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For the past few months, I have been running the Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 on my netbook, an Asus Eee PC 1000HE.  While Windows 7 was great at first, as time progressed, it became sluggish.  So, thanks to our friends at Jolicloud, I got a chance to check out the alpha release of Jolicloud OS for netbooks.

Installation

Jolicloud OS is fairly easy to install.  You have to download the Jolicloud ISO directly or by bit torrent and then create a bootable USB key or burn the ISO to a blank CD.  Jolicloud offers its own bootable USB-key creator to make the process easier.  However, when I used Jolicloud’s bootable key creator for my USB-key, I could not get Jolicloud to boot and install.  I ended up burning a CD with an external CD burner, which I was then able to use successfully for booting and installing the OS.  Total install time was 30 to 40 minutes.

The look and feel

The look of Jolicloud is nothing like your typical OS.  There are three main panels, similar to a webpage layout.  There are tabs on the left in a narrow panel with categories of applications, which are displayed in the much larger middle panel.  In the right panel, there are basic file folders (Music, Pictures, Documents, etc.) and a desktop link.  Along the top is your taskbar – to the left, open applications are indicated by small icons and on the right are your icon indicators for Wi-Fi, battery, and so forth.  All in all, it is a very clean, simple, and intuitive user interface.

Getting apps

Adding applications and updating your system is actually fun.  By clicking on the cloud icon in the upper left corner, you are taken to the “My Jolicloud” dashboard.  Here you will find a history of your install/uninstall activity, a settings menu, system update announcements, and available applications.  The layout of the applications section feels very much like Apple’s App Store and install is just as easy – just click the Install button and you are good to go.  The selection of available applications is quite good considering Jolicloud is still in alpha.

Day to day usage

Jolicloud, which is based on Linux, runs very smoothly on my 1000HE.  Applications start up and close quickly and run without a glitch.  Power consumption with this OS is comparable to my Windows 7 experience.  Also, as with Windows 7, I have noticed my fan running more often than it did with Windows XP, but I’m not sure why. 

Initial start-ups and wake-ups from hibernate are quick – about 11 seconds from hibernate to login.  Of course, Jolicloud is still in alpha so there are frequent system updates and only select systems with which it is compatible (a complete listing is on Jolicloud’s website), though many netbooks are covered.

Definitely worth checking out

Overall, Jolicloud seems well suited for the netbook user who uses a lot of online applications, does basic computing tasks, and wants a streamlined, uncluttered user interface.  From the installation process, to the startup page, to the dashboard, Jolicloud is simple to use and user friendly.  Right now, I think I will stick with Jolicloud since it runs so smoothly and Windows 7 was misbehaving on my system.  If you have a netbook, I would highly recommend checking out Jolicloud OS.

See: [Jolicloud]