I’ve long wanted to try out eyeOS, an open source web-based desktop system, but have never found the time to install it in one of my free PHP/MySQL accounts. Installing it in my current web host is out of the question: I’ve long learned, rather painfully, never to try scripts in my web server.

eyeOS recently opened a site that allows you to use the program without having to install it. You can open an eyeOS account with eyeOS.info. With eyeOS, you can have a calendar or agenda organizer, contacts database and word processor that is accessible anywhere. All these come in a very beautiful virtual desktop interface.

The script may not offer the same functionalities as Goowy yet but it’s an open source project and will likely improve and expand features with each coming releases. It also loads faster than Goowy.

Here are a few screenshots of eyeOS:

This is the main screen. eyeOS offers several themes to control the appearance of the interface. It also allows you to customize the wallpaper.

This is the interface to the contacts database.

eyeOS allows you to extend its functionality through plugins or apps.