Some call it webtops, some call it WebOS. The purpose; to mimic the look, feel and functionality of a local computer contained within a web browser, fully accessible from any Internet-connected device. They are great because :

• you are always using the latest software
• you skip the necessary need to install updates or patches
• their hardware requirements are at a minimum
• https will safe guard your data from external interceptions
• No risk of getting laptop stolen

Below are 10 of the most notable web desktops of the moment.

AjaxWindows



You can synchronize your desktop environment to be easily with AjaxWindows’ wizard. Most of the applications found in the online desktop are from Ajax13, the creators of AjaxWindows. It is deadly similar to Windows, which makes it pretty easy for existing Windows users to navigate around. It is stable (though laggy when you open too many applications) and includes the synchronization feature which no one else has at the moment of writing. Some of the basic applications are :

• Word processor
• Drawing and presentation tools
• Spreadsheet
• Media player
• Address book
• Instant messenger
• Desktop widgets

Desktop On Demand



It uses Java and NX technology as it’s core engine. It’s free and it’s currently in it’s Beta stages. The GUI is more of a mixture of Linux and Windows. An account provides 1GB of remote storage space, with the option of buying additional space in increments of 1GB weekly. Main features at the time of writing are :

• Web browser - Epiphany
• Full featured email client - Evolution
• Microsoft Office™ compatible word processor - AbiWord
• Multi-protocol IM - GAIM
• Media player - VLC
• Photo editor - GIMP
• Password manager - Revelation
• Desktop searching - Meta Tracker
• Download manager - gwget

DesktopTwo



With more than 160, 000 active users since launching back in August 2006, DesktopTwo was built on PHP that enables it to drag and drop files. It’s free and open source. GUI is a mixture of Windows and Macinstosh. Some of the features available are :

• 1GB hard drive
• Email client
• Address book
• Website editor
• Blog enabled for blinkinblog or myblogtwo
• Instant messaging
• MP3 player
• OpenOffice
• Message boards
• RSS reader
• My SitesTwo (site bookmarking and sharing)
• DesktopTwo live chat

Exo Portal



Exo Portal WebOS uses a 100% AJAX based interface resembling a desktop-like GUI and a Java backend to simulate a true WebOS that fits the Enterprise needs. Several mentionable features include :

• Widgets - Where administrators can provide small web components to notify users on the IT and business system states.
• Drag and Drop - Where anyone (according to the company policies) can easily add new applications into their page or into the pages of the group they have the responsibility on.
• Skins - where user can swap from custom corporate skins to classic eXo ones
• Easy to use wizards - Creation processes have been simplified thanks to wizards that takes the user by the hand to help him create new pages

EyeOS



EyeOS is an open source web operating system that is powered by AJAX. It is free and has the ability to develop new applications with the eyeOS toolkit. GUI is more Macintosh than others. eyeOS’s base applications include :

• editLink - Utility to edit system links
• eyeCalc - Widget, Basic Calculator
• eyeCalendar - Calendar Application
• eyeChess - Chess Game
• eyeContacts - Contacts Management Application
• eyeDocs - Word Processor, provides the ability of saving Word-compatible documents
• eyeFiles - File management tool. Includes many plugins for managing the files, such as Upload, Download, Download as Zip file, Copy, Paste, etc.
• eyeGroups - User Groups management tool
• eyeInstaller - Application to install eyePackages, individual packages for the system
• eyeMp3 - Mp3 player
• eyeNav - Integrated Web Browser
• eyeNotes - Text editor
• eyeProcess - Process Management application
• eyeRSS - Feed reader
• eyeSoft - Ports-based system, which comes by default with the official eyeOS repository
• eyeTrash - Recycle bin
• eyeZip - Utility to uncompress zip files that have been uploaded to the system

G.HO.ST



It’s core engine is Flash and it is a lot like Windows. A lot. A basic account gets 3GB free. Key features include :

• Integration with third-party web applications (Google Docs, ThinkFree, Meebo, Zoho)
• Mail/calendar/contacts programs
• Links to other internet resources (My Items)
• Desktop widgets (RSS reader, clock, weather)
• Multiple language support

Glide



Transmedia’s self proclaimed ‘first online OS’, Glide OS 2.0 lives in a collaborative ecosystem that is free for up to 2GB. Glide comes in 4 platforms, Glide Next, Glide Mobile, Glide Business and Glide Campus. Glide, which uses Flash, allows you to invite others to view and collaborate on presentations over email, IM or from the address book. Notable features :

• Glide Presenter - upload multiple images or audio/video files, stream large media files within presentations, save and serve presentations on any Windows, Mac or Linux machine, save presentations in Powerpoint or PDF.
• Glide Write - advanced document formatting and templates as well as the ability to post Glide Write documents not only to Glide Blogs but also to major third-party blogging services.
• Glide Spreadsheet - support powerful spreadsheet functions including advanced formulas and macros.
• Glide Online Photo Editor & Print Shop - over 75 filters, effects, and photo manipulation tools for online photo editing.
• Glide Mobile - support for the Motorola Q, Rim BlackBerry 8700c/g, T-Mobile SDA, Palm Treo 700p, Palm Treo 650, Samsung SPH-I730, O2 Xda IIs, Blackberry 7100 Series, Nokia S60/90, Sony Ericsson P900, HP iPAQ h6315, Kyocera 7135, Audiovox SMT560, Audiovox PPC 6600 Pocket PC, Motorola MPx220, Motorola V276 and the Motorola E815 EV-DO in addition to the already supported Palm Treo 700w, Sony Ericsson W600i and Motorola RAZR V3.

Goowy



They thought it was funny and easier to remember, so they called it Goowy. In addition to that, Goowy sounds like GUI for graphical user interface, an area that Goowy strives to make a difference with it’s vibrancy and interactiveness. Allyou need is a flash enabled browser. Key features include :

• An instant messenger
• A powerful e-mail client
• Contacts & calendar applications
• Customized news feeds
• Rss
• Minis (tiny specialized application providing easy access to frequently used functions)
• File storing capabilities
• File sharing
• Some fun games to relax

oDesktop



oDesktop comes with the ability to install the entire application on your own webhost, to make use of your hosting space. That is one feature that makes this application unique. The interface looks cool and simple enough to use. Product features include :

• oDrive - to safely upload and access files quickly and easily
• oPhoto - photo album application
• oMusic - upload, share, play and listen to mp3 songs directly
• oNetwork - to allow different web hosts to network or collaborate with all other oDesktop users.
• oEmail - a full functional email client
• oNews - news and RSS aggregator.
• oGames - during times of boredom and stress.

Online Operating System



When comparing OOS to other webtops like YouSO or EyeOS it sticks in the eye that OOS seems to offer more functionality. Additionally the usability is quite good since it looks very similar to Windows. The site gives you 1 GB of space and your own domain name and address (www.username.oos.cc). After registering, OOS will give you a file manager, a system control panel, and utility programs like a text editor, image viewer, games, etc.

Purefect



Made out of AJAX and PHP, Purefect is free and it gives users a Windows + Macinstosh like feel. Key features are :

• Web-based IDE
• Instant messenger
• File explorer
• Error console
• Address book
• Display settings
• Multiuser capabilities

Xcerion XIOS



This internet OS is XML based and is currently in closed Beta, meaning that you’d have to get manual approval when you apply for a Beta account. The XML is actually an abstraction layer that sits atop a true operating system like Linux, Mac OS X, or Windows, just as does Transmedia’s Flash-based Glide Next media sharing environment.

XIOS provides a substantial advantage over current Internet-based applications because XIOS handles server communications more efficiently and it makes better use of local computing power, rather than relying on servers in the cloud for heavy number crunching. The result is fewer client-server transactions, better use of bandwidth, and faster response time for the user.

Because XIOS was built from the ground up, it includes an answer to two of the most distressing computing issues today: collaboration and keeping files backed up and synchronized across multiple machines and operating systems. Its transaction engine can mirror local files in the cloud and distribute them to others, allowing users to collaborate on the same XML document. An IM chat client could be created with a mere dozen lines of code because the process of communicating was simply mirroring the text input entered into two XML documents in different places, a functionality built-into the system.

Xindesk



Xindesk uses AJAX and is a lot like Windows. It is free but users by invitation only. Features include :

• File manager
• Internet browser
• Stickies
• RSS support
• A free Xinmail account
• Support for 3rd party POP and IMAP4 accounts
• MS office support applications
• Address book
• Photo viewer
• IM with Jabber, AOL, MSN support
• Ability to share any type of file

YouOS



Ranked 7th in PC World’s ‘20 Most Innovative Products of 2006′, the free YouOS was first started in late December 2005 as an experimental, collaborative web operating system. Over 755 applications have been created using WebShaka’s (YouOS producer) own API since then. Notable applications include :

• FlickRSS - thumbnail flickr browser
• YouBrowser - web browser
• YouBuddy - buddy list application
• YouChat - local IRC application
• YouEditor - rich text editor
• YouFeeds - feed aggregator
• YouFiles - file manager
• YouFS Uploader - file upload application (uses Java)
• YouNES - NES emulator
• YouNiversalChat - universally translated chat room
• YouProc - processes manager
• YouShell - command line interpreter
• YouSticky - persistent sticky notes
• WhereWolf - web browser

ZimDesk



Contains a comprehensive list of ‘on demand’ web applications for work and entertainment. They are :

• Zimwrite - word Processor, provides the ability of saving Word-compatible documents
• Zimsheet - spread Sheet, provides the ability of loading and saving Excel-compatible documents
• Zimmail - pOP3 based email system
• Zimcalc - full Scientific Calculator
• Zimreader - rSS Reader with favorites and feed management
• Zimnav - integrated Web Browser with favorites and useful links selection
• ZimIM - web messenger with access to the MSN, Yahoo, Gtalk, AIM (AOL), Gadu-Gadu, ICQ, IRC, and XMPP networks
• Zimearth - map application with access to Google, Yahoo and MSN maps.
• Zimradio - listen to some of the best streaming Internet radio stations.
• Zimmusic - upload and listen to your own MP3’s no matter where you are.
• Zimvideo - upload and share your video clips.
• ZimTV - watch streaming web TV from around the World.
• Zimcommunity - complete social networking system. completely inter grated into the desktop.
• Zimforum - forum, allows any zimdesk user to create there own group.
• Zimblog - complete blogging system available directly from the desktop and viewable by all users
• Zimdrive - file explorer and file management application

1. Ads in the top and left portions of a page will receive the most eye fixation.
2. Ads placed next to the best content are seen more often.
3. Bigger images get more attention.
4. Clean, clear faces in images attract more eye fixation.
5. Fancy formatting and fonts are ignored.
6. Formatting can draw attention.
7. Headings draw the eye.
8. Initial eye movement focuses on the upper left corner of the page.
9. Large blocks of text are avoided.
10. Lists hold reader attention longer.
11. Navigation tools work better when placed at the top of the page.
12. One-column formats perform better in eye-fixation than multi-column formats.
13. People generally scan lower portions of the page.
14. Readers ignore banners.
15. Shorter paragraphs perform better than long ones.
16. Show numbers as numerals.
17. Text ads were viewed mostly intently of all types tested.
18. Text attracts attention before graphics.
19. Type size influences viewing behavior.
20. Users initially look at the top left and upper portion of the page before moving down and to the right.
21. Users only look at a sub headline if it interests them.
22. Users spend a lot of time looking at buttons and menus.
23. White space is good.

Eyetracking
What you most need to know

.7z

.7z is a compressed archive file format that supports several different data compression, encryption and pre-processing filters. The .7z format initially appeared as implemented by the 7-Zip archiver. Both the 7-Zip program and a library to read the .7z file format are publicly available under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License.

Features of the .7z format are:

• Open, modular architecture which allows any compression, conversion, or encryption method to be stacked.
• Compression ratios from about 2 - 10%
• Ability to compress large files. Largest is about 16 billion GB.
• Uses a 16-bit code standard for uniform representation of all the character systems in the world, digits, symbols, and control sequences to use when storing data.
• Support for solid compression, where multiple files of like type are compressed within a single stream, in order to exploit the combined redundancy inherent in similar files.
• Even archive headers (supplemental data placed at the beginning of a block of data being stored which contain information for handling the data block) are compressed.
• AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) 256 bit key encryption is used to encrypt filenames.

.tar / .gz

.tar (tape archive) is actually an archive format only. What it does is only to collate collections of files into one larger file, for distribution or archiving while preserving file system information such as user and group permissions, dates, and directory structures.

.gz (GNU zip) on the other hand is used to compress files, with no archiving capabilities whatsoever.

Both formats are usually used together to compress files resulting in .tar.gz or .tgz. This format is commonly known as tarball. The ‘Content-Encoding’ header in HTTP/1.1 allows clients to optionally receive compressed HTTP responses and to send compressed requests. It saves bandwidth as compression ratios can reach up to about 80%

.rar

Eugene Roshal developed the .rar format, which stands for Roshal ARchive. .7z’s LZMA algorithm is quite similar to RAR in providing extremely high compression efficiency at the cost of compute time to compress and decompress. Both provide among the highest compression efficiency of any popular scheme, with the question of which algorithm is the more efficient compression scheme strongly depending on the files being compressed.

Notable features include :

• Ability to split archives into modular pieces called volumes. This is done efficiently with the built-in support for multi-volume files. It enable the unpacking program to simply prompt the user for the next disk, without any hassle of manually copying and then rejoining the pieces, or for extracting a file from a single piece without needing all pieces.
• Ability to treat all compressed files as a single block, also known as the solid format.
• Uses the AES encryption algorithm, where encrypted files are only recoverable by dictionary or brute force attacks.
• Audio compression can hit up to 90%
• It can even store NTFS streams and security information in the archives, both of which are usually lost upon compression.
• Password protection can optionally protect filenames, so that the files contained within the archive will not be displayed without the right password.
• .rar can also be embedded into other filetyps, like .jpeg. Check out this video.

.zip

• Each archived file is compressed separately, allowing the use of different algorithms for a higher compression ratio on different files. The drawback lies in the archive being significantly larger when a large number of small files are compressed together. Contrary to this is the .tar.gz format that comprises of a .tar archive compressed using .gz
• Files can also be stored uncompressed.
• The AES encryption method have only been included since May 2003. Prior to that, .zip used a simple password-based symmetric encryption system which is known to be dangerously weak.
• The uncompressed size of a file, compressed size of a file and total size of the archive was limited at 4 GB. Extensions had to be added to get around the limitations.
• Unicode compatibility was only added in September 2006.
• As the Info-ZIP Windows tools supports NTFS file system permissions, it will make an attempt to translate from NTFS permissions to Unix permissions or vice-versa when extracting files which can result in potentially unintended combinations like .exe files being created on NTFS volumes with executable permission denied.