Cloud Technology/Web OS/Online Desktop

Whatever you call it, you’re basically talking about a remote desktop that’s living on the web either house in the developer’s server or on your own website server.

 

Either way it’s a great idea for all of us on the move in this fast paced world; it just needs some more refinement.

 

I decided to check out all the mainstream developers and their products but I approached it from a unique angle: I’m a fiction writer with specific demands.

 

1. Has to have a Word/Document application that’s similar to MS Word in the way you can format your document with indentation, quotations for dialog, and etc..

2. When a document is saved it’s a “.doc” file that I can link to using a browser.

3. Preferably this is a service I can download and install on my own website server.

 

So, let’s see how they stack up.

 

EyeOS is the first one I tried out.  It stood out because (so far) it’s the only one that offers a version that I can download and install on my own web server.  I think that’s very impressive.

The desktop isn’t as 100% similar to a Windows desktop but its close enough to be understood as a desktop.

However, once it came to the document application everything went wrong.  First, the document editor is extremely cumbersome with, as far as I can tell, no way to indent the beginning of a paragraph.  Secondly, you could tweak a setting to get it to save a document as a .doc file but it’s so far buried in the folder system that you can’t link to it.

 

So, I have yet to uninstall this, but it falls short of my needs.  EyeOS is an open source project so people are welcome to make applications to run on it.  I pray that someone develops a better document application.  Currently there is a handful of other applications but be wary; many don’t work right.

 

 

Icloud is the second one on my list and this is purely a service provided by the developer.  Regardless, I thought I might be able to deal with the ‘account’ so long as it provided me with the other two specifics I needed.

The desktop itself is very much like windows.  In fact it attempts to be identical.  However, I run into all the same problems with the document application.  Even though this service has a great file tree and there’s a way to treat it as if it were a USB flash drive, it has the same poor application and no way to link to the files.

 

Cloudo is third and it’s a mirror of Icloud.  There are minor differences in the desktop and applications.  Icloud is 100% like Windows and Cloudo is 90% like Windows.  They seem to be big competitors.

 

I plan to try more, but if you’re like me and looking for a geek version to edit your stories from any computer then so far it looks like you’re going to be disappointed.

 

My current solution?  Box.net.  They are a provider, but they give you 1GB and you can use a REAL version of the Zoho Document Editor to edit your works.  It’s very easy to work with files and if you share a document, you can see that shared version in a great program I use called Ipaper and THAT link can be put on your website.  However, I have run into glitches.  Be careful copying and pasting from MS Word and take your time when saving your work.