The GoPC.net Blog

We often get asked what the difference is between GoPC and web operating platforms.

There are dozens of them which have been created in the last 2 years.

These web based systems typically have similar characteristics:

• Every application has been written from scratch
• The system and applications have to be very light weight as they download first then run within the browser
• The effort required to write the functionality of the equivalent desktop applications is prohibitive

The net result is that WebOS’s are typically not as quick as a standard desktop environment, with basic but browser based functionality. On the plus side, they can look beautiful. Just imagine how much effort would be required to write the functionality of Excel. Google Spreadsheets can only effectively offer a limited set of the functionality of Excel. Hence these WebOS’s tend to have a significant hurdle because of the massive resources that go into creating a single web application.

GoPC by contrast has the full desktop functionality and applications of a normal PC. Some people refer to GoPC as a WebOS, but technically is not. In our model everything runs on a super computer and it is just an illusion that it’s running on the local PC. It’s thin client architecture. But you can for example load up a 15 Mb Word document with embedded images within 1 second, make changes and then save it back in under a second. Compare that to a WebOS or a VPN – which could take 5 minutes to download then 20 minutes to save back.

Effectively we give you the flexibility and freedom of cloud computing, with the richness and operating speed that you would expect of a normal desktop computer.

If you are not using GoPC already then you can get a sneak peak at the product at our Virtual Demo. Please note our demo is trying to replicate the full functionality of GoPC – so it takes a minute or two to load.

If you are using a GoPC account, why not upgrade and get hold of the power of the applications within GoPC. Simply login to the GoPC website and select upgrade from the account panel on the left.

Justin