Friday, October 22, 2010

amoebaOS and Security

Well developIT posted some information today on the forum, and I thought I would post it here since I think it is good to know, and also shows some things no one else has done. If you are a security freak, you must read:


"Regarding security, there are a number of things being addressed on this front. Right now, I'm working on improving security within the OS, which is being done by running applications in a sandbox. There are still more areas to cover, but things are already looking good.

One of the most important problems you run into when developing an online OS is the fact that all applications are inherently using the same presentation layer (the DOM) on the same page (even frames would be on the same domain, so direct DOM access to a parent page is trivial). So, everything must be abstracted. That means applications using addEventListener and createElement are actually using secured facades built on top of the browser's real DOM functions. I believe we are the only online Operating Systems that is even attempting to solve this important security issue.

So, I would say that as far as online Operating Systems go, amoebaOS is secure. It certainly is in terms of web applications, but strictly speaking of web OSes, I believe we are the furthest along in this area.

The amoebaOS filesystem does not currently have user-configurable file permissions. However, we use an onion-like filesystem that overlays various levels of the filesystem using preset permissions. That means your personal files (not just your home directory - 100% of your files) are kept separate from the read-only system files (root files), other users' files, and shared files. This type of architecture is not like that of a desktop filesystem, because we have the ability to work with files and their locations at a very high level of abstraction. We can do things like represent the same file with as multiple different locations, and even generate unique one-time public URLs with read and write access for any file in your account. The current filesystem is one of the newer parts of amoebaOS, and as such it is quite flexible."


-Jason Miller, developIT

Friday, October 15, 2010

Community - File Sharing inside amoebaOS

Today, a new feature was released in amoebaOS called Community. Once files are put into your shared folder, anyone can access them using the community tab. You can even run applications right from someone's community folder, great for easy application distribution and having people test your apps. Video soon to come.

So get on over to amoebaos.org and tell us about yourself, and you will probably get a beta code since we are in need of more testers.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Videos of amoebaOS

Here are some videos of amoebaOS created by forum member tonynoname, also a great tester and active forum participant.






Welcome

Intro
Well, this at least needs a proper introduction since I probably can't write for my life but I'll try my best. This is a blog to document the progress of amoebaOS, an online operating system written in JavaScript(how many times have I typed that phrase =P). I am a beta tester and an active participator on the amoeba forums: http://amoebaos.org/forum/. I test all of the cool new features of this revolutionary software, and we encourage you to sign up on the forum. If your a developer, we especially encourage you to come and check out the API to write applications for amoeba, as it is very easy to do.

Who made it?
amoebaOS was made by devlopit: http://developit.ca/. They have some pretty cool apps, web apps as well. Best of all you can talk directly to them if you sign up on the forum (username is admin). We also encourage you to make feature requests, because that's what we really need right now, along with patience to finishing this for public beta.

Now what?
Well, if your reading this then your probable wondering more about amoebaOS. The OS itself is located at: http://amoebaos.com and the informative website is http://amoebaos.org. Let me tell you something though. You might have already used a cloud OS before, noticing how they are very slow, laggy and unproductive(Not to name any names *cough*icloud*cough*). amoebaOS is NOT like that. The OS feels so smooth, that once you run it in full-screen, you'll think your using a native desktop OS.

Well, there will be more to come, including tutorials, app highlights, new features and just plain amoebaOS awesomeness. Also, please don't come to the forum begging for a beta code just to try it once and then leave. If that's the case wait for the public beta. If your serious enough, stop by and say Hi and let us get to know you =)