gOS Linux 3.1 Review

By Jim on June 1st, 2009

Before I get into this review let me be clear that gOS is not “Google OS.” It is not put out by Google so nobody should be confused by its name. gOS stands for “Good OS” though it does contain a lot of links to Google Web apps, Google Gadgets, and the option to add Google Gears is found on its app menu list.

gOS is based on Ubuntu 8.04 and thus offers all of the advantages of an Ubuntu based system. This version of gOS includes Wine 1.0 as well as Mozilla’s Prism. Wine lets you easily run Windows apps and Prism lets you run Web apps on your gOS desktop.

Installation
When you boot into gOS you’ll get the option to use the Live CD or do an install. As usual I opted for the Live CD as I like to play with it before doing the install.

The install itself, as you might expect, is easy to do and takes about five minutes or so. I had no problem installing gOS 3.1 in VMware. After the installation I used the Update Manager to update my system. The update went well. I had no problems before, during, or after running the updates.

Desktop & Apps
One thing that you have to give to gOS is that it has a very slick looking desktop. The color scheme is green and looks quite nice. Clicking the gOS button in the upper left corner will give you access to the app menus.

Read the Rest or visit the Desktop Linux Reviews Blog for more Linux Reviews.