After months of private alpha testing, the folks at Jolicloud have launched a public beta version of the netbook operating system called Jolicloud Express. In other words, anyone can download and install it now. You don’t need an invitation.
Jolicloud is a light weight Linux distribution that’s designed primarily to run web applications such as Gmail, Google Docs, Facebook, and Twitter. But unlike Google’s upcoming Chrome OS, Jolicloud is more than just a glorified web browser. It can also run native Linux applications such as OpenOffice.org, Boxee, and GIMP, which makes it pretty useful when you’re on an airplane or another location where you may not have an internet connection.
Jolicloud Express also has a new HTML5 program launcher, which you can see in the image above.
You can download and install Jolicloud on a Windows netbook, creating a dual boot system that gives you a choice of operating systems at boot.
via TechCrunch and Jolicloud Twitter feed
I’ve been one of the alpha testersand gotta say:
It’s nothing else than a UBUNTU Netbook Remix with some features added. He didn’t even make the effort to change the UI on the original Ubuntu install windows. This is a fake and kudos go to the UNR project not him!
The name “Linux” refers to just the kernel so referring the the system as a whole this way is misleading. The principle developers who enabled projects like Jolicloud were the contributors to the GNU Project. The Jolicloud system is actually the GNU system with the Linux kernel added so it is more accurate (both technically and attributively) to refer to it as the GNU/Linux system.
They’ve really gone out of there way to support netbook hardware. They’ve even baked support for the infamous GMA 500 chipset into the operating system.
You can check their website for a list of hardware that have been tested as compatible and you can expect lots of unlisted hardware to work, as well.
I’ve been following Jolicloud for a while now. It looks like a fast, nice-looking, and well-conceived netbook OS. The only question is whether it will find a marketshare given the arrival of Chromium and Moblin, which are backed by Google and Intel, respectively…
I downloaded the beta and there requesting a invitation request where do I get this. I was under the impression that the beta didn’t require this.
Make sure you download Jolicloud *Express*, not the Beta version (which requires an invitation): https://www.jolicloud.com/download
Here is the list of compatible devices I mentioned earlier:
https://www.jolicloud.com/product/compatibility
How is driver compatibility with Jolicloud? With most linux distro’s you have to pull teeth to find the correct drivers for your device.