I recently stumbled upon Startforce which reminded me of eyeOS. Both of these are webOSes or online operating systems (similar to Mac OS X, Windows or Linux) with the slight twistit exists right inside one's browser. I have to say, at first I was really impressed but when I started playing with both I started to get a realistic idea for what the web was currently capable of and not.

It doesn't replace Windows, Mac OS X or Linux

The first problem I see with a web operating system is that you still need a real operating system to run a web browser in which you can run your online operating system. This means the folks in Redmond and Cupertino really have little to worry about at the moment and probably never will. However the argument for using a webOS is that you can access your programs and documents from anywhere in the world - as long as you have access to the web.

Realistically people who are very mobile and would be more likely to use a webOS for day to day tasks already have laptops which explains why they aren't using a webOS. If you have a laptop you already have your programs and files with you, wherever you go - and guess what, you aren't dependent on an internet connection.

It's just so slow

These web operating systems are painfully slow to run. Maybe in other countries like Korea, where their broadband speed is ridiculously large, these webOSes run efficiently but for us normal folk it's just too slow!

The idea of one app (like GoogleDocs) running in your browser is acceptable (though I am sure that if an AIR or desktop version of Google Docs and Spreadsheets is released everyone who uses Google Docs will download it in a Flash, ouch - couldn't help myself) because in this situation the amount of files (like icons and the application shell images) which needs to be downloaded is significantly less than when you need to download the UI resources for an operating system and a couple of applications. Waiting for GoogleDocs to catch up with me is annoying, waiting for a change to take place in a web OS is just deadly.

Ajax-overload is another "feature" of a webOS. Obviously the page can't be reloaded so everything must be loaded asynchronously. Unfortunately browsers weren't developed for such copious amounts of Javascript calls and requests which explains why my browser would often crash when using a webOS (or just lock up.) I must say Firefox handles this very well but I only ever had one or two windows open in the webOS and had no other tabs running.

A webOS is just too slow. We are in a world where we want everything loaded yesterday, why would we settle for processing speed limited to Kb/s or Mb/s when we've got the power of a 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo processor?

There's a web browser in the webOS

This isn't necessarily a drawback for a webOS but I thought it was pretty funny that I got to use a Web Browser inside my webOS inside my desktop web browser to browse the internet. Tried loading the webOS in the web browser running in the webOS but couldn't handle the waiting. Would've been nice for my Flickr collection though.

Where do I see operating systems in the future?

I don't see Operating Systems as we know it (that run from the hard-drive) as something that will be replaced by the web. Instead I think that traditional operating systems will (or should) harness the power of the web. Storage of documents should move online (and soon) and our operating systems should be smart enough to cache recently used files locally so we keep those waiting times to a minimum. I think a system where files used in the last day (even week or - depending on connection speed - month) could be cached on the local machine. These files would then synchronise with the online versions after they are modified (and then not re-modified for a certain time period.) And of course a "Synchronise Now" option to manually engage the synchronisation process when you desire would be a nice touch. To cut down on the bandwidth the OS could even just synchronise the changes to the file instead of the entire file.

As for programs/applications running from a web server, I don't see this happening soon - unless there's some major breakthrough that allows us all to download gigabytes of data per second. Yeah, we are getting programs like Photoshop being developed for the browser but most people will rely on the desktop version for it's speed and responsiveness. This could be something for the future but realistically applications like Photoshop, AutoCAD or 3D StudioMax are just way too big to download when you want to use them, right now.

Concluding it all

Although they are nifty, I don't think that webOSes are going to enter common usage or even start to compete with the traditional desktop OSes - mainly because you need the latter to run a browser in which to run the former. Instead I think that traditional operating systems should utilise the power of the web to at least store one's documents online, improving data security and mobility (you can log in to your file storage at an internet cafe and use the Microsoft Word they have installed to edit your documents which would then synchronise with your files when you are done.)

I believe the web is coming to the desktop, not the other way around.