The future is Jolly Cloudy

A couple of weeks ago I came across a couple of Linux distros aimed at netbooks. Among these was jolicloud. At present this is an invite only alpha, but I was fortunate enough to receive an invite.

The install is clean and simple. What's more it runs inside a Parallels VM beautifully. Although their target is netbooks, they should probably think a little outside the square, as this is an ideal web orientated OS that has wider applications than netbooks.

The GUI is clean and simple. It's probably one of the few Linux distros where you are oblivious to the fact you're running Linux. The primary interface is a full screen "browser" for want of a better word. Down the left hand side of main UI are icons to program groups. Down the right hand side are file locations. Across the top of the UI is a taskbar.
This is a very functional approach to keeping things simple and easy to use. My 4yo would pick it up in a snap.

Installing new functionality is extremely easy. Apps are presented in categories. Installation is as simple as clicking an install button.
What truly makes this a cloud based OS, is the seamless integration of web based apps. Google apps, and Apple's MobileMe are extremely good examples. They run within the OS as if they were a native app. I was quite surprised to see MobileMe considering this is a netbook based OS. It does however show off the OS very well.

Considering this is an alpha, it's extremely stable and polished. Hiding beneath the very friendly GUI is Ubuntu. As such if you want to delve into the Linux innards, there's a popular stable foundation to be delving within.

Jolicloud is undoubtedly one version of the future. Web based apps accessible from anywhere, where the OS plays a far lesser role, and should purely be the vehicle you access your cloud.

If I was indeed running Jolicloud on a netbook, it would have to have 3G capability. I would lose my mind if it didn't.
I believe there are plans afoot to bring out a kernel more taliored and focussed on the Intel Atom processor. Whereas I can understand the benefits of this, the broader the platform this thing runs on, the better. I'd happily buy a netbook, as Mac orientated as I've become, based purely on how good Jolicloud is.