It is amazing the things you can miss when you don’t have Internet for a few weeks and move internationally. Apparently in the middle of last month the Symantec GoEverywhere project was shutdown. For those that don’t remember, it was a “Cloud” based operating system. More than anything else as my friend Holden Page pointed out, it was far more of representation of an operating system rather than a real OS.

This letter was sent out to Beta Testers last month informing them of the shutdown:

Dear Beta Tester,

Thank you for participating in the beta program for Symantec GoEverywhere. This innovative project in cloud computing was very successful and provided a number of insights on technical features and usage patterns derived from substantial user feedback. However, the beta program for GoEverywhere will come to a close on June 30, 2009. At that time, the service will no longer be accessible and available for use.

Symantec continues to develop innovative technologies and remains focused on its vision to become the leading provider of cloud-based offerings that secure and manage the worlds information. However, at this time we do not plan to release Symantec GoEverywhere as a standalone service.

Account information, including log-in information for accounts you have connected to through GoEverywhere, will be securely deleted, and no personal information will be retained.

We thank you for your active participation and support. If you have any questions about Symantec GoEverywhere, please contact us [email protected]

Thank you,

The GoEverywhere Team

This is probably a case of a company deciding to get into a market because it is trendy and then realizing that they really don’t have a place in it. Cloud operating systems do have a place in todays computing world but I think that it is much smaller than previously anticipated.

I still enjoy using Cloud operating systems from time to time but I do believe they are better off being more of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) to a data storage solution. A good example of a company currently doing this is G.ho.st. which provides users with 15Gb of storage space.

Check It Out> Techgeist

Cloud operating systems have been the focus of a lot of companies for the last few months due to their projected savings.  They can also be a very convenient way to get access to your data regardless where you are at in the world.  Now we are seeing one of the first “Cloud Antivirus” applications.   The claims are that it is lighter and faster but that remains to be seen.  Head on over to Panda’s website and sign up to download the beta.

Check It Out> Panda Cloud Antivirus

The last couple of days has brought a lot of speculation regarding Cloud computing, it all began with Microsoft’s Azure cloud service crashing this past weekend.  This was it’s first crash but it was a big one with it being down for 22 hours between Friday and Saturday.  Azure itself is still in beta and up to this point has been fairly reliable which is a good thing for Microsoft.

Many companies were expected to be contemplating the switch to Cloud based services with the slowdown in the economy, but it has not been as quick of a move as many expected.  With moving an infrastructure to the cloud there are several very big things that concern most companies that was outlined in a recent survey done by Microsoft.

Security, loss of control, increasing costs, all are very valid concerns that were expressed in this survey of 500 CIO’s.  While some considered moving to more cloud based services, 13 percent actually decreased their usage of them due to the economy.  My own belief is that at this time especially it is better to rely on a dedicated IT staff that knows your systems and more importantly your business.

Frequently companies decide that they need to save costs on IT by outsourcing it but in the long run it ends up costing much more than it should.  Everything has hidden costs added to it but the most dangerous of all is lack of control.  Cloud services should be complimentary to your current infrastructure and not simply replace it.

Check It Out> Silicon.com, Azure crash

Operating System: Software that controls the operation of a computer and directs the processing of programs (as by assigning storage space in memory and controlling input and output functions) – Merriam Webster

In today’s world we generally think of operating systems as Windows, Mac and Linux but things are starting to change as we see the Internet become the focus of all of our computing.  This week to further the idea that the Internet browser is the operating system of the future, Microsoft Research announced “Gazelle” the Internet browser of the future.

Gazelle is different because it actually goes beyond browsing and is constructed as a “multi-principal OS”.

The Problem

The problem with current Internet Browsers is that they are getting to be easily exploited by malware and phishing schemes in an attempt to defraud a user.  They have increasingly become more profitable for the  organized crime sections of society.  It allows them to exploit vulnerabilities and user ignorance with little effort.

Most ploys are simple codec installs to allow videos to play.  Most people tend to fall for this as they are looking for porn or other immoral material but in recent years the malware distributors are targeting everyone.  They are no longer just sticking to the Underbelly Of The Internet and have risen up to such powerful levels that exposure on normal websites is commonplace.

Many websites are also infected with scripts that are basically small programs designed to hi-jack a users internet browsing.  This can take a user to malicious website or perform a phishing scam in an attempt to harvest personal information.

Beyond even malware are applications that execute in your Internet browser that then give them the ability to load content onto your computer.  Sometimes these applications are poorly designed and then break the browser itself.  These are just a few examples but the problem is much larger than people realize.

Previously it has always been up to the operating system to “control” these types of problems with endless updates and patches to try and keep the problem to a minimum.  This is becoming more and more difficult as operating systems become more complex.   Microsoft having the largest market share also has the biggest target on it for malware.  Internet Explorer has been so heavily targeted that simply for security reasons it makes sense to switch to a competing browser.

The Solution

The browser itself needs to be more like an operating system and less like a document viewer.  Microsoft recognizing this problem has created the prototype OS/Browser named Gazelle.  Modern browsers do have some separation of content from the host operating system but Gazelle has complete separation of ALL resources.

Anti-Virus applications as they scan your computer frequently use something called Sandboxing to test programs and files to see if they are malicious. What this essentially means is that the files are tested in a virtual environment to see what the file does and if it is possibly malware.  What makes it so effective is that it the process is completely separate from the host operating system.

Gazelle is introducing the idea of Sandboxing the Internet Browser to isolate processes and requests from the host operating system.  All requests must go through the Internet browsers kernel and as such keeps the operating system safe from malicious content.

Plugins and things such as toolbars have always been a large problem for browsers and Gazelle is no different.  With changing the way a plugin interacts with the system also causes problems with legacy sites and plugins.  More than likely many of these will need to be re-written to allow them to be compatible with Gazelle.

Obstacles

Gazelle benefits from the backing of Microsoft but it does have a lot of challenges to overcome.  People are concerned about security but they really want things to be convenient and fast.  Microsoft however has an even bigger problem, they are too big.

Because Microsoft is such a large company they struggle to release products fast enough after they announce them.  Gazelle is a good idea and now with their ideas in the open it is a good chance that right now behind closed doors a competitor is going to beat them to the punch and release a similar product first.

The European Union is also pressuring Microsoft to include other browsers in their operating systems.  This is going to increase the competition very quickly for them and possibly cause a large market shift that is not in their favor.

Conclusion

Browsers are a very competitive market and even though Microsoft holds the largest market share it is only because it is bundled with the operating system.  Instead of bundling it they need to make a product that is truly innovative like Gazelle and compel people to download and install it.  When a product is the best in it’s class people will willingly use it and more importantly for Microsoft, love it.

While the browser is still in the development stage it is really good to see that Microsoft is looking at how a browser must be in the near future. Security is important and the browser is one of the largest open doors on a computer.  Internet browsers need to rise to the occasion and become the new operating system and at this point Microsoft is the first to starting line with Gazelle.

Check It Out> Microsoft Research, Gazelle white paper (PDF) via InfoWorld

One of the things that I like the most about Cloud computing is that it is moving at an incredible pace.  There are many critics out there that find it’s faults but by the time they post about it there is already someone working to close that gap.

I love reading Wired Gadgets, they always have awesome posts and good insights on things.  One of those insights today is regarding Cloud operating systems where they clearly point out that the biggest problem is either poor Internet connections or even no connections.  This is a very valid point and if I didn’t have such a poor Internet connection I might agree with them.

Satellite Internet can be very slow and painful to use at times which makes it a great test for Cloud computing.  At times it’s fast and others completely unusable.  My experience so far with Cloud computing is that if I can access a normal website I can use a Cloud OS.  Once the OS is loaded it is pretty stable and operates at a decent speed.  It might take a little longer to initially load but once it does I don’t have too many issues.

As for no Internet connection products like Symantec GoEverywhere are working on an off-line mode which will then give people one less reason to reject it.  I do not use a Cloud OS every day but I do find them useful and to have a place in today’s computing world.  This is one trend that I think is only going to be gaining more support as we go on.

Check It Out> Wired