The icloud app includes access to files, document viewing, and uploading of photos directly from mobile device cameras. The iPhone version enables you to directly share any file from your phone and email it as a link using the iPhone’s built-in email.

icloud also has an “Easy Upload” system to keep desktop computers synced with icloud, similar to what’s offered by Dropbox and Egnyte, among many others.

icloud has matured considerably since Simon wrote about it over a year ago. It’s not an operating system like Chrome OS or Jolicloud, but works in a browser. The service is now operational in multiple desktop and laptop browsers and operating systems, as long as Java has been installed. I’ve tried it in Chrome on a Mac, and it seems stable and reasonably speedy.

In addition, beyond the basic productivity apps Simon talked about, there are more apps that work within icloud’s operating system, including IM, RSS and Twitter apps; business trend and money-management apps; a bunch of games; audio, video and internet radio players; and a system for developing your own custom icloud apps.

The free version includes 3 GB of storage space, but you can purchase a premium account with 100 GB of storage for $39.99 per year.

Of course, there are now lots of web-based options for being productive away from one’s office computer. We’ve covered a large number of options for syncing files, contacts, to-do lists, and calendars with mobile devices. But if you like the idea of having a “workspace in the cloud” that you can customize to meet your needs, you might want to try icloud.

Have you used icloud, or other “web operating systems?”

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Glide OS has traditionally competed with other “web-based operating systems” such as Startforce and ajaxWindows.  In previous versions, it has drawn strong positive notices from PC World and other reviewers.

The new version 4.0 extends Glide’s focus on cross-platform, cross-device, browser-agnostic collaboration and applications. You can download it free as of Monday here, and run it as you would run a plug-in in almost any popular browser. Glide OS offers collaboration, productivity and syncing applications which you can use directly from its online desktop. You can use Glide’s own word processor, presentation app, groupware environment, email client, and much more, and Glide OS comes with 15GB of free online storage. You can upgrade storage from there for $4.95 in 20GB increments.

Speaking of keeping data online, that’s not the only option you have with Glide OS — an important difference between it and Google’s upcoming Chrome OS (which unlike Glide, works with local components and cloud-based ones). Chrome OS forces users to store and work with data exclusively in the cloud. That may very well be too autocratic a model for many people. Glide OS allows you to work with both local and cloud applications, and store data either locally or online.

According to Transmedia CEO Donald Leka, Glide OS’ new version is targeted to work on more devices and platforms than before. “We support over 100 mobile devices and convert file formats on the fly for them,” he said in an interview. “If you and I are sharing two spreadsheets produced in two different versions of Microsoft Office, it will automatically do the conversion. Or it will convert, say, a QuickTime file to a Windows Media file if needed.” He added that Glide OS has custom synchronization apps that work for everything from Windows applications and files to Android-based ones.

As has always been true, some people shy away from web-based operating systems due to security concerns involving working with and sharing data online, but Glide OS has historically gotten high marks for its approach to security.  It will  be interesting to see how this approach to merging the OS, the browser and applications turns out on Monday. In the meantime, I asked Leka for a number of screenshots, found below.

Social and presentation features are built in – see the “Participants:”

Glide OS integrates with popular search engines and social apps:

Glide OS does file format conversion on the fly:

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iCloud is an impressive web application. It’s an OS-like desktop, complete with storage space and a Microsoft Office-like application suite, that runs in a browser that you can access from anywhere. It’s a very slick-looking app and functions very well. Applications run snappily, and everything operates as you would expect based on using your desktop OS.

According to Xcerion, iCloud’s primary market is Internet cafe users, but with this release the company has introduced some interesting collaboration features that could be useful for web workers, particularly if you find yourself using more than one machine. You can share calendars and to-do items with teammates and, thanks to built-in social networking features, see when your colleagues are online and chat with them. Most impressive is the ability to simultaneously collaborate on a single shared document, with multiple people making edits.

iCloud’s XML backend is clever, and because the applications execute locally on your machine rather than on a remote server, they appear much more responsive than other “web OS” offerings that we’ve seen before.

Xcerion envisions a future in which you can access your iCloud desktop from anywhere, including mobile devices. The idea of completely virtualized applications  is very appealing:  I would love to be able to leave my documents, web pages, etc. open on a virtual desktop and be able to return to them later from any device, anywhere. Unfortunately, though, that vision doesn’t match the current reality.

Disappointingly, iCloud is only completely supported in Internet Explorer. Firefox support is in “early alpha” and works OK in my tests, but the company says that you shouldn’t rely on it, and as of yet, other browsers are totally unsupported. For that reason I (and I suspect many of you) won’t be taking up iCloud just yet.

What do you think of the idea of a “web OS”?

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