Thousands of Jolicloud App Users May Have a Point
Posted on 24. Mar, 2011 by Julian West in Reviews
I will admit that I was tempted to dismiss the Jolicloud App of simply jumping on the cloud computing bandwagon. But you know what? I’ve reconsidered. While I feel ambivalence to certain features, Jolicloud’s “App Store” really shows some possibility. And yes, it really does appear to have a ton of users in the Chrome Web Store.
Jolicloud’s interface is very similar to Chrome, almost to the point of redundancy. Like Chrome, Jolicloud presents your web apps as icons lined up in rows across the screen. To access your apps, you simply click on them, and it will take you to the web page from which they are hosted. There is a search box on the top, a bit like Google’s Omnibox, but not as integrated into the web as Chrome.
The sharing aspect of the Jolicloud app doesn’t work for me. While I understand how powerful sharing things can be on the internet, it would be more helpful if Jolicloud users could share their favorite applications outside the Jolicloud user base so others — perhaps their Facebook friends or Twitter followers — could be exposed to more web based applications.
But click on the green “+” on the upper left corner and then you’ll see a big difference in Jolicloud’s app store. As much as I love Chrome, I think Jolicloud’s app market is sleeker and easier to navigate and gives a better impression of the possibilities of cloud computing. While Chrome’s web store is a bit easier on the eyes with its black on white color scheme and larger icons, it seems to always showcase the same apps. How is that supposed to help me see the potential of cloud applications?
Jolicloud’s store emulates Ubuntu’s software center. There is no advertising, no seeing the same applications blinking before you trying to grab your attention. It simply lists what’s available by category and gives you the information you need to determine whether the particular application would be of use to you. With a click, I can learn about the most recent apps for any chosen category.
The more cloud services that are brought to people’s attention, the more viable the “cloud alternative” becomes and Jolicloud has a generous offering. In fact, there are services I learned about through Jolicloud that I couldn’t find searching the Chrome Web Store. The Writing Nook app is such an example. Interestingly enough, Writing Nook even incorporates the Google App Engine, but it is nowhere to be found in the Chrome Web Store.
Jolicloud does include downloadable applications in its store which does confuse things and makes the cloud enthusiast in me bristle a bit, but it provides plenty of web apps, web apps that likely wouldn’t have been brought to my attention otherwise. That alone makes Jolicloud for Chrome worthwhile. That explains why there are so many users of it.
8 Responses to “Thousands of Jolicloud App Users May Have a Point”
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Cloud High Club
24. Mar, 2011
I’m a Jolicloud (and Joli OS) user. I agree that the app page of Jolicloud is quite usable. Neat and tidy, straight to the point, you can easily find what you want. Since I use Joli OS (the operating system), the launcher is very useful. But if I am using a device not running Joli OS, I won’t trouble with firing up the browser, hit my Jolicloud page and then click on the web app icon. I can simply bookmark the web app in Chrome/Firefox. To me Jolicloud launcher in browser is meaningless.
acupunc
24. Mar, 2011
I have to agree with Cloud High Club. . . since I added JoliCloud to Chrome there really is not point to it–bookmarks are easier.
Julian West
24. Mar, 2011
I agree with the both of you. Personally, I don’t use Jolicloud as a launcher. I use the app store on occasion to see if there are any interesting apps I may have missed. If I find some, I bookmark them in Chrome.
David
24. Mar, 2011
I think you’ve missed the point, though. Joli OS does a fabulous job of integrating both the traditional computing world while blending it with cloud computing. If you have multiple Joli OS machines, it automatically syncs the machines together. No fuss. It just does it.
The other nice thing is that it’s built on a more standard Linux kernel whereas Chrome OS is not, meaning that even power users that really know Linux can do everything in Joli OS they can do in say, Ubuntu.
I personally don’t get the point of the Jolicloud web app entirely, but it’s a nice way of bookmarking it within Chrome and giving you a different option in accessing your dashboard when you’re away from your Joli OS machine.
Julian West
24. Mar, 2011
Hello David,
For the purpose of the review, I wanted to stick to the Jolicloud app and not get into a review of JoliCloud OS. I’ve actually installed Joli OS in a computer of mine (when it was called JoliCloud) and played around with it for a few weeks. It’s a solid OS, no doubt and Jolicloud Chrome app is a good way to try out whether you’d be interested in adopting the OS.
I appreciate the fact that the makers of JoliCloud renamed their OS “Joli OS.” They have build an interface that revolves around integrating web apps with your standard applications and did it around the solid linux kernel. Kudos to them.
My interest lies in true “Cloud Computing” and an operating system like Chrome OS excites me because, while using linux, it is an effort in building a new “cloud based” OS from the bottom up. Yes, it looks “just like a browser” but the kernel of the OS has really been re-imagined.
Of course, such a new type of operating system like Chrome OS is going to suffer from lack of compatibility with your traditional Linux systems, but I think that’s ultimately necessary to put “Cloud Technology” forward.
Tariq KRIM
24. Mar, 2011
Hello,
Thanks for the article, let me clear a few things :
When we started Jolicloud, we had a vision to merge the cloud with at the computer level. We created an OS because at the time, there was no Chrome OS, android was just mobile and Chrome existed only for Windows.
Jolicloud app center is the second appstore to exist after the Apple one (Android market didn’t exist at the time).
Obviously our vision was to create a full cloud based platform, but the we had to stick to people needs : VLC, Skype, spotify are apps that are not available in a cloud form yet so we decided to provide a few native apps. What we decided is to not differentiate how web apps and native were treated visually. for us native being replaced by webapps is just a matter of time.
With a growing number of jolicloud web app users, we are looking how to better integrate the apps and the launcher!
More soon !
Happy joliclouding!
best,
TK
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