Comments on: icloud – an XML-based cloud operating system

By: AndyB777

AndyB777 — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:10:44 +0000

What about the security advantages using traditional access to a virtual OS via RDP/ICA? Yes, there are multimedia performance issues regarding RDP and ICA; however, the pure isolation between VOS and the client’s OS make it very secure. The iCloud alternative is utilizing client side software and hardware resources – great for performance, maybe not so great for security. For example, if you access your iCloud virtual OS from a Windows client that does not already have Flash media player installed, your iCloud browser is also unable to display flash content. This scenario indicates that the browser built into iCloud’s OS is actually utilizing the client’s applications to process data. Does this mean that if I were to use the iCloud browser to view flash content from a malicious website – my client OS is vulnerable to attack?

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:23:48 +0000

Joost, I never heard of GravityZoo before, but it sounds quite interesting what they write on their web site. Did you try it? What is the difference to icloud? It seems one has to install a client first.

Dantv, you’re right, one will always need an OS that runs on the local computer. The interesting question is, how important will this local OS be in the future. If you require it only to manage hardware devices, then Windows could become obsolete because you could use Linux as well for this purpose. Most people use Windows because they need apps that are not available for other operating systems. I agree regarding the privacy concerns. The fact that you don’t know who has access to your data is a major downside of cloud computing. However, encryption solutions might be solve this problem in the future.

lander, I think this is what Microsoft will try. Windows 7 will be more integrated with Windows Live than Vista. Windows could become a cloud OS in the long run. I agree with what you said about company operated clouds. Especially big companies will choose this way. But for smaller organizations it might be cheaper to “outsource the cloud”.

By: lander

lander — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:21:28 +0000

What if the client stack of an Cloud OS could act as the local OS? And that companies are able to run their own “cloud” on the internal L(W)AN’s or the Internet?

By: Dantv

Dantv — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:34:20 +0000

I still need to run an operating system at the physical computer that I’m using so what’s the point? These “cloud” operating systems all present privacy issues especially for companies that need to run mission critical apps.

By: Joost

Joost — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:07:59 +0000

check this if you wanna see a real could OS

http://www.gravityzoo.com/

By: Jacky

Jacky — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 07:34:47 +0000

it looks amazling!