no-fear backups and syncing between your devices, privacy and encryption, shared computer uses, use of the system for eduction, business, personal, entertainment, better support for videos, music, photos, games and more. And the toughest goal, to get people using it.
This concept has been submitted to KickStarter, and will be looking for other opportunities for funding to help make this idea come to life. The blog is to discuss the concepts we want to implement into the NetOS system and to get feedback on the implementation, design, usability, and everything.
NetOS will be kept open source, exact license is undecided but you can be sure we'll be looking for development help. Anyone who has recently left Ubuntu's core development team or who thought Linux Mint was a good start but just doesn't really cut it still - then hop on board as we'll love the help.
Now the concept for NetOS is to create a new Linux Distro that is redesigned with everything modern in mind - considerations for cloud computing, advance desktop computing power to limited netbook processing power, availability for tablets, social networking, instant messaging, communication, e-mail, contacts, calendars, integrated web browser (Chrome OS concept), usability (amazing user interface - Mac OS X concept), quick bootup time (Chrome OS concept, now a goal for everyone), mobility and no-fear backups and syncing between your devices, privacy and encryption, shared computer uses, use of the system for eduction, business, personal, entertainment, better support for videos, music, photos, games and more. And the toughest goal, to get people using it.
This concept has been submitted to KickStarter, and will be looking for other opportunities for funding to help make this idea come to life. The blog is to discuss the concepts we want to implement into the NetOS system and to get feedback on the implementation, design, usability, and everything.
NetOS will be kept open source, exact license is undecided but you can be sure we'll be looking for development help. Anyone who has recently left Ubuntu's core development team or who thought Linux Mint was a good start but just doesn't really cut it still - then hop on board as we'll love the help.
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