It seems I've been getting links from everywhere the last few months for various Cloud Computing Desktops that have sprung up.  I've been trying most of them, not out of necessity but out of intrigue.  What do I plan on using them for?  Honestly, I don't know, but they sure are neat to try.  The three I've tried as of late are g.ho.st, startforce and most recently, iCloud.  The advertising associated with the cloud computing desktop environment is "take your desktop everywhere you go", but what about those of us who only go places where they have a desktop?  I can see the use one day of a desktop type environment where many of our office apps are run from a desktop, but as john c. dvorak points out on numerous occasions, what happens when the "cloud" goes down either because of network issues or the site itself shuts down completely.  Data portability my friends... and none of these sites have it yet.  Until they do, i'll continue to run my own version of cloud computing which involves local applications with local data synced over the internet via Live Mesh, xMarks, Lastpass, and finally backed up with services like Mozy.  I will say that the Cloud Desktops are definitely a marvel in web programming and so I thought I'd do a quick rundown of my experiences.

Of the three, Startforce appears to function the best and has the cleanest interface, in my opinion.  Startforce ran perfectly in Firefox 3.1 beta as well as IE 8 64-bit.  It has an impressive MS style Word & Excel apps, mail worked great and IM was a breeze to set up (to note, these type of app testings are the only time my "IM" buddies ever see me on anymore).  Of the three I think it has the least amount of apps, but the apps it does have are pretty well polished.  Most of the apps seem to pre-launch with a quick command line prompt that oddly resembles a citrix app and lessens the desktop experience a tad.  Startforce even went all the way and included various backgrounds as well as a screen saver.  I'm thinking the screen saver is just a gimmick, i can't see the real use of it in a cloud desktop.  The fact that they built in a Screen Saver but didn't include the most critical app of all office computing, solitaire, is beyond me.

iCloud has a nice start interface and seems the most like a 'true pc' by including such things as a "Command Prompt'.  I didn't have much luck getting my mail working, so I can't comment on that.  Some windows would not pop up or popped up a little slow.  The feature set, while larger than startforce, i don't think has been fully tested.  One intriguing feature that might save it is a 'development platform', however I have to be honest in that I didn't use it so i don't know how well it works.  I'd be interested in someones experience with that who has actually programming experience.

g.ho.st is a Cloud Desktop i've tried on and off since i first stumbled upon it about 6 months or so back.  Of development cycles, it is the farthest along.  g.ho.st requires flash and thus does not work in the 64-bit IE 8 but does work great in Firefox and i imagine, but didn't test, IE 32-bit.  g.ho.st has a ton of apps including functionality for Pandora & last.fm so you should be able to do just about everything in it that you would do in a standard desktop (short of true gaming).  Most of the 3rd party style apps appear to be browser based, so I don't know if that counts as a true application and may affect your usability in an internet cafe style environment.  For the record, they use the much praised Zoho office apps.

If you have more to add regarding these Cloud Computing Desktops or any others you have tried, please leave a comment below.

Windows 7, the new proposed entry edition slated as the 'perfect OS for Netbooks', is anything but.  Windows 7 Starter Edition, part of the new line-up of Windows 7 OS's, boasts a 3 application limit that is surely to aggravate and confuse the average consumer who attempts to run this pseudo OS.  What is Microsoft telling consumers?  Basically, The Windows 7 Starter Edition can run 3 applications and numerous instances of those applications.  The 3 application limit does not include services such as Anti-virus applications, nor does it encompass windows included applications such as Notepad, Command Prompt and presumably Paint.  All this will do is cause the market to attempt to circumvent the limit by building more cloud applications, as pointed out in the GDGT podcast.  The average consumer will be even more confused as to why some apps (windows apps) aren't affected by the 3 application limit and others are.  What is an app?  Try to explain this to your grandma who just bought a $200 Netbook initially only to view pictures and read your emails that she has to shut down something if she wants to run skype to talk to her grandkid?

So, rather than blast Microsoft, I thought I'd suggest an alternative.  Scrap the Windows 7 Starter Edition, or make it what it truly is, a free product for people to test the new Microsoft OS or as a minimalistic alternative to Linux.  Heck, Give it the "Express" name and put it with their other free Express products lineup.  Create the Windows 7 Netbook Edition.  Windows 7 Netbook Edition could encompass the physical limits of a Netbook without confusing the consumer at a later stage.  Some limitations could be:

• Limit the Screen Resolution.  Netbooks typically have a limited screen size or resolution.  Use that.  Don't offer resolutions greater than would (or should) be found on a 10" Netbook.  Limit it to a single display.
• Limit the UI Settings.  To give the best Windows experience, limit the UI settings.  Don't offer aero glass features or any other UI features that would slow the processor.
• Limit many of the services that should never come into play in a consumer Netbook environment to keep the Netbook edition from being ported to (and competing with) the higher price-point editions.  Routing and Remote Access, Fax Service, Group Policies, Task Scheduler, etc. are not essential in a Netbook experience.
• Remove many of the applications that are not essential in a Netbook environment.  Remote Desktop, Task Scheduler, Import portion of Windows Easy Transfer, limited System Restore functionality, etc.

The advantage of some of these limitations is it would allow Microsoft to sell a cheaper version of their OS without risking it diluting their full fledged OS consumer and business market. It will also limit any PR issues as the users experience will typically not change through the life of that particular product.  The product will still perform as would be expected in a Windows 7 experience but within the confines of a netbook.  I specifically left out cpu requirements since those can change in the future.  It is unlikely however that the physical and usage requirements for a netbook will change however (small, light and streamlined).

Since Microsoft is planning on making a Basic Edition as an low-grade inexpensive (read: lousy) alternative for the Desktop and Laptop Computing environment, a case could be made that the Netbook Edition could offer the limited functionality of the Basic Edition within the hardware confines of a Netbook and at a cheaper price-point.  A case could also be made that the Netbook edition should be for sale to the public for those who buy one of the Linux netbooks on price-point alone and decide later that they'd prefer the windows experience.

In short, simple is better.  Make your OS lineup easily understandable by the consumer.  Don't surprise them with weird tech lingo or variable limitations.  Let the consumer buy the OS based on the features and product they own with the expectations that they'll continue to have the same experience when they purchased the product throughout the life of the product.  So, in closings, I'd suggest this:

1. Windows Netbook Edition - Streamlined Netbook edition
2. Windows Basic Edition - Entry level desktop & laptop edition (needs a better name than "Basic" !)
3. Windows Premium Edition - Full version of the Windows 7 experience
4. Windows Profession Edition - Enterprise version (group policy and other functionality needed for enterprise)

Agree, Dis-agree, thoughts?

My first post on Arid.NET I figure should be about one of the best new sites I've come across as of late that will help reinvent your blog or website.  I came across Apture via a Robert Scoble @scobleizer interview and promptly decided to test it on one of my web properties.  Apture provides a few methods to add 'Apturized Links' to your site.  One of them is via a wordpress widget, but you can also add it via some simple javascript code.  The web property I added it to was far from a web 2.0 site but yet the javascript code was able to be installed into the footer template and worked immediately.  In a few seconds my site had a huge advantage over the competitors.

What does apture do?  We'll, if you hover over some of the links on this page, you'll notice it adds all sorts of rich media including reference guides, images, video, maps, music, documents, presentations and even twitter streams.   What was even more impressive was the links it created that I didn't even know about (and can be turned off from the admin if you like).  I had MP3 files linked that Apture turned into playable media on my site.  The visitors didn't even need to download the mp3 to listen to it.  If you haven't tried Apture yet, I suggest you visit them at Apture.com.  If you'd like to see some great uses for apture, try visiting FlightBlogger and Arts and Cultural Management People or just follow them on twitter at @apture.