gOS is a new operating system based on Ubuntu. It uses the Enlightenment 17 window manager instead of the usual GNOME or KDE desktops, allowing for lower memory and speed requirements. Due to the fact it leans heavy on on-line applications built on Web 2.0 and AJAX technology it also does not use much hard disk space for applications, the whole system fits comfortably in less than 2 GB of hard disk space. Also many of the documents created with gOS, such as Google Docs documents, can be saved on Google servers instead of on the local hard disk, so gOS can work with very small harddisks. In this respect a gOS PC has many similarities with a Thin client.

gOS primary features include the usage of a Mac-like Dock featuring icons linking to the following various google applications and built in off line applications:

Firefox Webbrowser, Google Mail, Google News, Google Calendar, Google Maps, Google Docs and Spreadsheets, Froogle, the Blogger YouTube and Facebook online communities as well as Meebo to online chat with a.o. Yahoo! Messenger and Windows Live Messenger users, Rhythmbox (ITunes like program for music and radio), Skype, Wikipedia, and the Xine media player. Other programs can be added to the Dock as well.

gOS also supports mini applications that run on the desktop, of which one is the clock.

Download: gOS 2.0.0 Beta 1 

Labels: beta, gOS, Linux, live, Open Source