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General discussion

Online Desktop(s)

Feb 19, 2006 11:34AM PST

I saw this on digg.com, its an online desktop called Goowy, they offer you 2 gigs of email storage.

http://goowy.com/


I think people have seemed to have forgotten about this project called CosmoPod.com, I have been playing with it for a while. They give you 1 gig of storage and access to a remote Linux desktop (KDE Style). (Think terminal server)

http://cosmopod.com/


AND! If you want to make your own! You could go and grab the eyeOS. They even have a server that runs on Windows and all you need is the .NET framework.

http://www.eyeos.org/

Discussion is locked

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Saw this on Newsvine too
Feb 19, 2006 3:01PM PST

Been meaning to check it out. Have you tried it yet Andy?

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Yes
Feb 19, 2006 11:49PM PST

Not sure if everyone realizes it or not, but they have actually had this service for a while. When I read Tom's question I decided to go and set up an account to give you guys a brief review, once I got to the login screen I realized I had been there before. Anyways, here is what I found while setting up the account (new account!):

*You can import email from Yahoo, Google, MSN Hotmail & MSN Mail

*I chose to use my hotmail account, don't want to mess up my Gmail.

*You can choose to import contacts & email, from the same screen you can choose to tell people about Goowy, if you do, it will send an email to all of your contacts letting them know about it.

*I chose to skip the importing of email contacts because for some reason I could not get logged into my Hotmail or Yahoo accounts.

*Once I got to the login screen, I actually remembered I already had an account with them before, but has been such a long time since I have used it.

*Functions much like a normal desktkop would, you can play games, change your skin. Add widgets, etc.

For me personally, I would rather use CosmoPod.com's service. Its not that big of a deal for me to head over to Gmail to get my email and with CosmoPod.com you have word processing, instant messaging, gaming and anything else you would find on a normal Linux desktop.

In my opinion, its just a fancy way of retrieving your email.

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Goowy Desktop
Feb 20, 2006 12:06AM PST

The Goowy Desktop software that you can get, which I just downloaded and installed (from download.com) is neat, I suppose. It adds a launch bar to your desktop, you can then add widgets to your desktop. I'm assuming that their thinking is that you can have the same widgets across multiple desktops.

The only thing about it that I'm not crazy about is the fact that when you click on anything related to email (contacts, calendar, emails) it launches in the browser and not on your desktop. Games & Widgets do however.

I personally *LOVE* the Digg.com & Del.Icio.Us Widgets.

I know I keep saying this, but check out CosmoPod, I don't work for them or get money from them, but they really have an AWESOME service.

One difference between CosmoPod.com and Goowy is the fact that the Goowy Desktop *IS* faster and doesn't take as much bandwidth.

Don't get me wrong, I think Goowy is a cool service, and I *LOVE* the widgets feature, it may even be enough for me to dump the Google Sidebar, further testing (playing) needed though.

I guess if you want information at your fingertips, then this would be a good service for you.

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I heard about it too
Feb 19, 2006 10:47PM PST

Only from Leo's show he does with Amber MacArthur ('Inside the Net'). I haven't looked at it either, but I also don't really have a need to have a desktop that I access from anywhere, as I very rarely travel. When I do travel, I take my PowerBook with me, so my desktop is already mobile. Happy

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Yes, interview on Inside the Net with Goowy
Feb 20, 2006 12:46AM PST

I'd never heard of Goowy (my brain keeps trying to make me type Groovy) till I heard the interview on Inside the Net. Very interesting, though I wonder if it's one of these things that's for people younger than me. They did say they thought their oldest users were 35 or so. Also, they have sort of an Apple look and feel, supposedly, so it might appeal more to mac users. I'm interested in these other links that Andy shared, I'm going to go check them out.

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Goowy cool feature
Feb 20, 2006 5:52AM PST

One thing I like about the Goowy idea is how it integrates with Outlook.

I can create a new appointment/meeting in my goowy calendar and can invite people via email. Over most popular clients. If they choose to accept, the client will drop an appointment in their calendar too.

Pretty neat.

Scott