Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

gOS Gadget Aims Ubuntu At Cloud Computing

Posted by timothy on from the prettification-always-welcome dept.

DeviceGuru writes "The gOS project has released version 3.1 of its Ubuntu-based Google-centric distribution. The release draws its packages from the Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) repositories, but adds a bright green theme and a few alterations in default applications, but more importantly adorns its desktop with numerous gadgets based on the Mozilla Prism project along with an animated application-launch icon set based on the wbar project."

36 comments

  1. cloud computing by malkir · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    is a myth

    1. Re:cloud computing by Warll · · Score: 2, Funny

      Sure you don't mean vaporware?

    2. Re:cloud computing by danking · · Score: 2, Informative

      is a myth

      This is very true. This whole cloud hype is not really a cloud. It will end up being a small number of very large datacenters that do everything. True cloud computing will be when every node on the internet shares it's cached data and is able to supply resources (processing cycles, hard drive space, etc.) to the rest of the nodes on the internet. While each node will not represent a significant portion of the resources nor will each necessarily be physically located close to each other it will provide a truly uncoupled approach to the internet.

    3. Re:cloud computing by Cryophallion · · Score: 1

      Also known as "thin clients" 2.0 (or whatever number that concept is up to). In some small scale situations, I think it works (classrooms, etc), but people demand speed and responsiveness, and honestly, bandwidth is not guaranteed.

      The only thin client I use is Zimbra, but I can't imagine how long OO.o would take to load or make changes to a 50 page document on the cloud. I know some stuff is cached, but you can only cache so much.

    4. Re:cloud computing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

      If I was a nigger, I could drive a Cadillac with class
      My pocket stuffed with welfare checks, and I could sit on my big black ass
      Now you take a nigger, he aint nobody's fool
      He doesn't buy any gasoline, to drive his kids to school

      Our government has gone crazy, I'd change things if I could
      If I was only a nigger, I could afford to live in a white neighborhood
      Oh the things that I could do, if i was black and Hell-bent
      I could send my kids to college, and it wouldn't cost me one damn cent

      The wife and I were down on our luck, we were really getting uptight
      They said at the welfare office, "You aint black, you're white."
      Oh how I've tried to get a job, a diploma I had with pride
      The post office man laughed, and said "You're not dark enough to even qualify"

      I took a civil service exam, and passed it without shame
      A nigger took one next to me, he couldnt even write his own name
      The nigger, he got the job, now he's government top brass
      He couldn't qualify for a trash truck, while I'm out on the street on my ass

      If I was a Jesse Jackson, I'd be nobody's slob
      Wearing $500.00 dollar suits, that nigger hasn't even got a job
      If I was Barack Obama, I could sit back and relax
      And when sworn in as President, I could paint The White House black

      Damn, I wish I was a nigger

      If I was a jig-a-boo, I could find me my roots
      With a afro big as a watermelon, and a pair of white disco boots
      If I was only dark complected, I could stand tall in this life
      I could live high off the hog, just me and my white wife

      Things used to be segregated, but things are a little off-key
      I've never seen a white man as head of the NAACP
      It aint that I don't like a nigger, if I've rubbed you wrong by chance
      Take a look at that mistletoe hanging on the seat of my pants

      If I was a kinky top, I could be a Martin Luther King
      I'd have me a vision on a mountain top, my song the whole world would sing
      I could have me a peace march on the streets of Memphis, Tennessee
      I could tear up the whole damn city, and the police wouldn't dare stop me

      A lot of things in life I know, but one thing I cant figure
      Why a nigger can call me a honkey and I cant call a nigger, a nigger
      If I was a jungle bunny, I could ring a golden bell
      I could be a Mohammed Ali, and be loved by Howard Cosell

      Damn, I wish I was a nigger

      If I was a golliwogg, 7 foot tall and lean,
      I could be a famous player on the Washington basketball team
      If I was only chocolate brown, I could have me some turnip greens
      A possum fat and watermelon, chitlens and a pot of butter beans

      Now when Martin Luther King was buried in Washington with class
      They put him face down in his box, so the politicians could kiss his ass
      I guess its just politics, but it sure gets my goat
      Kiss assing with a nigger, just so you could get his vote

      If i was only a burr-head, I'd live high on the hill
      Selling cocaine and prostitutes, and popping all kinds of pills
      Now take the NAACP, they can march and raise all kinds of hell
      Let the KKK start to move, and they'll all wind up in jail

      I dreamed my life was over, I heard Saint Peter say,
      "Today we're taken only niggers, you've gotta go the other way"
      Then I heard the Devil, he said "I heard what Peter had to say
      But I'm sorry to tell you son, Today in Hell is Nigger Day."

      Damn, don't you wish you were a nigger?

    5. Re:cloud computing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How can I say "Cloud Computing sucks" without being a troll?

    6. Re:cloud computing by malkir · · Score: 0

      sounds... hackable. i can't wait till my neighbors pr0n is partially stored on my computer!

    7. Re:cloud computing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Here you go. Good luck on breaking the encryption and packetization.

    8. Re:cloud computing by Erikderzweite · · Score: 2, Funny

      So, cloud is basically botnet 2.0?

  2. Who Gives a Shit by sexconker · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    Really, who needs another fucking distro, who needs more google ass sucking, and who needs useless gadgets and animation?

    Sorry guys, this news just set back The Year of the Linux Desktop another 2 years.

    1. Re:Who Gives a Shit by sexconker · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Shit, I forgot to bitch about the fucking "cloud computing" bullshit.

    2. Re:Who Gives a Shit by Spazztastic · · Score: 2, Interesting

      He's going to get modded troll, but parent is dead on. Stop making more distributions, fix problems with the current ones.

      --
      Posts not to be taken literally. Almost everything is sarcasm.
    3. Re:Who Gives a Shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Go ahead and make more distributions. We'd fix the current ones, but now and again there will be a conflict of interest. At that point, you can either compromise or fork off and make your own distro. It's one of the things that makes free software great.

    4. Re:Who Gives a Shit by nine-times · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Who are you talking to? From your post, it sounds like you imagine there's one group of people who are constantly making new distributions and never finishing them, and we need to convince those people to stop doing that.

      In reality, it's usually that a new group of people form around an idea of what they want out of Linux, which is a different idea than other available distributions. Since the other distributions already have a direction that isn't going to change, and this new group has no power to make existing distributions change, they start building their own version.

      And really, there's no problem here. The freedom to come up with your own distribution or fork an application has been invaluable to Linux. Ubuntu (one of the most popular distributions today) was one of these "new" distributions just a few years ago.

    5. Re:Who Gives a Shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      YOU fork off. I was here first.

    6. Re:Who Gives a Shit by joe_cot · · Score: 3, Insightful

      One of the main qualities of GNU/Linux that makes it work so well is that no matter how many forks there are, the good stuff gets into the other distros.

      If someone makes a distro dedicated to killing puppies, but in the process comes up with a feature that's invaluable to everyone else, the other distros can easily take that feature and integrate it. The other distros don't have the change their direction, and the new puppy-mashing distro developers can work in an environment they're confortable with and with a purpose they feel strongly about, while still contributing to the community as a whole.

    7. Re:Who Gives a Shit by not+already+in+use · · Score: 2

      Linux on the desktop will always be broken, thanks to the celebrated "choice" it offers. There is something to be said about the singular direction that corporate development takes. Linux on the desktop will never be cohesive and consistent enough to make it unless there were a de facto distribution, which would never happen thanks to the conflict of opinions within the community.

      2008 was about as "Year of the Linux Desktop" as it will ever get. Any companies persuaded by the extremely vocal linux minority to support Desktop Linux will wake up and realize that the significant time and resources spent on developing for a non-standard platform whose demographic wants everything for free is a complete waste. Sorry Desktop Linux folk, but the ride was fun while it lasted.

      --
      Similes are like metaphors
    8. Re:Who Gives a Shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

      Sorry your mom missed her date with the coat-hanger. I tried to tell her she shouldn't keep you, but she just wouldn't listen.

    9. Re:Who Gives a Shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      This is also one of its biggest disadvantages. The fact that there are tons of distros means that if someone wants to write a device driver, office suite, browser plugin, game, etc that targets Linux, they have to deal with a myriad possible configurations of library versions, desktop environments, themes, sound systems, etc. Most commercial developers decide it's not worth it.

    10. Re:Who Gives a Shit by LingNoi · · Score: 1

      gOS has nothing to do with Google you fucking idiot.

    11. Re:Who Gives a Shit by sexconker · · Score: 1

      RTFS

    12. Re:Who Gives a Shit by AceofSpades19 · · Score: 1

      In case you haven't noticed, one of the points to using linux is choice, why would you use linux if it was just like windows?

    13. Re:Who Gives a Shit by rohan972 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This is also one of its biggest disadvantages. The fact that there are tons of distros means that if someone wants to write a device driver, office suite, browser plugin, game, etc that targets Linux, they have to deal with a myriad possible configurations of library versions, desktop environments, themes, sound systems, etc.

      Nonsense, they don't have to deal with that, they can write the code and let the distros package it.

      Most commercial developers decide it's not worth it.

      Oh I see, you mean proprietary software developers decide it isn't worth it. You wouldn't really have meant commercial developers because that would include Red Hat, Sun, etc who write linux software.

      Seriously, the whole linux thing is not centred around making things convenient for proprietary software developers. This seems to surprise a lot of people but I don't know why.

      --
      http://marriedmansexlife.com/
    14. Re:Who Gives a Shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IMHO, "Linux on the desktop" will translate more and more to "Ubuntu on the desktop".

      There are a lots of chances you see apps appearing that supports only Ubuntu by default.

      Then, since the pretended "big problem" of differing platforms and libraries is not that big at all, and is a matter of a few days of hack, theses "Ubuntu only apps" will make their way to the other distros,

      Companies will do what they always did : Target the biggest audience, and ATM it's ubuntu.

      It's already what's happening with lots of apps really, they give two things to download on their sites : The sources (Do it yourself and shut up), and a .deb package, tailored for the latest Ubuntu.

    15. Re:Who Gives a Shit by SomeGuyTyping · · Score: 1

      Any companies persuaded by the extremely vocal linux minority to support Desktop Linux will wake up and realize that the significant time and resources spent on developing for a non-standard platform whose demographic wants everything for free is a complete waste.

      Desktop Linux users want everything free not for free

      --
      My posts are definitive. Reality is frequently inaccurate.
    16. Re:Who Gives a Shit by budword · · Score: 1

      GNU vs Windows/Random Proprietary stuff is exactly the same as the difference between the free market and the old Soviet Command Economy. With GNU, individuals take the risk to create something they THINK other people will want. The market place kills off the ideas that don't work out as those distro creators thought they would. Vs large corporate CTO/CIO head geek type deciding what "cool" "hip" new features his army of business suit coders should work on. It's exactly why there are a million cool compiz effects for dozens of different Linux distros. Microsoft can never even begin to match what that small army of pizza/mountain dew fueled Mom's basement dwelling "code because I love it" geeks can do. (Yes, I'm aware the stereotype isn't accurate but it is damn funny.)

      Anyway, it took forever for the old Soviets and their awful command economy to die, even though they slowly when broke over 70 years. It might take Microsoft and their type another 70 years, but go broke they will. They can't compete with the better idea's coded for free for GNU.

      It'll just take a while.

  3. And STAY off my LAWN! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    While yer at it!

  4. a whole distribution? by mrboyd · · Score: 1

    A whole distribution for something that they could probably have done with a couple of deb and a meta package?
    And they even made one with MySpace application instead of Google.

    Do I need a third pc if I want to poke someone on Facebook?

    1. Re:a whole distribution? by Hatta · · Score: 1

      Yes indeed. See also, UbuntuStudio, Mythbuntu, Crunchbang, gNewSense, etc.

      Of course, you could say the same thing about Ubuntu with respect to Debian.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    2. Re:a whole distribution? by Yfrwlf · · Score: 1

      It's just software and should be available for anyone to easily install. Having that selection of software come default bundled in an ISO is useful though if that's where you want your "starting point" for the software you want to be.

      --
      Promote true freedom - support standards and interoperability.
  5. Anyone tried it? by CannonballHead · · Score: 1

    There's a liveCD so I'll download it and try it on my old Dell laptop, which I plan to update to openSuSE 11.1 (from 11.0) anyways.

    Has anyone tried this yet, though? Does it actually work and "in seconds of turning your computer on" can you get online, while it loads another operating system in the background?

    That sounds pretty cool, I have to say. It'd be really cool, too, if I put the liveCD onto a USB drive and boot from there, seems like that'd be even faster and cooler.

    Anyways.. anyone tried the distro or are these comments, so far, just based on what people think about the screenshots? :)

    1. Re:Anyone tried it? by bcrowell · · Score: 1

      Has anyone tried this yet, though?

      I tried it in Nov. 2007, and wrote this review. At that time, gOS was by far the worst part of the WalMart PC that came with gOS preinstalled. I don't know how much that's improved since then. Their site says this is the third revision of the OS. I did notice that in the new screenshots, they've fixed one annoying usability problem I encountered, which was that the three buttons to maximize, kill, and minimize a window all looked the same. One thing to watch out for is that at that time, they had their WM available as a package you could install on top of Ubuntu, but if you did that, it would replace the gdm login screen with one that prevented you from starting any other WM, so even if you wanted to go back to Gnome, you couldn't do it without locating an obscure configuration file and editing it by hand.

      --
      Find free books.
    2. Re:Anyone tried it? by CannonballHead · · Score: 1

      Mmm, I meant specifically Cloud, not gOS. But thanks, it looks like people are mostly (except you, who actually did try gOS) going by the screenshots...

    3. Re:Anyone tried it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People think it's great just because it's Ubuntu. It's like a virus, disables your thinking when it comes to distro selection.

      Or to put it another way, moving to Ubuntu is like the progress in Animal Farm.

  6. actually, it's... by __aajbyc7391 · · Score: 1

    "gOS Gadgets" (not "Gadget")... sorry about the typo (duh!)

  7. Bright green theme? Stuff that matters? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "bright green theme...more importantly...gadgets and ... animated icons".

    Whew! I was wondering what cloud computing was all about. If that is stuff that matters, the "cloud" is a cloud of funny smoke around the reviewer's head. If cloud computing is about something that matters, then the reviewer's choice of "bright green theme, gadets, and animated icons" is about everything except what matters.

    Welcome to slashdot!