April 2nd, 2007 in Featured, Technology

Firefox OS: Why My Hard Drive & Software are Obsolete

Firefox

While the debate of Windows v. Mac v. Linux rages on, at times rising to a roar in certain circles, I meekly raise my hand and offer a newly emerging fourth choice: none of these operating systems really matter anymore.

Why not? Because for writers like me, and for many others, all the software and storage space you really need is now online. All that matters is that you have your browser — and at the risk of sparking another flame war, I recommend Firefox.

Need a word processor, spreadsheet, photo program, or really most anything useful? Old-fashioned desktop applications aren’t necessary anymore, for the most part. You can fire up your browser on any computer, and given a decent internet connection, you’ve got your entire OS and hard drive right there, from anywhere you log in.

Now, before people start chiming in with “But I need X Application in order to do my work!” I have a disclaimer: my needs are relatively simple, so you may not be able to do what I’ve done. But I’ve intentionally simplified my needs, and for many people, this simplification can not only work, but be better than what’s offered on the desktop.

Here’s my Firefox OS, with an intentionally heavy reliance on the Google suite of software:

  • Word processor. I use Google Docs & Spreadsheets. I used its predecessor, Writely, in the past, and it works well. I’ve never been a fan of the bloated MS Word … until recently, I used the much smaller and faster open-source word processor, AbiWord. But when I would forget to email myself a text file from work to home, I cursed myself and made the switch to Google Docs. I haven’t regretted it yet.
  • Spreadsheet. Again, Google Docs & Spreadsheets. It isn’t as feature-rich as Excel or OpenOffice yet, but it does the job for most of my needs. In fact, it’s rare that I ever need anything more, and I suspect that’s the case for most people. And I expect the software to improve over time.
  • Email. This is a no-brainer. Gmail, all the time. It’s so much better than desktop email apps, and better than its competing webmail apps too. Fast, easy to use, powerful searches and features … enough can’t be said about Gmail. It’s my No. 1 app for work and personal use.
  • Feed reader. I’ve tried a lot of blog readers, including some good desktop and online readers. But Google Reader is by far the most efficient. I read it 2-3 times a day, and crank through my feeds. I can get through 100+ posts a day very quickly.
  • Blogging software. For my main blog at Zen Habits, I’ve tried various software, but so far the best for my needs is WordPress. It has everything I need, and is very extensible with lots of great plugins.
  • Photo software. One of the biggest reasons I need a hard drive is for all my photos, at work and home. I’ve solved that with Picasa Web Albums — another Google solution. I tried Flickr, but their free account is too flimsy, and Picasa just works better. Plus, if you like their great desktop software, it’s so perfectly integrated. I just uploaded all my thousands of photos from home, and it’s nicely organized online.
  • Hard drive. What do you need a hard drive for? Besides the space needed to run your system, and software such as your browser, we use hard drives for file storage — for our word processing and spreadsheet documents, photos, music files, PDFs, etc. Well, for the most part, all my files are now saved online. Between Google Docs & Spreadsheets, Gmail, and Picasa, everything I save is stored on the internet. The one thing I haven’t found a perfect solution for is mp3s, but I haven’t been using those much, and I’m sure a solution will turn up soon (let me know in the comments!). Another great solution is online storage such as Box.net, MediaMax (25 GB for free!), Gmail Drive and the like.
  • File management. The main reason for an OS is to manage your files. Well, since all my files are online, that’s now a moot point. How do I manage my files now? Well, as I use mostly Google software, I use Google’s philosophy: tag and archive everything, and use the tags or Google’s fast and powerful searches to find anything you need. This takes a bit of an adjustment on the user’s part, trusting this new paradigm to work, but trust me, it’s much better than filing stuff in folders. You save a heck of a lot of time filing and finding stuff. It’s not hierarchical, so that’s difficult for many people — but it works.
  • Backup system. One of the big problems with a hard drive is the very real possibility that it will crash sometime during its lifetime. And unless you’ve been good at backing up your files, you will lose that data. With all my files saved online, there’s no need to back up these files, which can be time-consuming and troublesome. Good news: most of these services do a good job of backing up your data for you.
  • Calendar. For its ease-of-use and simplicity, Google Calendar (of course). It doesn’t have all the functionality of certain desktop calendar programs, but it works great for me.
  • Bringing it all together. I use a lot of Google apps, but Google’s main problem (for me) so far is that it doesn’t integrate these services well. Well, enter another Google solution: the Google Personalize Homepage. It’s now my home page. But I don’t use it like many others do, with all kinds of fun and distracting widgets, or to read all my blogs. No, I just have all my Google services on this page for easy access, along with quick bookmarks for all the other stuff I use for work and for my blogging, and some stickies for taking quick notes. One page to rule them all.
  • Miscellaneous. I’m a fan of GTD, so I use Tracks for my to-do lists. I use other online software, such as Backpack for keeping other lists, but the ones above are the main apps. I also use AutoHotkey to quickly bring up the pages I use a lot, like Gmail, my to-do lists, my story ideas file, and the like, as well as to type my different signatures and other shortcuts.
  • Firefox, of course. All of this is possible with Internet Explorer or the very good Safari or Opera browsers, but Firefox just makes it that much better. It’s so easy and fast to use, plus there are certain extensions I can’t live without — Foxmarks, Gmail Manager, FireFTP, Download Statusbar and Web Developer among them. Give me Firefox, and I don’t care what brand of OS I’m using.

Is online software as feature-rich as desktop software? Not yet. But it’s good enough for my simple needs, and it’s getting better all the time.
Have I really gotten rid of my hard drive and software? Not yet. I still have all my old files on the hard drive, but they’re collecting dust. I no longer store my new files on my hard drive, and I rarely use my old desktop software. I keep them on my computer just in case I need to open up a specially formatted file, but for my nitty-gritty daily work, I don’t need that old software anymore.

Someday, none of us will, and the decades-old OS debate will be a thing of the past.

Leo Babauta is a writer, a marathoner, an early riser, a vegan, and a father of six. He blogs regularly about achieving goals through daily habits on Zen Habits, and covers such topics as productivity, GTD, simplifying, frugality, parenting, happiness, motivation, exercise, eating healthy and more.

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Leo Babauta

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  • Justin says on April 2nd, 2007 at 9:37 am

    For MP3 online-storage and playback, try Media Master (http://www.mediamaster.com/) You can upload all of your MP3’s (I’ve uploaded 6 GB of my library and I have more to go.

  • Eric says on April 2nd, 2007 at 9:42 am

    For mp3s, check out the articles on lifehacker.com on the “Self-Sustaining iPod.”

    Granted, they’re not web apps so there is some sort of platform dependance. It might not be truly what you’re searching for.

  • Nxqd3051990 says on April 2nd, 2007 at 9:50 am

    Very nice writing :)

    nXqd

  • Shaan says on April 2nd, 2007 at 10:18 am

    Hi Leo

    This is the best article I have seen in a very long time, and it is very very true!

    I thought you might find the following site helpful on your quest:

    http://portableapps.com/

    This site has portable versions of well know software, specifically FireFox. You install the software on a USB drive, and there you have it….FireFox OS :)

  • Scott says on April 2nd, 2007 at 10:34 am

    Speaking of Gmail, you praise its “powerful searches.”

    It bugs me to no end every time I hear this because it simply isn’t true. Gmail’s searches SUCK! It’s the suckiest thing about Gmail.

    1) If you search for Ben then it won’t find Benjamin. Google, you have to be kidding me!

    2) It won’t search attachments, which I know Thunderbird does and is very useful. Why on earth not?

    3) And finally, you can’t search on anything advanced, such as message size.

    So just for the record, Gmail may be great, but it’s searching definitely is not. Thunderbird and most email clients pummel it in this category.

  • Keith Clarke says on April 2nd, 2007 at 10:40 am

    Er, how do you get as far as your browser without an OS?

  • Richard says on April 2nd, 2007 at 10:47 am

    I am sympathetic to browser-based applications, both on and off line. However the online versions give me pause.

    The major problem, but not the only one, is with the one-sided Terms of Service that provide users with no recourse or redress when the provider decides to close the account for whatever reason, changes the services provided, or goes out of business.

    Until we have a consumers’ online bill of rights this is a dicey proposition.

  • Dave says on April 2nd, 2007 at 11:01 am

    Some good points, but…

    -Connections to the internet are less reliable than the electric outlet you use to power your computer. Point being, in your case, no internet = no work. At least with a powered computer with applications on the hard drive you can still get things done.

    -Special application programs such as AutoCAD and thousands of others which people use for their jobs may never become available online because there’s too much money to be made in licensing and support contracts etc. etc.

  • Ernie Oporto says on April 2nd, 2007 at 11:04 am

    He didn’t say have no OS. He only said the OS doesn’t matter anymore.

    There is one piece of the puzzle that I have yet to see. Google needs to integrate these things as nicely as Yahoo has and then allow you to sync with a PDA. Yes, you can see these apps through their mobile online versions, but they are really crippled and using them is a deathly slow process.

  • Gautch says on April 2nd, 2007 at 11:14 am

    Once Google refreshed the Personalized Homepage i jumped in feet first doing exaclty what your doing. I have several tabs, one for general info, one for my blog, one for each of my film projects.
    This allows me to stay focused when working on each project!

    I do graphic design and video editing, so im still tethered to my on system OS.
    But i have to agree with Scott about the Gmail search. It does suck!

    -Gautch
    Gautch.wordpress.com

  • Sachman Bhatti says on April 2nd, 2007 at 11:27 am

    Don’t matter? And I suppose these websites are hosted on websites? I suppose you code your websites on a website, and compile it? For “users” in the sense of people who just are doing their work or their homework the web can replace much of what they do. However, the debates really are between power users who want to do more than just write a document.

    The web as a medium was built for document retrieval. We’ve hacked and worked with that model a lot to make it seem like an application but FreeBSD, Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X aren’t going anywhere.

  • Walden15 says on April 2nd, 2007 at 11:29 am

    While I agree with the main jist of your article in that most commercial OS-based applications are no longer neccessary, that’s no reason to abandon your OS altogther (were that even possible)

    This would be great if it was geared to people using tablet pcs or iphones to access the internet - but they’d still need an OS to navigate to the web.

    And how do we burn cd’s? Watch movies? Play games? And don’t even get me started on newsgroups and torrent sites…

  • Groovymarlin says on April 2nd, 2007 at 11:49 am

    I’m using a lot of the same tools. The only thing that scares me is Gmail. There have been several outages for certain sets of users recently; during one my friend couldn’t log in to her account for hours. I realized I have EVERYTHING in Gmail and use it as a reference for lots of business and personal things. If I lose access, I have to wait and trust they’ll restore service and not lose my data - and since it’s free, I don’t really have much leverage to complain. That being said, I have not stopped using Gmail or any other Google service, simply because I, like you, think they are the best. I am looking into ways to back up my data and email though.

    Thanks for the tip on Google personalized desktop. I use Netvibes for my personal start page and feed reader, but the Google page will be perfect for organizing access to all my Google services!

  • Anne Helmond says on April 2nd, 2007 at 12:32 pm

    A great alternative for Google is Zoho which offers online software for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, database, calender, wiki, planning software and more!

    Zoho

  • Anne Helmond says on April 2nd, 2007 at 12:33 pm

    A great alternative to Google is Zoho which offers online software for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, database, calender, wiki, planning software and more!

    Zoho

  • Mika says on April 2nd, 2007 at 1:13 pm

    For music: mp3tunes.com

    Unlimited storage for free (or almost). I’m using it for over a year now and loving it.

  • Jeff says on April 2nd, 2007 at 2:28 pm

    Great article, I just started reading a few weeks ago. It appears we are not alone in the way we use google. Keep up the good work.

  • Jennifer Kyrnin says on April 2nd, 2007 at 3:35 pm

    I don’t disagree with the premise, but as I found out last week, this will only become realistic when battery life for computers lasts more than 2-3 hours.

    I was taking notes in the conference I was at, and the wireless networking cut my normal battery life down from 4-6 hours to around 2-3 hours. It was ugly.

    I’ll be ready to do all my work online when I get a computer that will stay on without needing a plug for an entire business day.

  • Tuomas says on April 2nd, 2007 at 3:41 pm

    I could never take this route.

    If privacy doesn’t mean anything to you and your needs are light, sure: upload all your stuff to third party servers accross the net.

    But you’ve got to take into consideration that you’re stashing your data under propietary systems (data recovery in the future, changed TOSs,) and effectively sharing it with company (marketing, customer profiles)

  • Pelly says on April 2nd, 2007 at 4:10 pm

    How true …
    All the basic-apps you need are online indeed.

    “The Net” doesn’t do some tasks in detail yet, but it does get you there.
    It all depends on personal mindsetting and how YOU use your PC.
    What do you expect of it ?

    It would be a nice experiment to see if you can survive without a HDD in your PC.
    I think it is possible using Knoppix, or Bart’s PE on a USB, or a hardware thin client. Include some Portable apps in the image and you are well on your way to living on the net.

    Great article !

    Pelly

  • Leo Babauta says on April 2nd, 2007 at 4:45 pm

    Great comments, everyone, and some excellent points regarding online apps have been brought up. Let me just say that I acknowledge in the article that online apps are far from perfect and that a lot of work must be done. But they’ve also come a long way, just in the last year or two, and I believe they’re headed in the right direction. And for someone who’s needs are simple, like mine, they’re good enough for now.

    I also agree with Richard that an online Consumer Bill of Rights is needed, and it’s only a matter of time before enough users get ripped off that some kind of legislation or movement is started.

    Regarding Gmail’s searches: I agree that there are things that need to be improved, and there may be better searches out there. But it works great for me, and there’s no doubt that the searches are fast. For online email, I haven’t seen it beat, and it’s definitely better than many desktop apps I’ve used. I never gave Thunderbird enough of a chance to really test it, simply because I needed an online solution that I can access from any computer. Gmail satisfies that while Thunderbird doesn’t.

  • jappsi says on April 2nd, 2007 at 5:17 pm

    I agree with every post, allthough in my opinion it is headed for a different way.

    Connection to the internet gets cheaper day by day and even the most deserted areas slowly get broadband. This is why I think that in future we will host our stuff on our own. We’ll all have a server at home that runs apps like those mentioned in this article.

    This also removes the whole TOS/third-party thingie and everyone can deside whether he wants to make this file available for public or not.

  • Schnooks says on April 2nd, 2007 at 5:37 pm

    RE: Firefox OS.
    I couldn’t agree more with the direction you point out things are heading toward. The debate b\w OS’ is superfluous if the browser can mediate all into one language. These are rudimentary, but seminal, structures.
    Not sure about mp3 storage, but I’m growing fond of http://www.finetune.com. Personal radio, flexible, community based. Cool & easy.
    That’s the point here, I think: if you take someone who knows NOTHING about a computer, wouldn’t you start with the GMail apps listed in the article? Cool & easy…

  • Lady A/ says on April 2nd, 2007 at 5:39 pm

    The article mentioned a list manager on the web - if you need a simple “to-do” list or reminder app - Firefox has an extension add-in called “Reminderfox”.
    Also the add-on called “AdBlock” is awesome! Never be bothered by annoying ad’s on a web page again. I hate having to browse the web using I.E. since you are bombarded by very annoying ad’s on virtually every page you view.
    The add-on’s can be found at:
    https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browse/type:1/cat:all/sort:popular

  • Fred says on April 2nd, 2007 at 5:46 pm

    Great ideas - I’ve been carrying a key-chain USB drive that has documents that I access every day (stock watchlists, to-do lists, different documents I’m writing, basically anything too big or cumbersome to put on my PDA) - this would help eliminate that extra weight on my keychain.

    However…

    The privacy aspect worries me, as well as the backup situation. The reason I put the documents I use on a USB drive was because I needed access to them on a regular, uninterrupted basis. I’d suggest combining the suggestions in the post with some sort of local backup system - that way you’re always covered.

  • Ben says on April 2nd, 2007 at 6:02 pm

    Good article. My colleagues and I were discussing this before about how processing power is continually shifting from server to the users machine. With the old mainframes we saw the dumb-terminals. Then came the desktop PC, and then we rediscovered citrix.

    As you rightly point out, the average user could actually work using web applications rather than desktop applications.

    Couple you missed off which we find useful here are:

    Basecamp (project management) and Freshbooks (Invoicing.. boring but necessary for businesses).

  • Luigi Montanez says on April 2nd, 2007 at 6:13 pm

    For GTD, I like the new service called Nozbe:

    http://www.nozbe.com/

    It’s in free beta right now.

  • Pawel says on April 2nd, 2007 at 7:50 pm

    Online apps usually offer less features then a comparible shareware application. Many charge monthly subscription fees or put on so many adds that you have to avoid clicking. And worst of all you don’t own your data.

  • KylePott says on April 2nd, 2007 at 8:24 pm

    Great post, Leo. You’ve got the same setup as me!

  • betsbillabong says on April 2nd, 2007 at 9:18 pm

    I for one will never work primarily online for many of the reasons posted, although I could see it making sense if someone was constantly moving around a bunch of different computers. But in that case why not just carry a small laptop around?

    “Given a decent internet connection…” — that’s a big one. I more often than not find myself working without a decent internet connection… without an internet connection at all. Most NYC cafes do not have wireless, and NYC residents are quick to protect their networks.

    And I can’t abide the idea of my stuff being lost due to a company going out of business, etc.

    I agree with you on the simplicity thing, but I really think it’s far more complicated to do everything online than to use the simple free software that comes with your computer.

  • styleygeek says on April 2nd, 2007 at 11:23 pm

    I have started to move in that direction myself, but it makes me a little nervous handing over everything to Google like that. Already, I have found that my blog, my feeds reader and my gmail are often all down at the same time (all google-based) and it’s not too much of a stretch to start to worry that if something went wrong or Google became evil, I might end up having no access to my files, my blog, my photos, my feeds, my email, my music and my calendar.

    And for most of these applications, it is difficult and time-consuming to back them up to something off-line.

    Or maybe I’m just paranoid.

  • Leo Babauta says on April 2nd, 2007 at 11:50 pm

    Regarding Dave’s excellent point about the reliability of internet connections: I agree, this is a problem, although I haven’t encountered it yet. What will help is the trend to provide off-line capability. So, I expect Gmail, for example, to eventually allow me to work off-line when I’m not connected, and then sync to the online database once I am connected.

    Again, this hasn’t been a problem yet for me, but it’s a good point.

    Regarding Tuomas’ comment on proprietary systems … I also agree with this point, and think that the growing open-source movement will eventually win out. For now, I haven’t had a problem with data ownership or privacy issues. I don’t think google has the time to be looking through my documents, which are pretty innocuous anyway. Most of my stuff is eventually published on the internet, anyway, so I have no real privacy issues.

  • Shankar Ganesh says on April 3rd, 2007 at 1:04 am

    What do you do if you can’t access the internet?

  • William Ryall says on April 3rd, 2007 at 1:33 am

    So, when did you buy your GOOG shares?

    I am a google fanboy too, but honestly some comparsions to other products would have been nice.

  • Paul says on April 3rd, 2007 at 2:00 am

    Great discussion. Thanks to everyone. I’ve been thinking of doing everything online for years. The future is now. Admittedly, it’s not perfect…..yet.

  • Other Ryan says on April 3rd, 2007 at 7:28 am

    http://www.mediamaster.com/

    Media Master is a nice solution for an online music player. Just upload your music and play it from anywhere.

  • Shahzam says on April 3rd, 2007 at 7:33 am

    What about us WoW players…? I can’t seem to get it to run on linux…

  • Jason says on April 3rd, 2007 at 7:38 am

    I have a 1.83Ghz iMac with 1GB RAM and Firefox 2.0 constantly crashes on me.

    I’ve tried reinstalling several times, but as much as I do like FF, Safari is much more stable.

    I do sorta agree with you, but I still prefer OS X to Windows.

  • filiberto says on April 3rd, 2007 at 7:38 am

    You are not proposing Firefox. You are proposing Google… are you so sure this is freedom from a system?

  • Joe says on April 3rd, 2007 at 7:40 am

    Cool travel videos are here: zsmith.org

  • David Malloy says on April 3rd, 2007 at 7:42 am

    If you love Firefox and Google, then you’ll love GSPACE!! I created an extra GMail account just for this reason - so that I could upload GIGS of music to my GSPACE and not have to worry. You can essentially set up multiple GMAIL accounts and have all your MP3’s (assuming you have more than 2.8GB and growing). Check it out!
    http://www.getgspace.com

  • Aman says on April 3rd, 2007 at 7:42 am

    Hi.
    All I’d suggest about this post is to change its title. It should be called
    “how to flush privacy and control down the drain in one easy step” :)
    Seriously, though, I would never do this kind of online work for the simple reason that I like having control over my own data and I like to at least try to keep that data private. It seems to me that, unless you’re extreemly poor or need extraordinary convenience, a laptop is thousands of times better not only because of the reliability issues pointed out above but because of the privacy and control issues which have gotten short shrift in the comments.

  • Jackson says on April 3rd, 2007 at 7:51 am

    I don’t believe Picassa stores your pictures online, it just organizes them and allows you to edit them online.

  • nikowolf says on April 3rd, 2007 at 7:58 am

    yeah third party proprietary will always be a problem because companies like that sell profiles and user information all the time… and the thing about we’ll eventually all have our own server and stuff… duh… i guess that means you are using your own hard drive and data storage devices… man some of you people need to get a clue…and no i don’t like the possibility of someone looking at my information… here’s an idea…tell the government to use online storage see what they tell you… ill give the same answer…

  • Nick says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:01 am

    I believe a lot of people are missing the point here. First off, the idea isn’t that the OS is obsolete, or that it’s going anywhere soon, it’s just that it doesn’t matter as much which one you use because there are few programs that most users need that aren’t online. That’s another point: MOST users. Because most people who use computers just use them for email, documents, and maybe pictures. I majored in computer science in school (I am graduating next month), so my computer is my life, but I completely agree with everything this article says. My OS (currently Vista on one machine, XP on another, and Ubuntu on a third) serves only a few keys purposes. For example, I do most of my programming and hosting on my Vista and Ubuntu machines, but my XP machine is little more than a print server. I use Firefox with many extensions, and most of the time, if I’m on the computer, I’m on Firefox. Another thing that the article didn’t mention is Meebo (meebo.com), an online chat client that allows you to log into AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger, and I believe ICQ simultaneously. As far as Gmail goes: there are some quirks in the search, but if you know how to search right, 99% of the time you can find exactly what you’re looking for. Also, if Gmail is down for a day, I don’t have a problem because I use Google Desktop. I use it mostly for searching my computer, but it also has the added advantage of being able to index my Gmail, and allow me to search and view it even if I’m not online. The other option would be to use POP3 forwarding to have Gmail send a copy of your emails to Outlook or Thunderbird, which solves the problem of search AND storage during outages. Besides, all of your email is stored online whether you like it or not; anything that you get in Thunderbird or Outlook is online somewhere, and is just forwarded to that local app via POP3 or IMAP, so privacy issues are going to be there no matter what. Google isn’t just a group of low-class hackers, they are just as legitimate as Microsoft, but they have an incredible business plan, as well as geniuses who work for them. During my recent job search, I got high-paying job offers from high-ranking companies, including financial companies and defense contractors, but Google didn’t even give me an interview. Most of the people that work there have PhD’s and have done some incredible things in their field. Same thing goes for companies like Amazon.com (believe it or not). Now, I’ve gone off on a huge tangent, but the point is, this article is right on the money, and some of the comments people are making about it makes it look like they didn’t really read the article before commenting. There, a long story to make a short point. Enjoy!

  • Tom says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:01 am

    One word for you - DEVELOPMENT.

    In a web browser? Not likely.

  • nikowolf says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:02 am

    oh and yeah he is proposing firefox and not google because you need a browser to get to google… jeez…

  • Romeo says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:02 am

    Try Photoshop Online o Illustrator…
    I love the idea and yes most our stuff can be online, but this is not what an OS is there for.

  • Tom says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:03 am

    In fact I have another issue with this - what happens when you want to work on the train? Or in the sticks?

  • Pavlos Georgiadis says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:07 am

    OS != (Collection of applications)

    Other than the above, the world that you describe, may not be as free (as in free) as you imagine.

  • Joshua says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:10 am

    What about *real* games? Not the exiting java based crap you find today? I am talkin, Quake, WoW, Ultima Online, Dungeon Siege…

  • Max says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:12 am

    While I agree with some of the things you have said, I believe that Software, your Hard Drive etc will only become obsolete when better technology emerges. Not death by Internet.

  • Zate says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:12 am

    Your about 2 years too late. This is old news.

  • kibosh says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:15 am

    For those not willing to break the tether between with real hard-disked files - foldershare.com is a great, free way to access real files remotely.

  • Jason says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:18 am

    Funny how the debate nowadays already HAD nothing to do with the operating system… you’re right, it’s not Windows vs. Mac vs. Linux- It’s Mac vs. PC.

    That’s important to note, because that still matters quite a bit. Do I want luxury machine that costs twice as much for less power, is hard to upgrade, and still has compatibility issues? Or do I want to find the best hardware, the best price, or heck, BUILD the machine myself?

    Yeah, THAT is the debate.

  • Dan says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:19 am

    http://zoho.com/

    This site allows for docs, spreadsheet, slideshows much like google apps, but also offers wiki support and setup and a growing number of new technologies. almost all for free. One of the coolest things I think that zoho does (i don’t know if google apps do these) but you can embed your work within html, much like a youtube video.

  • Zukero says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:21 am

    I can’t disagree more with you.
    Web based apps are cool, gmail especially. But you can’t say “Do eveything online” and “OS doesn’t matter”.
    Simple example, have you noticed the ads on gmail are based on your emails’ contents ? This means google analyses the content of your emails. What about your documents and spreadsheets ? No privacy.
    Furthermore, you become dependent of your ISP, and your online app provider.
    So web-apps have this limitations. Performance-wise, they just can’t compete with an OS based application.
    Tom also points two interesting points.

    Other point, your browsing experience does not rely only on firefox. Firefox uses your OS, and if your OS is crappy, or is not fully compatible with your hardware, or does not have an ergonomy that suits you, your experience will not get better only by using web-based apps.

    Last point. Who do you really think has more chances to get their HDD erased or attacked by pirates ? Your little desktop, or a corporate server ?

    Just one question : do you work for google ? or do you have any stocks ? or are you just another fanboy ?

  • Daniel says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:22 am

    Well, I hope you consider that relying on third party companies and hosting your files on their servers you effectively lose control over your intellectual property. Once those companies decide to cease their free services you will find yourself in a really bad position.

    I would never host any personal data or even data important for my business on free hosting services.

    You should always have at least current backup copies of your files.

    Firefox is not an OS and it will ever be. Just using a lot of web-based services does not mean that operating systems become irrelevant.

    if it works for you, fine. But I can only warn everybody not to completely rely on these free services. Make backups, have alternate plans

  • JC says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:26 am

    Good article, but like most things in life, you we’re the last to think of it… well until someone else comes along and claims a “new” idea, again :S

  • pida says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:28 am

    Not to forget, your dashboard widgets in Firefox:

    http://www.widgetop.com

  • Jez says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:30 am

    Well, i just took your advice and transferred a screenplay i’m writing from Word into Google Docs.
    It promptly removed all the line spacing.
    Word never did that.
    I’m going back.
    Hey, i tried.

  • Joey Bagodonuts says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:31 am

    Thanks for the Google commercial, really meaningful. Not.

  • Leo says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:35 am

    Hey Leo,

    I completely agree with you about having an “on-line OS” is the future. And a lot of people out there is advocating the same thing.

    But there’s a point that (I think) have not been being discussed as it should: What about privacy? Don’t you be concerned of leaving your personal documents in the hands of a third party?

    Regards,

    Leo

  • Apreche says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:35 am

    You are correct that for most people, the browser is all that matters. However, there are a few things the browser still can’t do.

    First off, it can’t handle your media library. You still need iTunes, WMP, Amarok, etc.

    Second, it can’t IM well. Yes, Meebo exists, but it is not sufficient for being the primary IM application. I know from using it and Gmail chat that you often lose conversations when they are tied to the browser. And if you want Skype in the browser, just forget it.

    Three, it can’t edit images. There is no GIMP or Photoshop equivalent in the browser.

    The last thing is that almost every business that has computers has a single business-essential proprietary application. For example, a dentist as a windows-only X-Ray software. A sporting arena has software to manage the game statistics. An accountant has special accounting software. A stock broker uses special trading software.

    Everything these people do can be done on any OS with any browser, except for one thing. That one thing is what makes them Windows/IE/Outlook/Exchange users for the life of their business. Unless you start serving people’s very specific needs with web-based applications, there will always be different OSes.

  • herval says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:35 am

    Feels like google paid you for that one, aye?

  • MacDoug says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:38 am

    Call me old fashioned, but this putting all your eggs into one basket (Google’s) seems a bit risky. Not to mention depending upon a reliable internet connection. At 33 I may already be turning into this generation’s version of an online curmudgeon - I don’t trust those sites with my data, I trust my laptop, or at best an online service that *I pay for*. Anything that’s offered for free can go away at any time, with no warning, and you’re basically up a creek.

  • Anonymous says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:38 am

    Ahem, games, games, games, games…

    Aside from World of Warcraft, you need a Windows PC to play anything. Don’t get me started with games on linux…

  • Philip says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:42 am

    Often thought of a Firefox OS, ie applications working on your computer with Firefox as the OS. It does quite a few already via add-ons.
    Boot into Firefox instead of Windows, Mac, Linux? I don’t see why not, but then I’m not a techie.

  • sheva says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:44 am

    Sorry if I think this is mere google propaganda… im happy with my OS and my hard drive, but thanks for asking.

  • Kevin says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:48 am

    For your mp3’s, I’ve found http://www.mp3tunes.com very useful.

    It is an online service, you synchronize with your computer, and then you can play tunes online, thorough their flash-based player (streamed).

    Basic (free) service is 1 GB, but they upgrade a certain amount of accounts to Unlimited storage for free.

    (Mine was upgraded in this fashion)

  • Sencer says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:48 am

    Please try the following: Download the DSL (damnsmallinux) Distribution, it is only 50 MB and boots from USB/CD. It includes firefox. It’s a pretty nifty package, and if your pc has more than 128MB it can run entirely in RAM, when started with the toram option. In fact go ahead and disconnect your harddrive before you start using DSL.

    I dare you to exclusively use that distribution for one month. In fact ignore the many other included applications and the extensions available. I am curious whether you will feel that you are missing something. If you come to the conclusion that you didn’t miss anything after a month (or even forgot that you were using DSL), you’ll truly have given weight to the opinion to the opinion that OS doesn’t matter. You will even benefit from a) less noise due to the missing harddrive, and b) a very fast and snappy desktop-experience.

    Are you going to do it?

  • James says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:53 am

    You know… you should carry around portable versions of Firefox with all of your extensions and things. You can put a copy of each version of FireFox (Windows, OS X, Linux) and have them all pull their info from one profile. It works… I’ve done it, and you’d be able to carry your FireFox everywhere you go, even public libraries.

  • seht brundle says on April 3rd, 2007 at 8:58 am

    What you are saying is that you dont need the power of any applications besides Firefox.

    Your OS isnt obsolete, because Firefox doesnt do the core job of the OS - provide an interface to your hardware.

  • samuba says on April 3rd, 2007 at 9:00 am

    http://www.mp3tunes.com THE answer for mp3 in the internet. Im using it for 2 Months now and its really cool.

    http://www.netvibes.com for start page, much better then the google thing = more/better stuff

  • Planner says on April 3rd, 2007 at 9:01 am

    I simply wouldn’t want my documents spread out over the net like this. Anything I want to use whilst mobile, I put on my usb stick which is attached to my keyring and loaded with apps from portableapps.com

  • kev says on April 3rd, 2007 at 9:01 am

    and all those application servers will be running …….. windows!!!

  • Misfit says on April 3rd, 2007 at 9:07 am

    I think people read every third or fourth word (more common than admitted). In short, I found the article useful. I choose to go with the spirit of the article which I read as freeing oneself from OpSys dependency. I will continue to use the hard-drive and DVD Burn archives of data, largely due to Big Brother, but I see some advantages here I may have overlooked. Thanks! Thanks also to those who posted other useful links.

  • Scaredy Cat says on April 3rd, 2007 at 9:11 am

    One word: Privacy

  • Gerry says on April 3rd, 2007 at 9:17 am

    My $.02 to the list:

    - Check http://www.netvibes.com to put everything together. It’s faster and leaner than the Google personalized home page.
    - To keep the bookmarks in synch for all your Firefox, use a plug-in called Foxmarks.
    - If you still depend on desktop calendars, use Calgoo (http://www.calgoo.com), it runs on any desktop OS and combines your Google calendar with Outlook or iCal as well.
    Now you’re done.

  • hybrid says on April 3rd, 2007 at 9:24 am

    dude, in the unlikely event that the internet crashes, this would be one of the few times we’ll regret technology;)

    but for developers like us, impossible. i’d need meh OS for photoshop, video editing, and other stuff online apps just wouldn’t be able to do;)

  • rasti says on April 3rd, 2007 at 9:32 am

    This was the best definition i read of what WEB2.0 is about.
    Bravo !
    “The web is the computer”
    Why?
    Because the Webbrowser is the biggest common ground for apps, and the b