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Ubuntu in the cloud

Ubuntu One cloud storage appears as a desktop folder

The last release of Ubuntu, 9.04 or Jaunty Jackalope, brought a lot of cloud-computing features to the open-source operating system. OpenNebula and Eucalyptus ave system administrators the flexibility to build private, public and even hybrid clouds. The additions allowed Ubuntu to easily take advantage of Amazon's EC2 cloud computing service. However, these additions were aimed at system administrators not consumers.

Ubuntu 9.10 brings cloud storage to the masses with its Ubuntu One service. It's simple and well integrated. Whenever you save a file, you have the option to save it directly to Ubuntu One. Up to 2GB of storage is free, and you can pay for higher amounts of storage.

You can also share files with other people, and your files are easily available on other computers, even ones not running Ubuntu. However, I had some issues accessing Ubuntu One on a MacBook with Safari. However, it worked well on the open-source browser Firefox. The service is in beta so I'd expect a few glitches.

Apple has long had it's .Mac and MobileMe services. Microsoft doesn't have a similar service built into Windows.

I stand corrected. Microsoft does have a cloud storage application, Live Mesh, which also boasts desktop sharing

UPDATE: As commenter snipsnip reminds me, Microsoft does have a remote storage and remote desktop service in beta called Live Mesh and SkyDrive, which offers 25GB of storage for free. It's not yet integrated into the operating system in the way that Ubuntu One is, but Microsoft is under scrutiny about what it integrates into the OS because of its market dominance. It is cross-platform to a point. Like Ubuntu One, you can access it via a browser. However, some of its functionality relies on Microsoft's Silverlight.

Verdict: Ubuntu wins this as well. Microsoft doesn't really have an answer for this feature, yet. UPDATE: Microsoft does have an answer in Live Mesh and SkyDrive. Live Mesh isn't quite yet as well integrated as Ubuntu One is immediately from startup.

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