Sometimes there's a need for centralized data, something you can reach from anywhere by means of the great network named "Internet" and that is protected by a username and a password. Maybe there's a set of phone numbers that need to be accessible from anywhere, or a list of websites that need storage somewhere.

eyeOS can be used for such data storage, you can use it, for example, to store information on a computer that is accessible from the Internet, but there are many other uses it can be put to.

What is this so called eyeOS anyway?

eyeOS is a set of PHP scripts which make up what can be called a web application. These scripts give you the possibility of having something that is called an operating system which runs in your web browser. Basically, you have an interactive website that represents the desktop, with icons of the "installed applications". As soon as one of these buttons is clicked, a window appears on that desktop; it's an eyeapp and this window can be moved around just as if it was an ordinary window of an operating system.

eyeOS is a multi user environment and each user can upload and run eyeapps (.eyeapp extension files). This can be a security breach if you have many users, but it is possible to restrict the application uploading section in order to allow access only to the superuser.

Installing eyeOS is easy, you just have to upload it to a webserver by using an FTP client and then make small modifications. The entire process is described in the documentation, which can be found on the official website.

What eyeapps does this eyeOS provide?

eyeBoard is, like the name says, a message board which can be used to post messages. Each user can post messages and others may view them.

eyeCalc is, obviously, a calculator, you can use it the same way you would use any other calculator.

eyeCalendar is a calendar application that allows the association of a block of text with a certain day of a given month. This can be useful for things such as remembering birthdays and other such things.

eyeHome can be used to upload text files, images, links and other such files, which are viewable directly in the web browser.

eyeMessages can be used to send messages to other users of the same eyeOS installation.

eyeNav is, basically, a browser within a browser. You can browse the Internet with it. Note that eyeNav uses the bandwidth of the server that hosts eyeOS for you, some web hosting services might not allow such behaviour from the applications that you host on their web servers. You might want to double check before allowing eyeNav to run on a server that is hosted by a third party. eyeNav can be useful if it runs on a server with a different ISP. In case you cannot reach a page from your ISP, you might reach it by using eyeNav on a different hosting server.

eyeOptions can be used to change the eyeOS theme, upload and set a new wallpaper and for changing your password.

eyePhones can be used to store contacts, which can have many fields of information for each contact.

eyeEdit, which is basically a word processor, can be used to write documents. Perhaps we'll get to see an export and import option to and from very popular document formats, like those of OpenOffice and so on?

eyeInfo provides information about eyeOS, like version number and all the developers, collaborators, etc.

More apps (files with the .eyeapp extension) can be downloaded from the Internet and uploaded to eyeOS, depending on your account type. If someone else gave you access to a server that runs eyeOS, you might not be allowed to upload and run your own apps.

The good:

eyeOS can be a great way to share information, store various data as text, upload photos, save links and more. It is pretty easy to install, there's even a miniserver kit that can be used to perform a quick install on a Windows machine (although I personally recommend hosting this application on a web hosting server that runs Linux or another *NIX system, there might be some that might want to do a quick test).

The bad:

eyeOS isn't a complete OS yet, it still doesn't offer a way of letting users run their own apps without leaving an open door to the operating system. Custom apps can be written to access the filesystem. This is why there should be something like a virtual filesystem. This problem could be solved by running the web server in a chrooted environment, thus reducing the risk of accidentally letting someone in.

The truth:

It's a useful application, you can use it to share photos with relatives that live in a different country, store contacts, do some quick word processing and more. And all of this is accessible from anywhere, as long as you provide eyeOS with the right username and the right password.