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Cover Stories November 2008 • Vol.6 Issue 11 Page(s) 34-35 in print issue |
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Take Your Desktop Mobile With Glide & Glide Cube |
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Glide OS 3.0 from TransMedia is a mostly Web-based system that combines a mobile platform, a PC desktop, and a cross-platform synchronization tool. It offers many interesting features, including Microsoft Office application compatibility, and you can use Glide on any number of computers and mobile devices. To find out more, we took a closer look at Glide OS 3.0 and The Cube—one of its newest applications.  A Broad Desktop & Mobile Platform Glide OS 3.0 includes an online operating system that provides more than 20 productivity applications, file-management options, and social-networking tools. Designed to be an alternative to your computer’s traditional applications, Glide OS 3.0 offers word processing, presentations, PIM (personal information management), email, photo editing, and more—all accessible through your computer’s Web browser. In addition to a desktop platform, Glide OS 3.0 offers a Web-based mobile platform that’s compatible with more than 75 devices and works with all mobile carriers. The mobile version provides nearly the same functionality as the PC version, including access to applications, file management, and social-networking tools.
Powerful File Syncing & Sharing Glide OS 3.0 includes a component that you install locally on your PC to access Glide applications offline. This local client component also includes the powerful Glide One file synchronization tool. Glide One lets you share files across multiple computers whether, they run Linux, Mac OS, Solaris, or Windows. The files synchronize to the Glide OS 3.0 Web-based desktop (Webtop) and any computers you set up for synchronization. Even better, you can access your Glide OS 3.0 Webtop from Glide Mobile using your mobile device. Here you can view your synchronized files using the Glide OS 3.0 applications. The system uses device-recognition and transcoding technologies that automatically detect the type of device you are using and deliver files in the appropriate format. For example, you can synchronize and view a Windows Media video on an Apple iPhone and a QuickTime video on a Windows Mobile smartphone. Glide currently provides device compatibility for more than 250 file formats. You can use Glide OS 3.0 for universal access to files with your mobile devices, home computer, and work computer. When you change a file on one system, the changed file automatically syncs to your other computers, and the changes are accessible from your mobile devices, as well. In addition, all previous versions of the file are accessible through Glide’s version control feature.
The New Cube Available in Glide OS 3.0 Webtop, The Cube is a widget-like interface that brings your music, video, documents, photos, and bookmarks together with your contacts, groups, and email. You can play music and videos, create playlists, open bookmarks and documents, and search for files and contacts with The Cube. If you want to send items to a contact, you can select the files to send and click the Share button. The Cube will spin and give you options to email the files, share them with a group, or connect them to a meeting. You can quickly perform any of these tasks by clicking the corresponding button. Or, if you want to customize how you share the items, click the C button to display the associated Glide email, group, or meeting app. As an example, you can select a Word document and a PowerPoint presentation in your documents list, click Share, click one or more contacts that display in The Cube, and click Email to send the files immediately. If you want to include a message, don’t click the Email button right away. Instead, click the C button in the left portion of the email option to display the Glide email application. (Make sure to set up your free Glide email account beforehand.) A unique feature of The Cube is its private and public capabilities. The Cube gives you the option to interact with other Glide users and/or keep files and sharing private. You can create a public profile in Glide, with your own Web pages that are visible to other Glide users. Or you can keep your profile private. The Cube includes options to search public Glide user profiles or only your private contact list. (Your Glide contacts do not need to be Glide users.) Similarly, you can search public Glide photos, videos, music, documents, and bookmarks or just your private files stored in the Glide Webtop. You can also assign rights to limit how a file can be used, such as restricting a user to a specific number of views or downloads. How To Get Glide Glide uses technology designed for Web browsers including Flash, Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript And XML), and HTML, which combine to create interactive Web-based applications. The mobile version uses mostly HTML and related technologies supported by mobile devices. Glide’s native applications, including GlideOne (sync) and GlideCrunch (spreadsheet), are developed in the C++ language. Getting started with Glide costs nothing: Register, and you get an online account with 10GB of storage free along with the Glide One synchronization tool. Instead of advertising, Glide generates revenue by charging for server storage. You’ll pay $4.95 per month or $49.95 a year for each additional 20GB of storage. You need Adobe Flash 9 to use Glide OS 3.0 on a PC. To find out the version of Flash currently installed in your browser, go to www.macromedia.com/software/flash/about. The Adobe page tells you the current version of Flash on your system and provides a link for downloading an upgrade, if necessary. To sign up for your Glide account, go to www.glideos.com. From here you can also download and install the Glide One synchronization tool. For your mobile devices, go to www.glidemobile.com. You will need a device with mobile Web access and browsing capability. Take some time to experiment with Glide OS 3.0 to see what it can do for you. Although some of the applications are not as full-featured as their traditional desktop PC counterparts, they provide an alternative for mobile devices. And the integrated capabilities of the file synchronization tool and The Cube are compelling.  by Carmen Carmack
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