PC/OS WebStation vs Google ChromeOS

Well the Google ChromeOS has been getting some buzz around the water cooler lately. So what does it means for us in terms of the designers for PC/OS and really what it means for PC/OS WebStation. While there are several Netbook specific Linux distributions for that purpose. But, what do they offer thats compelling for the user? There is no consistency between the user experience. If you look at all of the Netbook releases and their desktop counterparts whats the one thing you notice? They all look different, night and day different. With PC/OS we strive to have the user experience consistent between the releases. If you look at OpenWorkstation and WebStation and even OpenServer System, whats the first thing you notice? Its the same UI, same experience. So how do we beat Googles ChromeOS? While we do use Googles app lineup, we are totally different. Google wants everything browser based and everything stored on the web. We do realize that some things like audio and video dont function well on the web. You will always have that latency between the upload to the playback. Google wants to take the user out of the computer and we dont believe that is the way to do business and we dont believe this is what the user wants.

Productivity and time management, Google wants their productivity apps online. We do realize thats important but we also offer the Office kit so in those cases of network downtime where ChromeOS will be pretty much useless, users can still get PC/OS to do what they want it to do. Users can still work on their documents, their spread sheets etc.

Expandability, PC/OS will always be expandable, meaning you can add whatever apps you wish to have on your PC/OS system. Google wants to take the Apple approach where you have to basically use the apps that they prescribe and that they "approve" of. Users like to change themes, add wallpapers and basically customize their systems the way they want to. With ChromeOS you cant do that, with PC/OS you can do it.

Information management, We believe that the users machine is theirs and if they want to use that giant 160gb HD that comes with their netbooks, they can. Users want to be able to know where their documents are and who is looking at them. With PC/OS you can, and Googles ChromeOS you cant. Remember, its stored on the internet. Google wants everything to be web based, whereas with PC/OS we are taking more of a smartphone approach with the way the information is presented.

So when it comes to the future what would you rather have, a very closed Linux based distribution, ChromeOS or would you rather continue to have control over YOUR computer. The choice is yours, the red pill or the blue pill.

Changes coming in PC/OS 10.5 and 11

Some of the changes we are making to the PC/OS UI and functionality will be implemented in PC/OS 10.5, others will be coming in PC/OS 11. First, with PC/OS 10.5 the new NetLinks menu will debut. Think of the NetLinks menu as sort of the social networking menu similar to the way Canonical does the Me menu. In this menu, we will have links to common social networking sites, Facebook, Twitter, Google Search and Google Maps. Another things that users have been asking for is system search thats easy to get to, and can be utilized at any time.

We have designated the right side of the taskbar for applications, the NetLinks menu and the file search tool. On the left side we will have utilities like the System Navigator and the notes utility. In PC/OS 11 Webstation, users will also have a keyboard icon. This invokes the onboard keyboard app. Why do we need an onboard keyboard? Is it for accesibility? If thats what you wish yes, but we are working on PC/OS 11 to support touch screen out of the box. Due to limited hardware availability, I can atest that it works well on one system. We do not support ink yet, but we feel this is a good start. The NetLinks menu will be featured on OpenWorkstation and Webstation.

Answers, answers and more Answers

There are a couple of misconceptions out there that we wanted to address and to get out of the way regarding the product. This is the teams official views and should be taken as such.

1. You are moving to a Fedora based system?

Maybe. We have been testing a build of PC/OS with Fedora 12. There are certain technological benefits to this, better SELinux support, support for Red Hat packages in the enterprise and we think it could be a value added solution for our users and customers. But, for now we are commited to Canonicals offerings. So while one exists there are no plans to distribute it right now. If we do we will still support existing systems with valid support contracts and yes, we would offer an LTS version of any releases we do of PC/OS using a Fedora base.

2. PC/OS 10.1.1 was the last before PC/OS 11?

That was the plan. But technology changes, bugs get discovered and fixed. We will be distributing PC/OS 10.5 in May. This is a bug fix release mostly. Not a bunch of new features planned. There are only three feature enhancements planned.

3. In the roadmap, you have a ? mark in one of the upcoming releases, is that the Fedora release?

No. That is a tightly integrated hardware / software solution that will be announced close to LinuxWorld. We are sure, everyone will be just as excited as we are.

4. With the release of Ubuntu 10.04, PC/OS development will cease?

No. We will continue to develop PC/OS after the release of Ubuntu 10.04. Yes we do think some of the things Canonical is doing are neat and we intend to join them in that, PC/OS will continue to be developed as long as it makes sense.

5. You are going to a retail product model with PC/OS to get rich?

No. We want to be able to pay the bills and make sure we can bring you the best. We want to do preloaded hardware, we want to be able to pay our developers and support the makers of supporting software products. We think the XFCE guys, Fragdelic of Remastersys and others deserve to be supported.

So there you have it, the five most common misconceptions of the future of PC/OS.

PC/OS (RED)Station Released

One of the things we do at PC/OpenSystems LLC is we look at what we can do for humanity, our neighbors and families. When the disaster in Haiti struck, if you purchased a copy of PC/OS we donated funds to the Haiti Relief fund. If you are a member of the US Armed Forces you got whatever version of PC/OS that you would have liked shipped to you free of charge. So how do we extend that ? How do we keep helping our neighbors throughout the world? Well, today PC/OpenSystems has joined Project (RED), for the fight against AID's in Africa. When you purchase the branded Project (RED) release of PC/OS for $45.00 USD, we donate $10.00 USD to Project (RED). This release will not be downloadable, only available for retail. For those who have questions about our integrity we wont sell something and not send the funds, we will keep track of how many of these releases are sold and post it on the site. This release is PC/OS OpenWorkstation that we the team have dubbed, PC/OS (RED)Station. Even though in the posted screenshot its based on PC/OS 11 Alpha we will backport the theme to PC/OS 10.1.1