Some of you where pretty interested in the topic and there where a few debates in the comments over which was the best, so I’ve decided I’ll share a list of every online OS that I have found up to now.

Enjoy.

Since last week I have discovered one Webtop which is worthy of a special mention- iCloud. You’ll need an invite to access the iCloud beta, but apply and it’s likely you’ll receive it within a couple hours.iCloud comes with a UI that is well designed and varies a little more then the other Windows clones. It also comes with some very handy applications, check it out.

G.ho.st
DesktopTwo
myGoya
Ulteo
GlideOS
Jooce
iCUBE
youOS
Starforce
Purefect Desktop
ZimDesk
Online Operating System
CosmoPOD
Webdesk.in
MyBooo
goPC
Psych Desktop
AstranOS
SSOE

If I have missed any let me know.

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Industry sources however claim that Windows 7, the successor of Windows Vista, will make its debut in the second half of 2009 which is only 18-24 months away from now. The Milestone 1 of Windows 7 has already been send out to key partners for validation purposes and a revised road map suggests a release in 2009.

I’m a bit confused by this move because I do not think that the world needs yet another Microsoft operating system. Most users are perfectly happy with Windows XP and do not want to change that operating system unless they have to. Microsoft’s plan to lure customers into using Windows Vista by making certain features Vista only, like DirectX10, was not that successful either. Mainly because DirectX 10 games are not produced on such a large scale yet.

There are not many information publicly available detailing new features that would make the new operating system a must have purchase, TG Daily puts it this way:

There are very few pieces of information about Windows 7 and the features it will bring available at this time. So far, we have heard only about new touchscreen features as well as – and probably most interesting – MinWin, a much smaller kernel of the operating system that takes up only 40 MB of memory.

Why would I change to yet another MS operating system ? I would only do so if it would offer something that would make a huge difference. This could be performance or security related for instance. When was support for Windows XP going to end ? In 2014 ?

What do you expect of a new operating system and what would make you change to the new one ?

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I started with the installation of Windows Vista because other users told me that this would be the best way to install both systems. Grub, the Linux bootloader would be installed last this way and pick up all three operating systems, exactly the way I wanted it to be. During the installation of Windows Vista I realized that Vista is still not able to read my SATA drives without additonal drivers. I had this problem back when I was installing Windows XP and hoped that it would be solved in Vista.

I had to go back to Windows XP and download the SATA drivers from my motherboard manufacturer Asus and put them on a CD. I found out later that it would have been possible to add them to a hard drive or usb device as well. I had to load the drivers and was able to continue with the installation which took very long, and I mean long. Seemed like an hour before Vista was installed. Had not much time to play around because I still needed to install Kubuntu as well on the same drive.

I was prepared and created a Kubuntu CD before the Vista installation. A nice feature is that it functions as a live cd and installation cd at once. It booted fast into the gui and I had the chance to play around a little bit. I was looking for gparted, the partitioner that I intended to use but it was not there. Kubuntu had QTParted installed, I guess it does not make much of a difference.

I created a EXT3 partition of 30 gigabytes and a Linux Swap partition of 1 gigabyte. Kubuntu has a installation shortcut on its desktop, I double-clicked it and the installation started. Unfortunately the manual selection of the partitions failed and I had to choose that the partition would be automatically resized.

I’m still waiting that the resizing of the partition finds an end and the installation of Kubuntu can begin. Would say it took almost an hour until now and there is no end in sight because I do not see a progress bar or a clock that is running down.

If everything works out fine I will begin tomorrow to play around with Vista and Kubuntu and write about my first day experience with both systems. If you know of a solution for the problem that I can’t install Kubuntu manually let me know please.

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Imagine you want to buy a new computer and you have the choice between a cheaper one with Vista Home Basic and a more expensive one with Vista Home Premium. Which one would you take ? Let me walk you through the different Windows Vista editions and explain how they compare in functionality and pricing.

Windows Vista Differences:

It all starts with Windows Vista Starter which will not be sold in North America and the European Union but in countries like Russia and Brazil. This one could also be named Vista light because it has a physical memory limit of 256 megabytes and support for older cpu’s only. If you travel much and see a cheap Windows Vista Starter don’t buy it, it is useless for high-end computers.

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic and Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium are the editions that will most likely be added if you buy a new computer. Home Basic is mostly for users who do not need advanced media capabilities such as HDTV support or DVD authoring. Home Pro does support this which makes up the biggest difference.

Home Basic has a limit of 8 GB of physical memory, Home Pro of 16 GB.

The next two in line are Microsoft Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Enterprise. Vista Business replaces Windows Xp Professional and includes all features of Vista Home Premium with the exception of Windows Media Center and related features such as Parental Controls. Adds features as fax support and IIS-web server.

Vista Enterprise will not be available on the free market, it has the same features as Microsoft Windows Vista Business and adds a multilingual user interface, drive encryption and Unix support.

Last but not least there is Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate which combines Windows Vista Home Premium with Windows Vista Enterprise and ships with additional extras like a game performance tweaker.

You may purchase Vista Home Basic N and Business N in the European Union which is basically the same as the normal Vista editons but ships without the media player because of anti-trust laws.

The difference in pricing is 200$ between Vista Home Basic and Vista Ultimate. I personally think that this many editions will be confusing for the customers. I sometimes work tech support and they have troubles naming the current operating system they use – how on earth will they know the differences between all those Vista editions ?

The biggest advantage of Windows compared to Linux was in my opinion the ease of choosing the operating system. If you wanted Windows you went to a store and bought it. (XP Pro and Home changed this a bit already). With Linux you have millions of different distributions and beginners simply do not know which to choose. The exactly same problem will arise with Windows Vista.

The most common questions in the coming months on the internet will probably be ” does Vista Edition X support Y, will I be able to use Z on Edition A ?”

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The site bellevuelinux lists 25 reasons to convert to Linux and they are doing a good job. What they are saying is basically that its free and more secure. I agree with most of their reasons but some do not make lots of sense to me.

For example, 12) the number of distributions is not a positive factor, at least not for someone who wants to change and does not know about them. It´s hard to make a selection.

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