21stcenturyed.com

I just happened upon a fun new web 2.0 super-app called g.ho.st. Ghost is a virtual computer.
So what the heck is a virtual computer? It’s very much like remotely controlling another computer as you can with software like gotomypc. You can do everything on that remote PC that you normally do on it while seated in front of it – only you can do it from any other PC (or MAC, for that matter) from anywhere in the world (with an Internet connection, of course).
The difference is that there’s really no remote computer. It’s simply a simulation of a real computer…and a good one at that.

The cool stuff…

- It’s free (at least now while in it’s Beta phase)
- A smooth mac/unix-like UI.
- Rockin’ tunes – comes with a last.fm widget built-in, blaring the Eric Clapton channel upon login
Zoho docs and spreadsheet
- A bunch of standard apps – clock, calculator, games, etc.
- Integrated messaing system
- ghost web-browser (It’s odd – using the Internet to virtually surf the Internet – kinda like taking a picture of yourself taking a picture)
- No matter where you go, you can access “your” computer from anyone else’s without worrying about your electric bill

The not-so-cool stuff

- ghost claims to integrate with Google docs, but I coudn’t get it to work. I kept getting a cookies error and their listed fix didn’t work.
- When in ‘proxy’ mode intheir browser, many websites (particualrly flash-heavy or streaming video ones) will not function properly
- When in ‘direct’ mode, cookies are not saved.
- Websurfing in proxy mode is a bit slow and tedious
- Don’t right-click – no menu options available except those for the flash app that ghost is in reality
- If it’s not a web-app or written to work on ghost, you’re not going to be able to use it as an app on your virtual machine
- The connection to the ghost server was pretty spotty at times
- The speed of your ghost computer is equal to – or less than – the speed of your internet connection and/or the physical computer you are accessing it from

Possible uses

- Online doc storage (though since you are using zoho and google docs, it might make more sense to go straight to the source)
- Annonymous web-surfing (getting around proxies anyone?)
- In a blended model it would allow students to have their school computer with them, evern when they weren’t at school (without the hassle and cost of those pesky laptops)

All in all, probably not the most usefull web app I’ve seen recently – but definitely one of the most imaginative.