Scary software
2003-04-07 08:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mdlbearOEOne can be described in a lot of ways -- it's a desktop environment, a Linux distribution (based on RedHat, as so many are), and the software for a home information appliance. What it really is, is an application written in XUL, Mozilla's XML User-interface Language.
This makes it the first example I've seen of Bill Gates' worst nightmare: a complete, web browser-based desktop environment. It hides the underlying operating system underneath something that looks like a web browser, not like a windows-and-icons desktop. Applications like the word processor show up in the same frame as web pages.
A review will be forthcoming after I've had a little time to play with it.
Note: I recommend installing it over a clean RH7.3 install on a partition you don't mind wiping afterwards. It really expects to be running on a dedicated machine, and seems to coexist uncomfortably with a working system. For example, the printer configuration page doesn't read your existing
This makes it the first example I've seen of Bill Gates' worst nightmare: a complete, web browser-based desktop environment. It hides the underlying operating system underneath something that looks like a web browser, not like a windows-and-icons desktop. Applications like the word processor show up in the same frame as web pages.
A review will be forthcoming after I've had a little time to play with it.
Note: I recommend installing it over a clean RH7.3 install on a partition you don't mind wiping afterwards. It really expects to be running on a dedicated machine, and seems to coexist uncomfortably with a working system. For example, the printer configuration page doesn't read your existing
/etc/printcap file, but it does write to it.