14 ms·

Solu - Social Computer

67 points by trueduke 11y ago

amelius 11y ago
I don't understand the branding. The name "Solu" sounds like "Solo", which, of course, is probably generally perceived as the exact opposite of "Social".
- nabla9 11y ago
  solu = cell (in Finnish).
- dblock 11y ago
  Americans :) That's Finnish for "organic cell".
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
jackgavigan 11y ago
Here's the Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/676993694/solu-a-new-breed-of-computing https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/676993694/solu-a-new-br... Here's a very critical review from a BBC report who was at the launch: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34549042 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34549042
- aikah 11y ago
  > In a huge hall in San Francisco, with free drinks, food and a fella playing an organ, the Solu team boldly declared the end of computing as we know it. Apple and Microsoft, they said, should watch out. Well ,these folks are bold, at least. Good luck.
unixhero 11y ago
Congrats to the team. Met you at Assembly.
khgvljhkb 11y ago
Looks super cool, but except for being all about * cloud * social * on-demand * social what is it good for? What's the point? Was hard to find any real information on this beautiful website.
- mwill 11y ago
  The Kickstarter Video has a tad more info.
- tatx 11y ago
  Also, collaboration. I think we tend to over estimate how much people like to collaborate. And the organic UI looks very childish to me.
- eljimmy 11y ago
  The idea behind the computer seems like a cool idea, but the implementation is going to make adoption very very difficult. They claim to support Android legacy apps. What if you need to use Photoshop? Or some other Windows-based application like Excel? Can you install open-sourced apps like GIMP? Or Roll up a VM? Is there a shell? What kind of applications does it come with natively? They really don't give much information at all. I'm not sure who their target market is but I am guessing it's geared towards people who just browse the internet, watch videos, stream music, send emails, etc. Why would you pay a subscription for that? I can't imagine large numbers jumping on for this kickstarter other than someone looking for a new toy to burn some money on. I think they're trying to solve way too many problems at once. Seems like they're trying to create an entirely new ecosystem amongst the likes of Windows, OSX, or Android, but they're eons behind in that race. The UI seems pretty neat, I wish they had more examples of usage.
mwill 11y ago
Cool looking device, I'm not convinced it's totally revolutionary, especially with Microsoft's mobile offerings now, but the killer difference will likely be the software, especially if the offline/online syncing works as promised, and the interface is as slick and it looks in the concept video. >For a fixed monthly fee, you, as a Solu user get all the storage and apps you need This, along with what's said in the video, is sort of saying to me that the only apps available on Solu will be those made by Solu itself, or those made for free, as the video implies 3rd party developers are not able to sell software for Solu? I'm assuming the OS is walled in. It may be DOA for many people if 3rd party developers can't release their own software. EDIT: Seems it runs Android underneath the slick shell, from the kickstarter: >We are working with a number of development houses to bring their collaborative tools to Solu, but we also support legacy Android apps.
- Gravityloss 11y ago
  Are there other tablets with external display + keyboard + mouse attachment possibilities where you can run bash and shell scripts (not cygwin)?
  - 83457 11y ago
    Not that I know of but I have no idea why not. Ubuntu for Android was a project started 2 or 3 years ago which was based off of the concept of being able to boot up Ubuntu from a powerful phone. The Ubuntu Phone is supposed to have desktop interface but I think they are still working on it. I think some phones do provide a "desktop android" type display when you connect to monitor but haven't seen much about that lately. Not to say it is easy but I'm surprised this isn't widely available yet as I expect many tech people at least would take advantage of it.
    - jerf 11y ago
      @&#&!@)(@'in phones is what. Specifically the cellular radio components; put a cell radio in a device and suddenly you are hardcore rammed into proprietary software land. The halo seems to extend even to tablets that don't hook up the cell network since all the hardware still sources from phone-land. I'd rather have open software slowly and even ungracefully get phone functionality merged into it, but that's basically not possible, so instead we've been forced to go the other way, laboriously, slowly, and largely unsuccessfully trying to open hardware and software up that is starting from a position of totally proprietary. This is one of the most frustrating development to me of the past ten years. We've made huge strides towards proprietary, locked-down hardware, because of cell phones, even in systems that don't use them. I'd love something like the Ubuntu phone, at least in principle, but it's swimming upstream against some very strong currents.
ceeK 11y ago
Glanced down the website and although it looks cool, I didn't get what problem the product actually solves, or why I'd want to have one.
- mjfl 11y ago
  > Our entire ecosystem is built around the way people work and play today, allowing you the freedom and flexibility to get things done wherever you are, whenever you need them done. Seriously, what does this even mean? It is absurdly blatant, generic, and cliche marketing-speak. It sounds like they just covered a raspberry-pi with pretty lights and connected it to facebook.
morsch 11y ago
That page basically tells me nothing. Terrible. The Kickstarter is a bit better: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/676993694/solu-a-new-breed-of-computing https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/676993694/solu-a-new-br... I guess the formula is: tablet(-ish) computer extensible to desktop mode × subscription model × offline-enabled cloud apps × SDK with revenue sharing. It's not terrible, but a huge list of hurdles and unanswered question come immediately to mind. Here are the tech specs, fwiw: Screen - 1440 x 1440, 450ppi with an edge to edge touch External display - support for up to 4K monitors Processor - 2.3GHz NVIDIA 4-Plus-1™ quad-core ARM® Cortex™-A15 CPU™ Graphics - NVIDIA Kepler™ GPU with 192 NVIDIA CUDA® cores RAM - 4GB LPDDR3 Cache capacity - 32GB Connectivity - Dual-band 2x2 MIMO WiFi (802.11a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0 and USB Type C Battery - 1200mAh Dimensions - 102mm (4.02in) x 102mm (4.02in) x 13mm (0.512in) Operating System - SoluOS
- jobvandervoort 11y ago
  It seems suspiciously cheap at 450 euro retail.
  - umsm 11y ago
    Their subscription model is where they may make their money.
  - morsch 11y ago
    Not really. The Nvidia Shield tablet[0] seems to come with comparable hardware (bigger screen, same Tegra K1 CPU/GPU, less memory). You can buy one for $200, today. It doesn't come with wood trimmings, though. [0] http://www.gsmarena.com/nvidia_shield-6601.php http://www.gsmarena.com/nvidia_shield-6601.php
- Gonzih 11y ago
  why do the call internal storage "cache capacity"? or is it space not used by os that cloud services can reuse as a persistent cache?
  - Jonanin 11y ago
kozukumi 11y ago
So what makes this any different to all the other Android based mini computers? All I can see is a mind-map like interface and a montly subscription cost to use "any" application in their store/eco-system.
devit 11y ago
Looks like it's an Android derivative tablet with a Spotify-like subscription model for software including their own cloud services (which seems mandatory) and a custom UI optimized both for tablet and external screen usage. Some of these things might be interesting, but I'm not sure how they'll manage to market it and who would be the target market.
umsm 11y ago
Both at the beginning and at the end of the kickstarter video, the founder expressed how people don't think this sort of device can succeed. Does this mean that there was a lot of resistance from investors and beta-testers?
- jerf 11y ago
  They're invoking the "spunky underdog" memeset, that's all. If you support them, you too can be a spunky underdog. This marketing maneuver is often successful in created a small core of very, very passionate supporters who essentially take the project in as part of their personal identity. On the positive side, you can get some serious evangelists and big spenders if you succeed. On the risk side, if a project does flounder, such supporters will support a product well past the point where it is obvious to everyone else there is a huge problem, and then once they finally realize it has failed, turn on the project like jilted lovers. It's a high risk, high reward marketing move. I say this neutrally, describing both the possible positive and negative outcomes of the move. I have insufficient information about the product in question to have a specific opinion on which outcome is more likely, beyond the observation that this is high risk in the general sense.
sspiff 11y ago
If you could hack this and run Linux on it and tinker, I'd buy it. For the intended purpose, it seems like a terrible idea. An entirely new ecosystem bootstrapped by an unknown new player with very vague marketing-speak all over the site. A subscription based computer with no community, developer ecosystem or ability to anything people want to do that couldn't be done better on existing platforms.
staticelf 11y ago
I don't like the idea of a subscription model. I generally do not try to have too many subscriptions because the cost tends to increase while the value tends to decrease.
dblacc 11y ago
Is this proposing a spotify like royalty payment to software developers on the platform too then ? Seems like a bad idea.
stinos 11y ago
It was built around collaboration and the ability to split your life into multiple projects. I fail to understand what this means (after all it does sound like promoting some kind of schizophrenia) - does it mean it's just another kind of agenda or todo-app? I kinda like the device in general but I'm not sure anyone is waiting for this. I might be wrong though. Also the wording is a bit weird - at first sight 'splitting your life into projects' sounds feasible but I'm not really buying it. I think my life is one big project and doubt that will change. And yes there might be subprojects (dunno, say wife/sports/hobbies/job/diferent projects at the job/friends/family/...) but I just don't see how I could split this up to 'manage' them (which is what I suppose the phrase means?) as they are entwined and tend to overlap both in time and space. Or maybe I am just overthingking it :]
Gonzih 11y ago
I failed to understand anything specific from their page. All feels buzzwordy without much concrete information. I'm very curious what is soluos. I'm assuming that it's some kind of linux, but what is on top. What does it mean to be "cloud connected os"? How open will be os? What is toolkit for app developers? Is it android or something web based or something different? I'm very curious about the project but at the same time a bit sceptical based on the information they currently provide about the project. PS. soluos sounds is very close to solusos - old linux distro that was maintaining legacy gnome2.0? PPS would love to run a linux on a tiny portable device like that.
- elnygren 11y ago
  You might want to think it as "SoluOS". Solu a is the Finnish word for "cell" (as in the cell in biology) - the team behind this is from Finland. I totally agree with you on the lack of concrete info. From what I've seen/heard the OS itself is built on top of Linux and Android and apps can be developed with the HTML5 stack (and I suppose with Android's tools ?). To be honest even after seeing some private technical demos, I was still left quite confused... The main problem with this project is that the SoluOS itself is mainly a UI/UX innovation, but for some reason they had to provide HW and OS too. Why can't I install this on my Mac/Linux laptop ?
  - alexanderfinn 11y ago
    Your question actually contains a bug portion of the answer :) User experience is not limited to the the graphical user interface, it involves all the aspects of a person interacting with computer and its infrastructure. This involves hardware and software. We could've done it with just software (although it's not just UI, we had to significantly change OS internals too) but that wouldn't allow us to achieve our vision of human-computer interaction. Disclaimer: I work for Solu.
Paul_S 11y ago
Looks like a movement and not a hardware product. The first thing they say is that there are people who will disagree and that's a good thing because it means they're doing something great and innovative. There are other possible reasons. IMHO they are selling hype and not a computer, as evidenced by the fact that all technical details are vague and buried. The more I read the more I doubt this is even real. All development is done behind closed doors, even their forum is hidden and accounts manually activated so you can't see what's going on.
- unixhero 11y ago
  Nothing wrong with stealth mode.
  - Paul_S 11y ago
    Not when you're selling it. It's ridiculous to sell something without any specifics.
Paul_S 11y ago
"The software industry is broken and we have the means to ﬁx it. Up until now, developers have been forced to either charge huge fees from a handful of enterprise clients or ask for pennies from individuals. We replace these outdated business models by charging all users a small monthly fee" And split the money how? This solves nothing.
- elnygren 11y ago
  yeah, they will need to be really careful with incentives. For example, if money is given based on how much people use the different apps, there is a large incentive to do very simple apps that have a high ratio of people using them vs. short time to dev the app. So maybe trivial mobile games like 2048 and the like will flood their store and complex software like Photoshop won't ?
chazu 11y ago
> Computer as a service Next up: Breathing as a service.
- listic 11y ago
  It better be a really good one. (Swim without the fear of drowning? Smoke all day and never die of lung-related problems?)
kanche 11y ago
What are these [0]? They are there where they mentioned Solu OS in the website also in the kickstarter page/video. [0] http://www.solu.co/css/svg/OS_round.png http://www.solu.co/css/svg/OS_round.png
eivarv 11y ago
This looks exciting, but as morsch said, the homepage is not very informative/clear - the kickastarter is better in this respect. The concept kinda reminds me of Ubuntu for Android [0], except for running a custom OS on quasi-artisinal custom hardware. The fact that "developers get monthly revenue based on app usage" sound like an exciting twist, but how will Solu avoid the pitfalls of this model (exemplified by artists on Spotify and alternatives)? The project environments sounds really intriguing to me, as task focused design and interfaces is something I'm currently working on in different forms (terminal, web browsers, OSes) myself. If anyone knows of any other good examples of this (applications, papers, whatever), please let me know! Nitpick: the quote "Solu’s UI [...] mimick[s] the functionality of your brain" sounds pretty dubious. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_for_Android https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_for_Android
dharma1 11y ago
I was watching a video yesterday of the founder giving a talk in August, I think it's pretty impressive what they have done in a year with a small team. http://www.mindtheproduct.com/2015/10/video-hardware-vs-software-product-management/ http://www.mindtheproduct.com/2015/10/video-hardware-vs-soft... I think they should release more details of the OS. Is it Linux with some Android runtime like Jolla, or AOSP fork? I just don't personally know if I could stomach a UI that looks like a shroom trip, but maybe it feels good when you're actually using it. At least it's different I saw another cloud based android phone recently, Robin - http://arstechnica.co.uk/gadgets/2015/09/ex-android-and-htc-employees-launch-robin-a-cloud-first-smartphone/ http://arstechnica.co.uk/gadgets/2015/09/ex-android-and-htc-.... Call me old school but I am not sure I want cloud as the only storage option, definitely not from a new company who might not be around in a years time.
- alexanderfinn 11y ago
  Solu OS is a forked AOSP underneath with a completely reworked UI. But we also have pretty significant changes at layers of the OS to support some of our unique UX practices and deep cloud integration. As for the cloud concern - you own your data and being a Finnish company we take this seriously. The device itself has a local storage (32Gb in the early prototype, would be increased going forward) but it is being transparently integrated with the cloud storage so that you never run out of space thus we call it "cache". Solu also would allow you to back your data up to the other cloud storage providers (i.e. dropbox, google, amazon, or even your own internet-connected NAS device) as an option.
pythondz 11y ago
Are they trying to re-invent smartphones (or tablets) ? Sorry but IMO it seems useless and irrelevant mainly because of Cloud services => it will become rapidly personal (netflix, spotify, solu accounts...), no way I'll give that to a friend
- oneeyedpigeon 11y ago
  I assume they're trying to create a new product category - certainly from their bluster, that's true! To be charitable, I think there's definitely a smallish market for portable desktop devices that can be used on the go. Currently, the closest we have is a laptop + dock, which is ok, but this product - this new category, at least - has the advantage that it's much more portable and neater, whilst doubling up as an input device. That last point is its best innovation, IMO. True, such a device won't be as useful on-the-go as a full-blown laptop, but for basic email, web-browsing, etc. (i.e. tablet functions) it could be OK.
PopeOfNope 11y ago
After watching the kickstarter video, I think it's terrific if they can pull it off. This is their killer feature: A computer where you don't have to do backups, don't have to set up a new system when you upgrade, don't have to worry about losing any of your data? Just buy a new machine, login and BAM! You have the same environment you had on your other machine? Yes, please! But, I do have concerns. Chiefly, I don't see how this product could ever generate a profit. Storing every user's data on the company's servers at all times can't be cheap. That's a lot of data to store per user. The subscription fee would have to be massive to cover the overhead. And then there's the apps. The lack of individual app pricing isn't going to make developers eager to make apps for this device. It also cuts out a potentially lucrative source of revenue for the company.
p4bl0 11y ago
The business model (spotify for apps) is quite scary privacy wise, there is a lot of ways to mess up with something that should monitor users activity so closely. And I guess the code won't be open source and auditable. And except that there is nothing new about this product (but that has already been pointed out in many comments already).
tmikaeld 11y ago
It fells like the Ouya console story all over again, except with an even more closed walled garden.

67 points by trueduke 11y ago

I don't understand the branding. The name "Solu" sounds like "Solo", which, of course, is probably generally perceived as the exact opposite of "Social".

nabla9 11y ago
solu = cell (in Finnish).
dblock 11y ago
Americans :) That's Finnish for "organic cell".
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

jackgavigan 11y ago

Here's the Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/676993694/solu-a-new-breed-of-computing https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/676993694/solu-a-new-br... Here's a very critical review from a BBC report who was at the launch: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34549042 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34549042

aikah 11y ago
> In a huge hall in San Francisco, with free drinks, food and a fella playing an organ, the Solu team boldly declared the end of computing as we know it. Apple and Microsoft, they said, should watch out. Well ,these folks are bold, at least. Good luck.

unixhero 11y ago

Congrats to the team. Met you at Assembly.

khgvljhkb 11y ago

Looks super cool, but except for being all about * cloud * social * on-demand * social what is it good for? What's the point? Was hard to find any real information on this beautiful website.

mwill 11y ago
The Kickstarter Video has a tad more info.
tatx 11y ago
Also, collaboration. I think we tend to over estimate how much people like to collaborate. And the organic UI looks very childish to me.
eljimmy 11y ago
The idea behind the computer seems like a cool idea, but the implementation is going to make adoption very very difficult. They claim to support Android legacy apps. What if you need to use Photoshop? Or some other Windows-based application like Excel? Can you install open-sourced apps like GIMP? Or Roll up a VM? Is there a shell? What kind of applications does it come with natively? They really don't give much information at all. I'm not sure who their target market is but I am guessing it's geared towards people who just browse the internet, watch videos, stream music, send emails, etc. Why would you pay a subscription for that? I can't imagine large numbers jumping on for this kickstarter other than someone looking for a new toy to burn some money on. I think they're trying to solve way too many problems at once. Seems like they're trying to create an entirely new ecosystem amongst the likes of Windows, OSX, or Android, but they're eons behind in that race. The UI seems pretty neat, I wish they had more examples of usage.

mwill 11y ago

Cool looking device, I'm not convinced it's totally revolutionary, especially with Microsoft's mobile offerings now, but the killer difference will likely be the software, especially if the offline/online syncing works as promised, and the interface is as slick and it looks in the concept video. >For a fixed monthly fee, you, as a Solu user get all the storage and apps you need This, along with what's said in the video, is sort of saying to me that the only apps available on Solu will be those made by Solu itself, or those made for free, as the video implies 3rd party developers are not able to sell software for Solu? I'm assuming the OS is walled in. It may be DOA for many people if 3rd party developers can't release their own software. EDIT: Seems it runs Android underneath the slick shell, from the kickstarter: >We are working with a number of development houses to bring their collaborative tools to Solu, but we also support legacy Android apps.

Gravityloss 11y ago
Are there other tablets with external display + keyboard + mouse attachment possibilities where you can run bash and shell scripts (not cygwin)?
- 83457 11y ago
  Not that I know of but I have no idea why not. Ubuntu for Android was a project started 2 or 3 years ago which was based off of the concept of being able to boot up Ubuntu from a powerful phone. The Ubuntu Phone is supposed to have desktop interface but I think they are still working on it. I think some phones do provide a "desktop android" type display when you connect to monitor but haven't seen much about that lately. Not to say it is easy but I'm surprised this isn't widely available yet as I expect many tech people at least would take advantage of it.
  - jerf 11y ago
    @&#&!@)(@'in phones is what. Specifically the cellular radio components; put a cell radio in a device and suddenly you are hardcore rammed into proprietary software land. The halo seems to extend even to tablets that don't hook up the cell network since all the hardware still sources from phone-land. I'd rather have open software slowly and even ungracefully get phone functionality merged into it, but that's basically not possible, so instead we've been forced to go the other way, laboriously, slowly, and largely unsuccessfully trying to open hardware and software up that is starting from a position of totally proprietary. This is one of the most frustrating development to me of the past ten years. We've made huge strides towards proprietary, locked-down hardware, because of cell phones, even in systems that don't use them. I'd love something like the Ubuntu phone, at least in principle, but it's swimming upstream against some very strong currents.

ceeK 11y ago

Glanced down the website and although it looks cool, I didn't get what problem the product actually solves, or why I'd want to have one.

mjfl 11y ago
> Our entire ecosystem is built around the way people work and play today, allowing you the freedom and flexibility to get things done wherever you are, whenever you need them done. Seriously, what does this even mean? It is absurdly blatant, generic, and cliche marketing-speak. It sounds like they just covered a raspberry-pi with pretty lights and connected it to facebook.

morsch 11y ago

That page basically tells me nothing. Terrible. The Kickstarter is a bit better: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/676993694/solu-a-new-breed-of-computing https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/676993694/solu-a-new-br... I guess the formula is: tablet(-ish) computer extensible to desktop mode × subscription model × offline-enabled cloud apps × SDK with revenue sharing. It's not terrible, but a huge list of hurdles and unanswered question come immediately to mind. Here are the tech specs, fwiw: Screen - 1440 x 1440, 450ppi with an edge to edge touch External display - support for up to 4K monitors Processor - 2.3GHz NVIDIA 4-Plus-1™ quad-core ARM® Cortex™-A15 CPU™ Graphics - NVIDIA Kepler™ GPU with 192 NVIDIA CUDA® cores RAM - 4GB LPDDR3 Cache capacity - 32GB Connectivity - Dual-band 2x2 MIMO WiFi (802.11a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0 and USB Type C Battery - 1200mAh Dimensions - 102mm (4.02in) x 102mm (4.02in) x 13mm (0.512in) Operating System - SoluOS

jobvandervoort 11y ago
It seems suspiciously cheap at 450 euro retail.
- umsm 11y ago
  Their subscription model is where they may make their money.
- morsch 11y ago
  Not really. The Nvidia Shield tablet[0] seems to come with comparable hardware (bigger screen, same Tegra K1 CPU/GPU, less memory). You can buy one for $200, today. It doesn't come with wood trimmings, though. [0] http://www.gsmarena.com/nvidia_shield-6601.php http://www.gsmarena.com/nvidia_shield-6601.php
Gonzih 11y ago
why do the call internal storage "cache capacity"? or is it space not used by os that cloud services can reuse as a persistent cache?
- Jonanin 11y ago

kozukumi 11y ago

So what makes this any different to all the other Android based mini computers? All I can see is a mind-map like interface and a montly subscription cost to use "any" application in their store/eco-system.

devit 11y ago

Looks like it's an Android derivative tablet with a Spotify-like subscription model for software including their own cloud services (which seems mandatory) and a custom UI optimized both for tablet and external screen usage. Some of these things might be interesting, but I'm not sure how they'll manage to market it and who would be the target market.

umsm 11y ago

Both at the beginning and at the end of the kickstarter video, the founder expressed how people don't think this sort of device can succeed. Does this mean that there was a lot of resistance from investors and beta-testers?

jerf 11y ago
They're invoking the "spunky underdog" memeset, that's all. If you support them, you too can be a spunky underdog. This marketing maneuver is often successful in created a small core of very, very passionate supporters who essentially take the project in as part of their personal identity. On the positive side, you can get some serious evangelists and big spenders if you succeed. On the risk side, if a project does flounder, such supporters will support a product well past the point where it is obvious to everyone else there is a huge problem, and then once they finally realize it has failed, turn on the project like jilted lovers. It's a high risk, high reward marketing move. I say this neutrally, describing both the possible positive and negative outcomes of the move. I have insufficient information about the product in question to have a specific opinion on which outcome is more likely, beyond the observation that this is high risk in the general sense.

sspiff 11y ago

If you could hack this and run Linux on it and tinker, I'd buy it. For the intended purpose, it seems like a terrible idea. An entirely new ecosystem bootstrapped by an unknown new player with very vague marketing-speak all over the site. A subscription based computer with no community, developer ecosystem or ability to anything people want to do that couldn't be done better on existing platforms.

staticelf 11y ago

I don't like the idea of a subscription model. I generally do not try to have too many subscriptions because the cost tends to increase while the value tends to decrease.

dblacc 11y ago

Is this proposing a spotify like royalty payment to software developers on the platform too then ? Seems like a bad idea.

stinos 11y ago

It was built around collaboration and the ability to split your life into multiple projects. I fail to understand what this means (after all it does sound like promoting some kind of schizophrenia) - does it mean it's just another kind of agenda or todo-app? I kinda like the device in general but I'm not sure anyone is waiting for this. I might be wrong though. Also the wording is a bit weird - at first sight 'splitting your life into projects' sounds feasible but I'm not really buying it. I think my life is one big project and doubt that will change. And yes there might be subprojects (dunno, say wife/sports/hobbies/job/diferent projects at the job/friends/family/...) but I just don't see how I could split this up to 'manage' them (which is what I suppose the phrase means?) as they are entwined and tend to overlap both in time and space. Or maybe I am just overthingking it :]

Gonzih 11y ago

I failed to understand anything specific from their page. All feels buzzwordy without much concrete information. I'm very curious what is soluos. I'm assuming that it's some kind of linux, but what is on top. What does it mean to be "cloud connected os"? How open will be os? What is toolkit for app developers? Is it android or something web based or something different? I'm very curious about the project but at the same time a bit sceptical based on the information they currently provide about the project. PS. soluos sounds is very close to solusos - old linux distro that was maintaining legacy gnome2.0? PPS would love to run a linux on a tiny portable device like that.

elnygren 11y ago
You might want to think it as "SoluOS". Solu a is the Finnish word for "cell" (as in the cell in biology) - the team behind this is from Finland. I totally agree with you on the lack of concrete info. From what I've seen/heard the OS itself is built on top of Linux and Android and apps can be developed with the HTML5 stack (and I suppose with Android's tools ?). To be honest even after seeing some private technical demos, I was still left quite confused... The main problem with this project is that the SoluOS itself is mainly a UI/UX innovation, but for some reason they had to provide HW and OS too. Why can't I install this on my Mac/Linux laptop ?
- alexanderfinn 11y ago
  Your question actually contains a bug portion of the answer :) User experience is not limited to the the graphical user interface, it involves all the aspects of a person interacting with computer and its infrastructure. This involves hardware and software. We could've done it with just software (although it's not just UI, we had to significantly change OS internals too) but that wouldn't allow us to achieve our vision of human-computer interaction. Disclaimer: I work for Solu.

Paul_S 11y ago

Looks like a movement and not a hardware product. The first thing they say is that there are people who will disagree and that's a good thing because it means they're doing something great and innovative. There are other possible reasons. IMHO they are selling hype and not a computer, as evidenced by the fact that all technical details are vague and buried. The more I read the more I doubt this is even real. All development is done behind closed doors, even their forum is hidden and accounts manually activated so you can't see what's going on.

unixhero 11y ago
Nothing wrong with stealth mode.
- Paul_S 11y ago
  Not when you're selling it. It's ridiculous to sell something without any specifics.

Paul_S 11y ago

"The software industry is broken and we have the means to ﬁx it. Up until now, developers have been forced to either charge huge fees from a handful of enterprise clients or ask for pennies from individuals. We replace these outdated business models by charging all users a small monthly fee" And split the money how? This solves nothing.

elnygren 11y ago
yeah, they will need to be really careful with incentives. For example, if money is given based on how much people use the different apps, there is a large incentive to do very simple apps that have a high ratio of people using them vs. short time to dev the app. So maybe trivial mobile games like 2048 and the like will flood their store and complex software like Photoshop won't ?

chazu 11y ago

> Computer as a service Next up: Breathing as a service.

listic 11y ago
It better be a really good one. (Swim without the fear of drowning? Smoke all day and never die of lung-related problems?)

kanche 11y ago

What are these [0]? They are there where they mentioned Solu OS in the website also in the kickstarter page/video. [0] http://www.solu.co/css/svg/OS_round.png http://www.solu.co/css/svg/OS_round.png

eivarv 11y ago

This looks exciting, but as morsch said, the homepage is not very informative/clear - the kickastarter is better in this respect. The concept kinda reminds me of Ubuntu for Android [0], except for running a custom OS on quasi-artisinal custom hardware. The fact that "developers get monthly revenue based on app usage" sound like an exciting twist, but how will Solu avoid the pitfalls of this model (exemplified by artists on Spotify and alternatives)? The project environments sounds really intriguing to me, as task focused design and interfaces is something I'm currently working on in different forms (terminal, web browsers, OSes) myself. If anyone knows of any other good examples of this (applications, papers, whatever), please let me know! Nitpick: the quote "Solu’s UI [...] mimick[s] the functionality of your brain" sounds pretty dubious. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_for_Android https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_for_Android

dharma1 11y ago

I was watching a video yesterday of the founder giving a talk in August, I think it's pretty impressive what they have done in a year with a small team. http://www.mindtheproduct.com/2015/10/video-hardware-vs-software-product-management/ http://www.mindtheproduct.com/2015/10/video-hardware-vs-soft... I think they should release more details of the OS. Is it Linux with some Android runtime like Jolla, or AOSP fork? I just don't personally know if I could stomach a UI that looks like a shroom trip, but maybe it feels good when you're actually using it. At least it's different I saw another cloud based android phone recently, Robin - http://arstechnica.co.uk/gadgets/2015/09/ex-android-and-htc-employees-launch-robin-a-cloud-first-smartphone/ http://arstechnica.co.uk/gadgets/2015/09/ex-android-and-htc-.... Call me old school but I am not sure I want cloud as the only storage option, definitely not from a new company who might not be around in a years time.

alexanderfinn 11y ago
Solu OS is a forked AOSP underneath with a completely reworked UI. But we also have pretty significant changes at layers of the OS to support some of our unique UX practices and deep cloud integration. As for the cloud concern - you own your data and being a Finnish company we take this seriously. The device itself has a local storage (32Gb in the early prototype, would be increased going forward) but it is being transparently integrated with the cloud storage so that you never run out of space thus we call it "cache". Solu also would allow you to back your data up to the other cloud storage providers (i.e. dropbox, google, amazon, or even your own internet-connected NAS device) as an option.

pythondz 11y ago

Are they trying to re-invent smartphones (or tablets) ? Sorry but IMO it seems useless and irrelevant mainly because of Cloud services => it will become rapidly personal (netflix, spotify, solu accounts...), no way I'll give that to a friend

oneeyedpigeon 11y ago
I assume they're trying to create a new product category - certainly from their bluster, that's true! To be charitable, I think there's definitely a smallish market for portable desktop devices that can be used on the go. Currently, the closest we have is a laptop + dock, which is ok, but this product - this new category, at least - has the advantage that it's much more portable and neater, whilst doubling up as an input device. That last point is its best innovation, IMO. True, such a device won't be as useful on-the-go as a full-blown laptop, but for basic email, web-browsing, etc. (i.e. tablet functions) it could be OK.

PopeOfNope 11y ago

After watching the kickstarter video, I think it's terrific if they can pull it off. This is their killer feature: A computer where you don't have to do backups, don't have to set up a new system when you upgrade, don't have to worry about losing any of your data? Just buy a new machine, login and BAM! You have the same environment you had on your other machine? Yes, please! But, I do have concerns. Chiefly, I don't see how this product could ever generate a profit. Storing every user's data on the company's servers at all times can't be cheap. That's a lot of data to store per user. The subscription fee would have to be massive to cover the overhead. And then there's the apps. The lack of individual app pricing isn't going to make developers eager to make apps for this device. It also cuts out a potentially lucrative source of revenue for the company.

p4bl0 11y ago

The business model (spotify for apps) is quite scary privacy wise, there is a lot of ways to mess up with something that should monitor users activity so closely. And I guess the code won't be open source and auditable. And except that there is nothing new about this product (but that has already been pointed out in many comments already).

tmikaeld 11y ago

It fells like the Ouya console story all over again, except with an even more closed walled garden.