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For those too lazy to type, here's the link: cosmopod.

This kind of thing has been needed for ages. Very interesting data point; thank you. So a good web OS is basically a large, well administered UNIX cluster. I believe that this will have a bright future, as clients can be embedded into web browsers using java. It works for VNC, at least.

I don't see why these so called "online OS" projects don't just use existing X infrastructure to create an easy way to access standard X windows applications and run them remotely over SSH.

You can actually get such solutions.

These are running over FreeNX which is basically a compressed X connection where the local machine pre-guesses parts of the communication to cut down lag. I've tried them and they work quite nicely over a 512K DSL. In principle dial-up should work ok too, but I haven't tried.

Notice that a Dutch provincial agency has switched its 100 desktops to running over FreeNX. They're running their own server though.

That said, I tend to disagree with your point. Part of the idea behind YouOS et.al. is that being on the same machine as everyone else makes collaborative software easier. Just think if you could painlessly set up multiuser editing on any document you were working on. Flickr shows some of the way too.

The last thing is that you can't just pop into the average internet café and fire up an X/ssh connection. Something running in most browsers would work better here. Maybe something like VNC java viewer for NX is the way to go.

What would be really nice is some sort of common protocol for collaborative programs. That way we could both run some program locally (or NX'ed into our own snoop-proof private server) and have them connect to each other when needed. Pretty sure I'll get to see that in my lifetime, but if Open Source was a bit ahead of the curve here it would be so much better for freedom.

AjaxWrite is behind the times. There are plenty of better online Wordprocessors. There is now a free remote KDE desktop that you can access from your browser or from a client. OpenOffice is available online at Cosmopod, so why use a half finished product.

why not just make the entire desktop (and associated applications) web-based like http://cosmopod.com/ CosmoPOD

Ahem: A whole remote desktop in a website has been done before: a KDE desktop, no less: http://www.cosmopod.com/ with 1 Gig of storage per customer. The mind boggles at the bandwidth...for the KDE, not the Gig...

Finally: Hell is not freezing over, so I'm not about to say Microsoft is redeemed...but even *I* will admit that this seems to be a positive step in the right direction. If I am to understand, that it's going to be like a free mini-windows online? And will work with any ol' system at all? And it won't try to kill me in 101 new, creative ways? And it won't become virus-central? And MS won't shut it back down in a month? If it's all I hope and more, then Microsoft just may yet stumble out into the light, though it'll have to soak an awful long time in Holy water before it washes away the stench of it's past.

I *have* said all along: Microsoft and the rest of the world will fare better if it can just *get* *along* with the rest of us. Let the big, bad ogre put down his spiked club and be *nice* to us for a change, and watch our frozen little penguin hearts melt!

Here's something you might find interesting, http://www.cosmopod.com/. A FreeNX based KDE desktop. 1GB free storage.