Jolicloud 1.0
Tue Aug 3, 2010 1:48:55 am

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I have been testing Jolicloud 0.9 for the past few days. It was decently usable. Although the "app store" had a very limited selection, this was not really a problem for me, because Jolicloud is based on Ubuntu and I was able to install whatever I wanted via apt-get. I tried this with kdevelop and it installed flawlessly. It also appeared in the development category of the launcher, as it should.

Version 1.0 has a completely different desktop interface. The launcher no longer has categories and only shows applications installed via the app store. Nothing installed via apt-get or synaptic appears in the launcher. Accessing those applications requires finding the terminal, which is not convenient at all. It was previously located conveniently in the accessories tab of the launcher. Now, it requires a 6 step process.

Aside from the increased inconvenience of using the new desktop, Jolicloud has thrown away its greatest asset. The old launcher was convenient and unique. It was the main advantage over all other Linux distributions. Jolicloud has now turned into just another mundane distribution with absolutely nothing remarkable about it. The social/cloud stuff is just marketing hype. I seriously doubt that will be used by many, and even if it is, it's not enough of an advantage.