Ask HN: What do you think about a Social Web OS?

[Robby2012]

Hello HN,

We've just been turned down by YCombinator (2 visits to our demo & video) and because they don't give feedback I'm here to ask you guys what do you think about our project:

weeZeel is a Social Web OS. It’s a website written in HTML5 and JavaScript (using jQuery) that takes the concept of a traditional Operating System to the cloud.

We have created a web desktop for everyone to use as their computer. They can edit documents, watch movies, play games… using our apps or any other app available in weeZeel Store, where anyone can sell an app developed using our API, with the feature of being 100% social. All these apps have the ability to work on real time thanks to websockets.

And because weeZeel is social, you can share all the files and folders you want with your contacts with one single click and you can interact with them in any app.

If you want to try our demo (still work to be done) just use this url: http://www.weezeel.com/demo.php

[tim_moon]

-Who's your target audience? -Why would someone want to use weeZeel?

I'm having a hard time trying to understand the benefit of something like weeZeel. It may be that I'm just not your target audience.

[Robby2012 → tim_moon]

weeZeel has been created so you can have your whole OS everywhere you go. In weeZeel you can have all your files and many apps so everywhere you go and in every device you use you'll be able to acces all your apps and data.

[Robby2012]

By the way, a designer has joined our team and has made this design:

http://www.weezeel.com/test.jpg http://www.weezeel.com/test2.png

What do you think?

[mion]

Sounds cool! :) And definitely not something easy to build. But why are you building this, why would someone want a web desktop? What problem are you trying to solve? <friendly and curious questions>

[Robby2012 → mion]

jajaja yeah, it's reaaaaaaally difficult to build, we're having a lot of work and many problems building it.

Why someone wants a web desktop? Nowadays throughout a day someone may use plenty of devices: their home computer, a notebook, a tablet, a smartphone, their office computer or even a smart tv!

weeZeel has been created so you can have your whole OS everywhere you go. In weeZeel you can have all your files and many apps so everywhere you go and in every device you use you'll be able to acces all your apps and data.

[e1ven]

What makes this different than the other "Web OS" projects that have been done before? There's been quite a few, and no one seems to want them.

Isn't the Web OS the browser? Why should we add another layer (your-app)?

What is the value-add?

[Robby2012 → e1ven]

yeah, it's true there've been plenty of web OS, I think the most important ones where youOS (YC) and eyeOS. ¿What makes us different? All our code is based in HTML5 and Javascript, that means we can work in almost every device in the world, it doesn't mind if it's a pc, a mobile, a tablet... we work in all devices that have a modern browser.

We use websockets, all our platform will be based in websockets, this makes weeZeel and all the apps available work in real time, no ajax used, everything is instant. We also offer an API so everyone can develop an app (I think only youOS did this), anyone can develop an app using html, css, javascript and php (in the future we will offer more languages) and sell it through weeZeel Store (doesn't exist yet).

A really important point of weeZeel is it's social, you have an app called "Social" where you can add and arrange all of your contacts, due to this in all the apps available in weeZeel you'll be able to interact with all of your contacts (maybe send or share someone a file or play a multiplayer game).

Finally because of all the progress in coding, thanks to HTML5 and Javascript we are much more fast than other webOS, a really important point if we want to simulate we are just as a fast and reliable as a traditional OS.

[brudgers]

Congratulations on multiple views.

Who are potential users?

How will it be monetized?

How will it compete with GooglePlus, Docs, and Gmail?

Good luck.

[Robby2012 → brudgers]

Thanks you very much!!!

Actually our potential users are those who are used to using many devices throughout the day. We think of people between 16 and 40 years aprox. We also want to be used by companies in the future, but we know we'll need to have a big community and many apps available to make them want to be in.

We will win money in three ways: we offer 3GB free to everybody, if you want more disk space you'll have to pay; we will also offer special accounts for companies, with linked accounts and special features; finally, we will ask for 15% of the income developers make using weeZeel Store.

We know Google is one of our competitors and we know it will be really hard to win. With Chrome OS Google has proven thay think just as we do, but we aren't afraid, we know it will be a very tough fight but we aren't scared of them.

One of the big problems Google has is that their products aren't well linked. They offer Google+, Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs... but it's like they were different products that don't work so good together (by the way, weeText works better than Google Docs).

Another problem about Google is privacy, if you read their terms and conditions you'll see ALL the data you upload will automatically become theirs. When talking about taking all your files to the cloud will you really upload your personal files knowing they will become property of Google?

Finally, Chrome Web Store only works in Google, if you want yo use all the apps available you have to use Chrome. This also happens with Chrome OS, you have to have it installed. weeZeel is universal, it works anywhere you go and in every device you use, you just need internet and a modern browser in order to enjoy weeZeel.

[brudgers → Robby2012]

"by the way, weeText works better than Google Docs."

That sounds like the minimum viable product. If it in ran in my browser regardless of an internet connection, that might make it an alternative to many text editing tools.

Good luck.

[Robby2012 → brudgers]

Using HTML5 offline tools we will make that possible, we want to serve a good offline experience

[eduardordm]

You should, somehow, integrate development tools there, like cloud9

[Robby2012 → eduardordm]

we've thought about it many times and you're right, it would be fantastic if we did, thanks!