Goowy

There is a new "Web 2.0" project known as Goowy (pronounced gui for technical people). The company offers 2gb of email storage with each account and that is how the project started. It is a project like EyeOS except, to my knowledge, this service is not open source. However it does have a few new features that make it a very viable web based desktop. One of those is that unlike EyeOS the user doesn't have to have their own server or hosting. Goowy does that themselfs. The picture to the left is of the goowy start page it has the normal login up in the right hand corner.

The desktop really feels well thought out and doesn't remind me of being a web based utility. It was wrote partially in Flash and of course it uses the new "Web 2.0" essentials of DHTML and Ajax. This screen is the login screen it gives you the ability to choose who to log in as.

The next thing the user will come to is the desktop. One of the neat things is that down below you have Icons, similar to OSX, that when clicked bounce. The Desktop has many different options for where to go.

Two other interesting features are the widgets and the games. <-- a widget (shown on the screen shot) is a small application that has a nice interface and is designed to sit on your desktop. There are quite a few widgets for Goowy and most of them really performed well. Some of my favorites is the Del.icio.us widget. Which keeps track of your del.icio.us favorites and the stocks widget. I'm sure a lot of users will like the weather widget. I tested it and it worked flawlessly.<-- -->The other desktop item, games, works well too. The games are all flash based and free. Most were contributed by users, which is always cool. The games selection seems to be pretty good and most of the games are very entertaining. The only problem with the games are that they load in a new window, which forces the user to turn off there pop up blocker for that site. -->

The mail feature and the contacts are two things that go hand and hand. <--The email feature is one of the best things I've seen so far with this product. It doesn't have the feel of a webmail client. I've been using Gmail for awhile and I'm thinking about switching to this. It seems to have more folder options than gmail and it is much more user friendly than gmail.<-- -->It imported my gmail contacts very quickly and easily. It also will import from yahoo, MSN, or hotmail. The interface has the same slick feel as the email feature.-->

The Goowy calender and settings are fully featured, although the calender is still beta. <--The calender allows the user to schedule there days and plan out what they are going to do. It seems to be as good as any other day planner I have seen.<-- -->The settings has many different options including: general, personal, folder manager, skins (at this point it seems to just be another word for background image), Alerts, and a spell checker. It even allows the user to upload there own background.-->