Concept
Index

    What is woos?
    Objectives

1. What is woos?
Woos is a Web Operating System, a desktop environment embedded in a web browser. That means that the operating system is running in a web browser and the applications, data, files, configuration, settings and access privileges runs remotely through the internet and the local computer is only used for the display and input of data. Woos integrates web applications which are already known on a normal desktop pc, like software to write documents, listen the own songs or write emails. To this software or to the private files it is possible to connect from everywhere, regardless of where the user is and which pc he has, only an internet access is necessary which nowadays you can take for granted everywhere in the public. This kind of system offers more security against loss of data through viruses or faults. From the point of view of the appearance woos has a similar looking desktop environment like Windows or Mac.
2. Objectives
An objective was to develop a resource saving application. Using woos the biggest part of the computing takes place remotely and the local computer is only used for the display and input of data. For this reason the power and the memory of the local machine is relatively unimportant because every calculation, data store process, installation of applications or file reading processes are done by the server. Resources saving applications are one of the topics of the future in the computer world, which companies like Google are already tracing and also Microsoft is working on the speed and resource occupation of its applications. Another point which is possible to offer nowadays is the fully accessibility of the own files and applications, because the problem of the portability is still one of the biggest desires of travelling people. Unfortunately the most techniques to make the own things accessible from everywhere requires at least minimal programming or computer skills. Other techniques aren't yet fully developed. For this reason the availability of the content of the own hard disk is still very restricted.
People need a simple system which can be used from everyone. For this reason Woos should provide a desktop environment similar to that of Windows or Mac from the point of view of the appearance. For example the main menu button to access to the application list or to logout from the session should be in the same position like already known from Windows and Linux, or the windows properties like drag and drop, close and resize should also be identically. All these features would allow users to work with it, without any particular adaptation. Only if the application offers such an interface people would start to work with a new system.
Another objective was to develop a secure application.
Through this design a lot of common problems which can be dangerous for the data stores on a PC are almost solved.
For example when a virus comes through an email, over a website or over non confidential software it commonly can destroy the whole system. In this case the own files are forever lost. The same problems with things like a short circuit where a hard disc can be destroyed at one go. All these problems can't be threatening using a web desktop like woos. In this case a virus attack or something like this would at the worst destroy the own pc, but would never touch the private files on woos. Surely a virus can try to attack a server, but should be much more difficult to get in to the data, because of the security of such a server which isn't comparable with the security of a client device like a mobile phone or a laptop. Companies which offers server place to store websites are designed to ensure a secure storing against all type of events. There are safety measures which aren't comparable to the safety measures of a common private network. The next objective was to build a system accessible from different places simultaneously.
Thanks to the fact that this application stores on a web server, it is possible for everybody to connect to it.
This fact can be useful in many things, for example in the private life, when you want to show some picture to a friend or share with him some music files, normally you have to send him an email, which isn't a good solution because of its complexity and restricted data size. Woos should be a platform where you can really see the content in a smart design, and also illustrate the data without physically download it to the own hard disk. For example picture should be seen in a woos application which displays images, or the music tracks could be executed in an online player. All these features would also allow the possibility to not be the only one who makes use of the system but also to share the desktop with other people.
This could be useful in situation where a work has to be done together when the users are still in different places.
Such a situation could be in a company. In this case woos would bring a lot of simplification. One of them is a big advantage and a never existing thing. A lot of employees could have the possibility to work with one application. With one application is not meant the same application installed on every computer, but one application installed only one time on the server. It would have a lot advantages. For example it would be much better for the administration, because it's only one main computer to service and to fill with the needed applications. In the case of a software update or of the installing of new software it would be, dependent of the employee quantity a huge help also from the point of view of the costs. It would be much cheaper because only one exemplar of each application is needed. This would also reduce strongly the costs for the protection of data in the company because everything has to be applied only once.
Another point which makes the system costs cheaper is the minimal hardware requirements for client devices. A PC which has a big and good hard drive to store all the important files and a processor which can execute all the application is not very expensive. But a big company with a lot of offices would be much more expensive to furnish than a big powerful server with cheap not so powerful client PCs. Like already explained above the functions of the client PCs are few, so it isn't important which configuration it has.
An important aim which has been come during the developing of the project was to design and write an application which should be easy to extend at a later date. This is a very useful thing from the developing point of view. It would be more work to design the whole structure, for example the directory tree, or the application implementation, but it will be then easier to update and add some parts. Every component of woos has to be build up independently from other parts. That means for example an application hasn't to be nested in a complicated directory structure, but into an own directory of the application directory. In this case the deleting or adding of such an application wouldn't be much work. That applies also to the Multilanguage functionality and to the design definitions (CSS).
This kind of technique would provide a modular system.
One of the last objectives is to develop an application which reduces the system downtime.
It is quite evident that in the case of possessing more than one PC is more work for service everyone to let them work perfectly. Now try to imagine the quantity of computers in a big company. If every office has to work like a commonly known PC, the number of failures would be huge in comparison with PCs which has the only function to display something and send the input. In this case you would only need to service the main application. A server is more robust, is more easily protected and less likely to fail than multiple client desktops.
This design should tend to simplify and accelerate dramatically the administration and the accessibility of data.