Nivio…the world’s first Windows based online desktop The race is on for creating the world’s
first web operating system. Google,
eyeOS,
YouOS are the names that get bandied around the most frequently in this regard. An Indian startup is attempting to take an entirely different approach to this problem. Instead of taking the web OS route, it wants to take your Windows desktop environment to the web.
Nivio is positioned as the world’s first Windows based online desktop; this is what its website says– “…your personal windows desktop on any computer in the world…when we looked to design a desktop available on the web we thought why change something that everyone uses (windows) ….we want to focus on delivering a better service rather than re-inventing the wheel…”. The service launches in a couple of weeks.
Nivio is a 20 member Delhi based startup and one of its co-founders is
Iqbal Gandham. Iqbal is a serial entrepreneur of ‘pre Web 1.0’ vintage, for he co-founded
Net4India in 1997-98. The company is registered out of Switzerland and thats where its servers are also hosted, but the founders, the development team, sales & marketing team are all based out of Delhi...
When I first heard of Nivio, the idea behind the product seemed quite ambitious, in fact bordering on the fantastic. Google’s rumored web based operating system (as well as its web equivalent of MS Office) may have been discussed threadbare to the point of being somewhat romanticized, but in reality they are a generation away from being functional in a useful way. Given that scenario, Nivio’s basic intent seems quite pragmatic. While they are likely to confront significant technical challenges, you have to appreciate their attempt at thinking differently.
So how will this work out? Nivio is being offered as a web service; for a monthly fee (Rs 399 pm), you get access to the Windows desktop environment on the web. You can access it from any computer (whether running Mac, Linux, Windows) with a browser and internet access. Nivio requires Active X for working in IE, while on other browsers, it uses Java Applets. What you get as part of the
standard package is Windows XP, 5 GB Space, automated backups, virus protection, antispam etc. Some applications are available free e.g. Open Office, Yahoo! Messenger, iTunes, Firefox et al, whereas some software will be available on paying a monthly fee e.g. MS Office. Users will get a synchronization tool that allows them to upload/download docs/files to Nivio from their regular desktop. Specific applications can be enabled in your account on demand, either free or on a paid basis.
This is a highly hardware intensive webapp and the architecture is globally distributed over several locations in category 1 data-centers in Switzerland. As the user base grows globally new nodes will be put in place to satisfy localized demand for Nivio services.
I was given a test account by Nivio to try out the application. Logging into the account was smooth and the Nivio desktop looks just like your regular Windows desktop. I create a sample document using Open Office Writer. Browsing on Firefox (within Nivio) was somewhat jerky on my 256 kbps home internet connection. I feel that the streaming over the internet is likely to be bandwidth intensive and one would need a fast internet connection for a comfortable browsing experience. Nivio’s plans to distribute the hardware across different locations will come in handy in reducing network latencies. Iqbal informs me that the core technology is still under development, so you should expect significant performance improvements.
Overall the service looks intriguing and definitely worth a try. I couldn’t help getting a kinky feeling, while using a web version of Windows. In fact, it would be interesting to know what Microsoft thinks of Nivio, for this could be one of the ways to counter Google’s rumored web OS.
