iCloud Virtual Desktop Public-beta Launched
Cloud offers a web-based desktop available from any internet-connected PC and offering a set of productivity, developer, media and communications applications.
Swedish startup Xcerion launched the public beta-test of iCloud, a virtual desktop aimed at consumers and mobile workers, which it hopes to develop into an application marketplace comparable to Apple's App Store.
iCloud offers a web-based desktop available from any internet-connected PC and offering a set of productivity, developer, media and communications applications.
Unlike Microsoft and Google efforts, iCloud attempts to recreate the look and feel of a full-fledged operating system running in a browser, including a desktop, application icons, widgets and applications running simultaneously in separate windows.
iCloud applications are written in Ajax, like Google Apps, but iCloud applications run entirely in a 2MB virtual machine loaded into the user's browser.
The virtual machine offers an abstraction layer which is designed to insulate the applications from the underlying browser technology, simplify development and improve performance.
One drawback to this approach is that the virtual machine must be ported to new browsers or platforms for them to support iCloud, said Arthursson. Currently only Internet Explorer is supported, but Xcerion is planning support for browsers such as Firefox.
The company also plans to port the virtual machine (VM) to non-PC platforms such as mobile phones. Once the VM has been ported, individual apps won't need to also be ported.
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