Hello Planet!
With Amazon, Google & Apple all throwing their hats into the cloud it's time to get the word out about ownCloud. For the last couple of months we've been working mostly in a refactoring branch in preparation for ownCloud 2.0 and a few days ago we finally merged that branch into master. New features you can expect from ownCloud 2.0:
- A completely redesigned ui (done)
- Media support (almost done)
- Much better user management (done)
- The ability to extend ownCloud via apps & plugins (in progress)
- Support for Konqueror, Chromium and Firefox (and probably others)
As you can see, we've put a lot of work into this and it's never been more important that it succeeds. Creating a cloud that we control will keep KDE relevant into the next stage of computing. With this, we can not only compete with Apple & Google, we can leave them behind or integrate with them from our own camp. There's no reason you shouldn't be able to play your music from the cloud in Amarok or Tomahawk, view your calendar events on your iPhone and in Kontact and access all of your files from Android or webOS or Gnome or Windows or OS X. You should also be able to back up your home directory and keep it in sync between multiple computers.
To accomplish all these things will take a lot of work and for that we need some help. Since the ownCloud sprint we've had some new people join but we still have many more ideas than people to make them a reality. This is an easy, exciting way to get involved. Whatever your skill set is (PHP, C++, writing documentation or HTML, CSS & Javascript), we can use your help. Drop by #owncloud on freenode or send an email to owncloud@kde.org and get involved today.
New login screen
File View
New settings interface
Seamless file access from dolphin
hello,that's something i was definitively looking for,only one thing keep me away from using "owncloud",i don't have a server to host it.This may seem a stupid problem but i have no experience setting up a network infrastructure like that(neither a server/db) however i know there are some cheap and quick hosting solutions out there,i would be just great if you guys could provide some basic easy to use solutions to use owncloud.anyway great job,cheers!
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice / handy / informative to have use cases that explain how one can for example use owncloud in combination with an KDE application.
ReplyDeleteWhat is to be done, to use e.g.:
- Amarok with owncloud
- owncloud to store the akregator feeds
- same question for agenda items
There are of course plenty more combinations to be find.
Is it possible to store a part of the data in owncloud and another part locally? That seems to be an important use case when migrating from local storage to owncloud.
It would be great if an openSUSE appliance could be made available. There is one http://susegallery.com/a/TadMax/owncloud-in-a-box (version 1.2). This appliance can be easily started in for example Virtualbox, what could help ottodisk (user with previous question).
@ott0disk,
ReplyDeleteThere's a section on our wiki about ways to get setup using owncloud and most of them don't require you to have your own infrastructure. The link is here: http://owncloud.org/index.php/Main_Page#Use_ownCloud but it boils down to this: host it yourself or use a service to host it for you (either Amazon S3 or PackageCloud can get you setup very quickly). That being said, most distributions make it extremely easy to install a basic lamp server. On ubuntu it's 1 command to get the LAMP server running and a couple more to have owncloud working. On openSuse it might even be easier. Let us know (either in #owncloud on irc or at owncloud@kde.org) if you'd like some help.
@openid
ReplyDeleteI can answer a few of your questions but some of them don't have answers yet because we're still working on them. For owncloud in Amarok we're duplicating the ampache api which is already supported by them. The media branch in our git repository is where to look for that but it's very close to being finished. For PIM storage like RSS feeds and to-do's, we still need some help. Those are things we'd like to provide but don't have the manpower for right now. In fact, akregator itself is short of developers and having some difficulty making the transition to akonadi. Once it does it will be easier for us to write an owncloud app that it can access. These are the things we'd like some help with so if you have the time and inclination we'd be happy to help you get started.
As for using a combination of local and cloud storage, of course it's possible but more difficult to manage. We don't have a desktop syncing client yet, either so you can put whatever you'd like in owncloud (ie duplicate your local storage) and then use either copy. When we get a desktop syncing client, one of the things I'd like to see is a set of 'watched folders' that are stored locally but always kept in sync with owncloud. Again, if you'd like to get started on that please send us a message in #owncloud on freenode or at owncloud@kde.org
It would be great if you could sell "plug servers" with owncloud installed by default so you just plug it, give it an ethernet, and it's done, your own cloud.
ReplyDeleteMaybe also make a list of webhost providers who can host owncloud, to make this and still keep the privacy (which is my main concern in the cloud) the data in the server should be encripted and only decriptable (locally and only locally) in authorized devices.
So if I host a owncloud server for person A, I can't read any of his data because it's encripted but he can read that data from his own pc, because he has the password to decript it.
1 question, what about you yourself becoming providers?, maybe add it to the project, rent some web host space, and rent it to anyone wanting to use owncloud.
If we can get that last thing, we would be at the same level of easiness of apple and google.
@damien
ReplyDeleteI'm working on the list of providers/ways to run owncloud now and will publish a blog entry with that list later today. I also love the idea of a plug computer with owncloud. In fact, up until recently I was running it on a plug and it was great. Especially since a plug that runs it well can be had for $50 in some cases. It requires a hard drive as well but you can add massive amounts of space to it since you're using your own storage and not built-in storage. I also think it's something that we might be able to sell. I prefer a flat fee for an appliance rather than a monthly charge for a service. If you'd like to talk more about it, let me know. I'm very interested in making it as easy to setup as any other cloud.
The plug based server is indeed interesting. It would irresistible ;) if such a computer could be run on solar energy only. Any idea if that is feasible?
ReplyDelete@areichman: in your reply, you write that many things (amarok, rss feeds, pim data) is close to be being available. It would be nice to see a use case with functionality what is available now (I think file storage), and what the benefits are compared to e.g. using ssh ;)
In your reply you refer to the 'ampache api', this doesn't say me much. Why is the 'ampache api' good, is it a common api, a kde wide api, or Amarok only, etc? Why do you need an api, is it not just possible to store the media in the owncloud environment, and point Amarok to the owncloud location and just play the media stored in the owncloud. It would be nice if things like this could be explained (e.g. in the owncloud wiki).
Two more things related to using owncloud:
ReplyDelete- How would one use it, in combination with a NAS? Would ownclould replace the NAS, or can they be both used at the same time giving additional value?
- An addition to my use case question above: it would be nice to include several devices in the use case, like a desktop computer at home, a mobile device and notebook at work behind a proxy.
For me a killer feature would be possibility to sync data without server just like MS Live Sync (or what's the name) can do that. In that case 50 or 200 GB are synced locally if I have notebook, netbook and desktop - MS server is just telling what files should be synced and is not used for uploading/downloading. Will this be possible? And if there would be free KDE/ownCloud server just used for this, then it would really rock, because many users would not need to set up their own servers...
ReplyDeleteIt would be like this, but with free software: http://www.tonidoplug.com/
ReplyDeleteWhat are your opinions on Syncany software (http://www.syncany.org/) ?
ReplyDeleteCan it be used with ownCloud?
It provides client side encryption which ownCloud is still missing, right?
@openid
ReplyDeleteWhat's available right now is file storage integrated integrated into the desktop (windows, mac or linux) via webdav or available from anywhere via the web interface. Right now, for instance, I have a couple of work presentations stored in owncloud that are always in sync at work & at home because I only edit the owncloud copy. This is the kind of thing I used to send emails to myself for and it was a pain.
Everything else is either 'almost done' (like media player) or 'looking for someone to create' (like PIM data). Hope that helps you.
@openid part 2:
ReplyDeleteTo use a NAS, just create a symlink in your webroot to link to that and you should be fine. As far as multiple computers, you can use owncloud on as many as you'd like. Anywhere you can access your own server since webdav is integrated into every desktop OS. As far as mobile OS's go (Android, iOS, webOS), we have a couple of people working on apps for those (Android & webOS specifically) but I don't know how far away those are from release. If you'd like more info about the status of different things, come into #owncloud on freenode. It's the easiest way to get a hold of somebody.
very nice great ;)
ReplyDeleteabout the media support will it support live streaming ? I believe this will make the best service ... what I am speaking about to be able to play the mp3 from the browser without actually downloading the content .
@areichman: thanks for answering my questions. Aren't those questions common enough to have them with their answers available on webpage?
ReplyDelete@JOKe
ReplyDeleteThe media player does support streaming. In fact, right now it only supports streaming. Of course you can download any files you want and play them in a program on your computer but if you want to play through the web interface it'll be streaming it instead of downloading it.
Hope that answers your question. If you have any more, drop by #owncloud on freenode or leave another comment here.
Hi from France,
ReplyDeletei'm using ownCloud with MAMP on my IMac ( Snow Leopard).
Everything is OK, but i Should want to connect to ownCloud from any place in the world, like Opera Unite does.
How to do it with ownCloud.
Thanks to answer me and have a good week.