5 ms·

While it looks like a nice exercise in front end JS, and looks cool, does it solve any problems? Do users actually need some more abstraction layers on top of G

by gedrap 11y ago

While it looks like a nice exercise in front end JS, and looks cool, does it solve any problems? Do users actually need some more abstraction layers on top of Google Drive / Dropbx, etc? Either I am getting too sleepy, or they didn't provide any actual use cases in the homepage. It provides some sort of API ("simple, modilarized and flexible JavaScript APIs so you can easily make changes, extend functionality and create applications") but is it just a new look for single page applications? I am not trying to be cynical or anything, just curious :)

praveenster 11y ago
As indicated by the title of the link, I think it allows you to build a "desktop" metaphor in the browser. ExtJS used to have some similar demos but I think their license is pretty restrictive. One use case for this is something that I happen to use regularly - the web interface on the Synology NAS.
- ch4s3 11y ago
  If you could build in a rich environment for inspecting and manipulating the code, you'd be well on your way to a small talk like environment :)
CaptainACK 11y ago
I'm a fan of the "why not" answer when it comes to just about everything tech. So many great things come from those two words.
- Lerc 11y ago
  I agree whole heartedly. My most loathed feedback is "What's the use case?". I have done a lot of odd projects, (A JavaScript desktop amnong them) and have hit this same "Why" "What's it good for" etc. I find it difficult so to fathom how people can look at things and see nothing of value. Sure I can think how something could be done differently, possibly better even. There's always some value, practical, aesthetical, inspirational, insightful or even inciteful.
pbreit 11y ago
It has a lot more obvious utility than a lot of the things I see people building. For example, it could add a lot more capabilities to a ChromeBook.
jpalomaki 11y ago
Build an ERP application user interface on top of this (or other complex business app)? Different components would be OS.js apps. Users could layout the screen as they wish, changes would be persisted to server.
batmansmk 11y ago
A few use cases: 1/ Make a modular backoffice for CMS based website. Make an app to manage users, an app to manage content, an app to upload and manage gallery of media etc. 2/ Make a distributed OS. All services can scale and use backend power beyond what a single node can provide. If you need to burst in the cloud due to a heavy process for instance. 3/ Could use it to provide a separation between the OS and the GUI, providing a UX I may like even if the backend server has to be Windows or Centos or ... Or remotely operating a part of my machine at home? 4/ What about reducing the cost of HW it needs to run? Chromebook style. 5/ What about being less tied in my Web App to Google Drive API + friends by adding a abstract VFS layer in between like a OS does? Same for texting, emailing? Sure it only uses part of this and don't need the client, but the architecture is well splited on this project between the two. 6/ It is multi-user as its core, so it can be shared across an organization and not only on one computer. You could even create one account per project/team and share a set of common tools / organization / folders that way across online services. With the rise of web apps, it seems interesting to investigate the possibility of a web OS to administrate and make those ones collaborate more nicely. Or at least the possibility of separating the UX and the execution on two different nodes for general purpose systems as well.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- witty_username 11y ago
  > 4/ What about reducing the cost of HW it needs to run? Chromebook style. How so? At least for me the window moving is slightly laggy and is probably going to worse on low-end systems.
  - robgibbons 11y ago
    It's quite snappy on my own Samsung Chromebook. However, I did grasp the irony of running a web OS inside of another web OS.

by gedrap 11y ago

praveenster 11y ago

As indicated by the title of the link, I think it allows you to build a "desktop" metaphor in the browser. ExtJS used to have some similar demos but I think their license is pretty restrictive. One use case for this is something that I happen to use regularly - the web interface on the Synology NAS.

ch4s3 11y ago
If you could build in a rich environment for inspecting and manipulating the code, you'd be well on your way to a small talk like environment :)

CaptainACK 11y ago

I'm a fan of the "why not" answer when it comes to just about everything tech. So many great things come from those two words.

Lerc 11y ago
I agree whole heartedly. My most loathed feedback is "What's the use case?". I have done a lot of odd projects, (A JavaScript desktop amnong them) and have hit this same "Why" "What's it good for" etc. I find it difficult so to fathom how people can look at things and see nothing of value. Sure I can think how something could be done differently, possibly better even. There's always some value, practical, aesthetical, inspirational, insightful or even inciteful.

pbreit 11y ago

It has a lot more obvious utility than a lot of the things I see people building. For example, it could add a lot more capabilities to a ChromeBook.

jpalomaki 11y ago

Build an ERP application user interface on top of this (or other complex business app)? Different components would be OS.js apps. Users could layout the screen as they wish, changes would be persisted to server.

batmansmk 11y ago

A few use cases: 1/ Make a modular backoffice for CMS based website. Make an app to manage users, an app to manage content, an app to upload and manage gallery of media etc. 2/ Make a distributed OS. All services can scale and use backend power beyond what a single node can provide. If you need to burst in the cloud due to a heavy process for instance. 3/ Could use it to provide a separation between the OS and the GUI, providing a UX I may like even if the backend server has to be Windows or Centos or ... Or remotely operating a part of my machine at home? 4/ What about reducing the cost of HW it needs to run? Chromebook style. 5/ What about being less tied in my Web App to Google Drive API + friends by adding a abstract VFS layer in between like a OS does? Same for texting, emailing? Sure it only uses part of this and don't need the client, but the architecture is well splited on this project between the two. 6/ It is multi-user as its core, so it can be shared across an organization and not only on one computer. You could even create one account per project/team and share a set of common tools / organization / folders that way across online services. With the rise of web apps, it seems interesting to investigate the possibility of a web OS to administrate and make those ones collaborate more nicely. Or at least the possibility of separating the UX and the execution on two different nodes for general purpose systems as well.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
witty_username 11y ago
> 4/ What about reducing the cost of HW it needs to run? Chromebook style. How so? At least for me the window moving is slightly laggy and is probably going to worse on low-end systems.
- robgibbons 11y ago
  It's quite snappy on my own Samsung Chromebook. However, I did grasp the irony of running a web OS inside of another web OS.