limits of the closed source model ...

By basd on Sep 4, 2010 | In -arghhh!!

So a moment ago I blogged that maybe I would see if I could run lxde panels on my Jolicloud desktop.

...

So I did and it worked.

This was cause for some reflection. I haven't made any effort at joining a collaborative effort because I don't think I would be much good at it. But, Jolicloud offers some features I can't seem to find anyway else. And I'm not even certain WHY I like it, but something about its conceptual approach appeals to me.

Only thing is ... it's built on outdated Jaunty Ubuntu. And, I'd like to see it move ahead faster because there are a bunch of apps I would like to see in the automatic install-to-all-your-computers system.

I went looking for the "Community." I thought this would be something I could get involved in. How hard can it be to add app updater/installers once you know the basic template? This is for me!

Except it isn't, since Jolicloud is sort of a closed-source-built-on-open-source type of operation. In other words, the key feature of propagating updates via the web is proprietary on the Jolicloud servers.

And for a system that expresses a social community/webcentric orientation, it has a woefully inadequate "commuity." Sure, you can get an endless stream of twitter or facebook posts, but that's merely disorganized chaos.

So here I am staring at the Jolicloud install that I have fully customized to be ... umm, pretty much like my OpSu KDE/Gnome/LXDE install. It runs very well, so I'm unclear as to how much of the additional speed is attributable to Jolicloud customizations -- and therefore I'm a bit hesitant to scrap the project and reinstall say, a Ubuntu Netbook install. If I had a bigger hard drive in this computer, I could try an additional partition and do-over.

Here's where I'm at:

Older eMachine computer is running very well with Jolicloud.
In addition to the Jolicloud available apps, I've got a number of additional apps running. Most significantly, I've got conky (for temp. readout and other internals), Cario Dock for a fancy menu system, Compiz for 3d graphics, gscan2pdf because I need it and LXDE panel for an additional panel and menu system.
BUT, then we hit the drawbacks. As it begins to emulate my other desktops, I start asking how much of the basic Jolicloud setup I really want and why can't I move the Jolicloud/gnome panel, etc. I'm not happy to be using older versions of everything because of being tied to the Ubuntu Jaunty version, which became especially apparent with the addition of LXDE. Yes, it's in the basic repositories. But, it's a relatively outdated version (panels don't autohide, can't reduce the icon size). And, for some reason although Ubuntu Launchpad has an LXDE team, they have skipped over providing up-to-date LXDE for Jaunty. They have it for Gutsy, Hardy and then -- forgot what is "L", "lucid?"
It also occurred to me that since I am synchronizing my lxde panels on my other computers via Dropbox (not requiring Jolicloud, but I got hooked up to Dropbox via Jolicloud), then I could get my panels sync'd on this desktop. Unfortunately, the Jolicloud layout locks me into a different set of panels from my other computers. So, I'm at a bit of an impasse.