Joli OS/Cloud => buh bye family sys admin duties
If you’re tired of administering a family members Windows PC, or just happen to have an old computer lying around that you’d like to do something with, JoliOS is definitely worth checking out JoliCloud
In terms of building a low-maintenance-required computer for anyone, including kids or the elderly, Joli OS works a treat.
As you can quickly find with some searching, it’s extremely similar to Google’s Chrome OS and in my opinion, Apple’s iOS, conceptually anyhow. Namely, they’re all app driven interfaces with minimal OS cruft. You get a set of default apps, and can easily add more, easily configure everything etc. The Joli OS variant is more interesting to me than the cloud/browser based use case, but both are at a point now that they’re pretty stable. The recent 1.2 release includes a streamlined interface and tight Dropbox integration which both make a big difference in terms of a recommendation for kid/non PC savvy folks.
I first started messing with Joli shortly after it became publicly available a couple years ago, but my previous attempts all proved too buggy to try forcing it on any of the family members I serve as a sys admin for. Similarly Chrome OS (and specifically the FOSS variant Chromium OS from which it’s derived) still require way too much effort to put on the systems I support for family members. I don’t want to spend time building/compiling/installing Chromium OS, as my whole goal is to do as little as possible to install + setup, and have as little as possible to maintain. Google’s offerings either require pilot program acceptance (for the Cr-48 pilot, which I wasn’t accepted into, and that is now closed), or a ton of effort right now, which defeats the whole purpose. That will change at some point, but right now Google’s fare is squarely in the hobbyist and power user domain.
Joli OS on the other hand is provided as a pre-built ISO (CD image), and includes an excellent install guide and list of supported devices.
Check it out, it’s good stuff.