Social Settings

Jolicloud also sports a few basic social networking features. Similar to Twitter and Identi.ca, you can follow other Jolicloud users and they can follow you. To find a person you want to follow, you can either use the Search friends and apps box or browse the list of newly joined users in the Settings | Latest Members section. Updates from users you follow appear in the Dashboard | Notifications section.

In the current version, you get notifications when others install software or follow other users. This feature provides a great way to discover useful applications. Better yet, notifications link directly to the applications they mention, so you can install these right away (Figure 6). The social networking part of Jolicloud is not yet fully implemented, but it has the potential to turn the distro into a rather useful social tool for its users.

Final Word

Because Jolicloud is still far from complete, it's too early for the final word, but even in its current form, it looks promising. Streamlined system maintenance and easy software installation make Jolicloud a great system for non-technical users, and the solid hardware support ensures that Jolicloud will run on most popular netbooks currently on the market. Once it's ready for public consumption, though, it remains to be seen how Jolicloud will fare – but keep watching.