If you run a small home network like me, you will probably utilise some sort of remote desktop software (I use VNC) to remotely control computers. Desktop on Demand is based on the same principle, in a way at least, allowing you to connect to a remote virtual desktop where you can play games, listen to music, check email, browse the web, word process, etc.

Desktop on Demand is a service launched by the same people who launched remote file storage tool Ewedrive. It allows you to access a remote GNOME Linux desktop where you can do many functions you could do on a local PC, such as use office software or The GIMP, and even install libraries!

Desktop on Demand is lightning fast and it truly feels like I am controlling a PC over my LAN. Unlike my LAN, it utilises the NX protocol instead of VNC. The provided NX client is much more suitable than any VNC one as you don’t need to fiddle with IP addresses etc. If I’m not mistaken, NX sends X11 sessions down a SSH connection.

All you need to be able to run Desktop on Demand is the ability to run binaries (you don’t have to install them) on your Windows, Linux or Mac computer. I think a web-interface would be useful though, especially when running behind restrictive networks!

You can access the files on your Desktop on Demand account through several ways. Obviously, through the desktop itself but you can also access them through a web-base file manager or a WebDAV share.

The idea of a remote desktop on demand isn’t anything new. I reviewed CosmoPOD, who provide free KDE desktops, back in 2005 before the wave of Web OSes we have today (services like Desktop on Demand and CosmoPOD are more useful than a Web OS because at least it ‘feels’ like an actual desktop rather than a Flash app etc!).

Desktop on Demand is free but a reasonable package costs between £4 and £15 a month depending on which features you need and how much storage you require. £6 a month will land you essentials such as Firefox and 25GB of disk space!

Tags: desktop on demand, remote desktop, web os

I’m a Web 2.0 but I must admit since I have converted to OS X, I am using online utilities much less. No longer do I use Gmail’s webmail (and that was the only reason I used Google Docs!).

I see the benefit of Google Docs but if I require a document to be portable, I’ll put it onto my USB pen or into a WebDAV folder. I used to only use Google Docs because it nicely integrated into Gmail!

How many of my readers actually use online office suites? If you do, are you a Linux, Windows or Mac user (or heck, an AmigaOS one if you’re so inclined!).

A proper post is coming on Wednesday!

Tags: online office, google docs

I downloaded something off USENET overnight and I was very disappointed to find that it would not play. A 300MB file only contained one frame which said This video can only be played in DomPlayer, Visit Download.Domplayer.Com. This struck me as suspicious; DomPlayer obviously was not a codec and why would I need a certain player to open an AVI?

A little bit of research revealed that:

1. DomPlayer is malware; being flagged by several anti-virus suites
2. It costs $3.75 to use!
3. The video file probably doesn’t contain what I’m after but probably contains garbage

DomPlayer place bogus files on P2P networks, especially BitTorrent, and con users out of their money and privacy and waste their bandwidth (and time)!

Basically, if you’re unlucky enough to download a bonus video, do not pay… download another!

Tags: bittorrent, piracy, domplayer

Earlier this week, I was hacked. Fortunately, I lost very little data (due to the fact my host seems to do daily back-ups) but I experienced significant amount of downtime.

It was not only my site which was hacked; the whole box was brought down. Even though my site was back-up in no time, my host/the hackers brought the box down for about 24 hours (I guess to restore back-ups and apply patches or to cause more havoc!).

What annoyed me most is the fact my host’s server status tool lied to me by telling me everything was functioning perfectly well. Also, live support would not respond to me and my support ticket took about 48 hours to be answered.

I only managed to figure out what was going on through my host’s forums, and only through what other users said (the host didn’t comment at the time).

When I saw my site was down, I obviously wanted to know what was happening and, rather pathetically, the fact that my website was down distracted me for a whole day! I really do wish they were more transparent <sighs>.

I have to admit that I’m not a big fan of backing up but I strongly urge you to back-up in case your host don’t back up as frequently as mine.

Oh, and by the way, hackers can’t speak English very well. I tried to ask them about what they did on MSN and they gave me very poorly worded responses before blocking me!

Tags: hacking, security

Whenever I ever suggest to people, public or private sector, the notion of utilising free and open-source software I always receive the same response: “It’s not the industry standard”.

I do not see a single reason why people should adhere to a standard piece of software. I’m sure if you renamed the title bar of OpenOffice.org Writer to Microsoft Word, 99% of people would not notice the difference! So why do they elect to stick with the most popular piece of software?

For example, most schools will use Microsoft Office instead of OpenOffice.org, despite the expense to the tax payer. If you ask why they choose to use MS Office, they will say it’s important because businesses use Microsoft Office and that it is the industry standard.

So why do businesses, which are normally capitalist establishments, lower their profits by paying for software? Probably because their employees are only trained for Microsoft Office. Who trains them? Businesses and schools, who train using MS Office.

I’m sure 75% of people could do whatever they want to do using OpenOffice.org just through their MS Office training (we might have issues with macros etc.). They’re just scared.

It’s a vicious cycle: people get trained for Microsoft Office, business demands Microsoft Office so more people get trained through Microsoft Office.

Can the cycle be broken? Probably not but if it did, it would require bold moves. Governments would have to encourage the education system to use FOSS as well as governmental departments, forcing businesses to change. This will never happen due to vested interests and (not to be horrible) technical ignorance amongst governments (the internet’s a series of tubes according to Sen. Ted Stevens).

Tags: opensource, software, linux, openoffice.org, education