(Psuedo) WebOS Jooce launches from Paris… clearly has India on its radars

(Currently in private beta, Jooce has offered 15 test accounts to Webyantra’s readers. In case you are interested in trying it out, please leave behind your email ID in the comment area for this post)

Paris based startup Jooce has launched a free product that is aimed primarily at the millions of cyber cafe users in developing countries like India. This is like an online desktop (somewhat like your Windows desktop, though not in appearance) that can be accessed from any computer with an internet connection. You could think of it as a pseudo (unreal) operating system since it is essentially a Flash/Ajax shell inside the OS. Check out this writeup on their blog that explains how Jooce is not to be confused with a regular OS. The startup has venture backing from Mangrove Capital, which has backed Skype in the past.

With a Jooce account, users get preinstalled customized applications like instant messaging, storage, media player, email, widets etc. There are two versions of desktop for each user- one a private one and the other a public one (called Joocetop), which can also double up as a private sharing network among friends. The applications can be accessed from anywhere without having to install it on the native computer. And thats what makes it suited for access from public computers & cyber cafes. The entire GUI is written in Flash and has a stunningly beautiful graphic/visual design. You can upload videos, images, files etc onto your desktops. Currently editing of MS Office documents is not possible, but it is planned very soon. To reach out to the Indian masses, Jooce is exploring partnerships with Indian cybercafe owner associations, leading ISP providers and philanthropic IT initiatives such as Professor MS Swaminathan’s Mission 2007. Beyond India, Jooce is trying to partner with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and its Connect The World programme and the UN-sponsored One Laptop Per Child initiative.

I tried out Jooce and its responsiveness left me very surprised. Even on the 256 kbps broadband connection I have at home, the application was very zippy, once the initial Flash download got over. One feedback though- while the user interface is real eye-candy stuff and works fast, it lacks in intuitiveness. Some contextual help would probably come in handy.

Jooce desktop

Private desktop

A few weeks back, I wrote about Nivio, which is another online desktop/Web OS product from a Delhi based startup. Nivio’s positioning however, is very different from that of Jooce. Nivio tries to replicate your Windows desktop on the web; its user interface mimics Windows and it supports a much larger set of applications including MS Office, free IM clients like yahoo, Gtalk and other installable software (on a paid basis). Jooce does not try to replicate the regular desktop at all. It is like a shell within the desktop, but with its own UI and a lesser emphasis on regular desktop softwares. I must add that Jooce is much faster in usage than Nivio (by an order of magnitude) because of a couple of reasons- it is lightweight and its client is written in Flash (Novio’s client is Java applet based, if I remember correctly).