Desktoptwo is another Flash-based web operating system, which provides the user with a MP3 player, 1GB of diskspace, a [slow] VNC-powered OpenOffice and Acrobat Reader, an email account, a free blog and also free webspace.

In many ways it’s like Goowy, though it lacks many of Goowy’s features (such as an integrated browser and RSS), I find it’s UI much more attractive and the fact you’ve got desktop apps like OpenOffice and Acrobat is great.

Frankly, I think Desktoptwo is a great way to take your MP3 collection between multiple computers. Though 1GB is probably not large enough for your entire collection, you could upload your favourite songs into this. One interesting feature with uploading is that you can upload off either your computer or another website.

Also, I think it is pretty good how Desktoptwo comes with an online desktop blog editor, though sadly it can only be used to blog on their host (Blinkinblog.com and MyBlogTwo.com). It would be impressive to see support for external blog services, which could be posted to using XML-RPC.

Desktoptwo also comes with a few more conventional desktop apps which have been made online through a Java VNC viewer (TightVNC in this case, I believe), which allows you to use the applications on what appears to be a GNOME desktop. Though this method is fair from perfect, it is still pretty impressive. However, there is a delay after you type a letter for it to appear on the [remote] screen.

Another interesting package is an IM app, which allows you to chat over MSN. However, it does not look like it supports Jabber, AIM and Yahoo!. Also, Desktoptwo lacks an integrated browser, and if you click Browser, it simply creates a new browser window.

A final note about Desktoptwo is that you can multi-task, which is something I don’t think you can do in Goowy.

I wrote another review on a similar (though AJAX-powered) system called Xin. That review also provides a background in WebOSes; it’s well worth a read.

Tags: webos, web2.0, web 2.0, web2, web 2, goowy, desktoptwo