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eHub Interviews eyeOS

Thanks to Pau Garcia-Mila and the entire eyeOS team for this email interview posted October 16, 2005.

eHub: What is your web application/service about?

eyeOS: eyeOS is an open source web-based desktop system, which includes some base applications and the ability of installing new “eyeApps” and “eyeWidgets” previously packaged by an application manager.

eyeOS is designed to provide an intuitive online desktop to every user, with his/her own applications, documents and files, and the ability to work, be organized and expand the system as he/she wants with eyeApps: entertainment, multimedia, office… from everywhere with Internet connection.

There are some applications bundled with base system, such as a text editor (eyeEdit), a calendar (eyeCalendar), a contact list (eyePhones), a file manager (eyeHome) and some widgets such as a calculator (eyeCalc) and a clock (eyeClock). We’ve decided not to include any application which requires anything more than a browser, so all apps that require Java, Flash and other plugins have been released as eyeApps, and will be accessible for downloading from our future site “eyeApps” and installable trough the eyeOS application manager.

eHub: Why did you start this project?

eyeOS: I started this project for many reasons. I had been imagining the possibilities of a web-based desktop system for a long time. Things like Converting the “Internet” to “My Internet” by having all your needs in a desktop: Bookmarks, documents, contacts, notes… and most importantly, the ability to share knowledge with the world. That desktop system would need to be organized, server-based but with good client-side style.

So, after writing some ideas down, about a year ago I decided to start coding it. I wanted it to run without databases, basing the system firstly in plain text and later in standard XML files. I also wanted it to have a clear, simple and intuitive style, so I asked David and Marc to do the design. And a few months later, we published the project as “eyeOS” in its first public version 0.6.0, and since that moment it hasn’t stopped growing.

eHub: How much time do you devote to its growth?  Do you have a day job?

eyeOS: I have a day job, and University, but I devote to eyeOS all free time I have.

eHub: How large is your team and what are your backgrounds?

eyeOS: Since we published the project, many people have helped us in developing (Hans B.), preparing unstable versions and designing some of the next steps, specifications and applications (Antoni S.P.) translating it to many languages (ataxy, gg, omerusta...), testing (David G.), preparing eyeApps (Kornel M.) and making us suggestions. Actually, the whole team, counting coders, designers, translators and testers is about 20 people, and growing! :-)

eHub: What is your design philosophy?

eyeOS: Design in eyeOS has been thought since the beginning to be a very intuitive design, without menus or text in desktop, based on clear colors, always with the words “minimalism” and “eye-candy” in mind. And regarding the code design we try to keep it as clean and clear as we can so everyone can modify or improve eyeOS to fulfill their needs.

eHub: What technologies are you currently using?

eyeOS: eyeOS is composed by many technologies. The core system is developed in PHP, based on XML standard files for data saving and JavaScript for moving windows and simplifying the work to user. CSS is used for desktop / windows styles, and the combination of all this, AJAX, is under hard development with some functions for system calls and actions. Our plans are to release 1.0 version working with AJAX completely, and the next step will probably be SVG deployment for the graphics.

eHub: If your project is live, what are the most requested features from your users/community?

eyeOS: Most requested feature is complete AJAX implementation, but people have also asked us to implement some useful features to the main eyeOS package such as PDA synchronization. We try to develop all features our users propose, since what is useful for one can be useful to others.  However, with our high scalability and the possibility for the user to develop their own eyeApps, a lot of the demanded features can be handled by people who is not currently on the team, although we encourage everyone to join us.

eHub: Does your user base reside in a primary geographic location or is it distributed?

eyeOS: It’s completely distributed. The initial team (Pau Garcia-Mila, David Plaza, Marc Cercos) is from Barcelona, Spain, but people from France, Germany, Denmark, Turkey, Russia and USA are helping us in many different aspects.

eHub: Where do you see the project heading in the next 6 months?  The next 2 years?

eyeOS: I can’t really foresee how eyeOS will be in 6 months or 2 years, because of its dynamism and close contact to the user. However eyeOS team has indeed some designs, changes and features planned for the near future. Because of the ever growing amount of contributors that are helping us improve and empower eyeOS release after release, it is really hard to tell where and how eyeOS will be in the future.  Personally I hope I will be developing eyeOS and eyeApps in the next 6 months and, why not, in next 2 years. I also hope that eyeOS will help much people to improve their self organization and to get more from the Internet wherever they go.

eHub: What is the one thing you need to get to the next phase of the project?

eyeOS: AJAX.

eHub: Do you have a business model?  If so, what is it?

eyeOS: Business model for eyeOS is based on Free Software and GPL. We would love to work with a big company as background, creating a big network providing free eyeOS systems. We would also love to see eyeOS helping schools in Africa, Asia (and other countries) due its simplicity and intuitiveness, without forgetting powerful office applications for students. We are planning a version of eyeOS running on the top of an open source environment system which could work on 486+ and would provide access to remote or local eyeOS systems.

eHub: If you’re able to disclose this information, how much traffic or usage do you see on an average day?

eyeOS: eyeOS traffic is about 6000-9000 hits per day, but as 1st October eyeOS appeared in digg.com front page, the traffic (and contributors) grow to 200.000. Again, thanks to digg!

eHub: How would you describe the shift that’s occurring with the web right now to future generations?

eyeOS: I would describe it as a social movement which was born a few years ago, but it’s really growing nowadays, with some big projects which have woken up the collaborative sense of people.

I think is I think it’s the “hippie” movement of 21st century. People are getting involved in social projects, in free software and open source projects, and on the top of all this, on free culture. Big projects like the Wikipedia show how powerful the free culture can be and how can it improve our lifes.

People like to collaborate in open-minded projects, without politics or economy. In Internet, everybody pertains to the same social class. People have discovered in Internet the freedom prohibited, explicit or through social pressure of actual society.

So I think that “Web 2.0” isn’t “AJAX, AJAX and more AJAX”, it’s a composition of a few different factors, like freedom + collaboration + free culture + open source. All this, made a bit more beautiful with AJAX.

eHub: What site(s) do you visit everyday other than your own?

eyeOS: Wikipedia, Slashdot, Barrapunto -slashdot in spanish-, tod-os -osnews in spanish-, faq-mac, and new sites I discover day after day.

eHub: How many hours of sleep do you get a night?

eyeOS: I really love sleeping 8 or 9 hours per night. However, there are people in the team who sleeps far less than me like, like Antoni, who sleeps 5 hours, perhaps it is because they can’t stop
developing (we have a considerable speed releasing new versions) although I doubt it is because of it. Sometimes we do “tancades”, that means closing in Catalan, and they consist on locking ourselves in my house without sleeping at all until we get the new version coded and tested.

Thanks to Pau Garcia-Mila and the entire eyeOS team for this email interview posted October 16, 2005.

Visit eyeOS
Originally added to eHub on Sep 19, 05

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eHub Interviews is a series with the creators of Web 2.0 applications and services by Emily Chang, author of eHub, designer, and co-founder and principal of Ideacodes, a strategic web consultancy in San Francisco that she co-founded with Max Kiesler.

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