While Windows, Mac OS X, and various Linux distributions dominate the desktop operating system market, there's no clear market leader in web-based "operating systems." There's also not much of a proven demand for these services, but that doesn't stop webOSes like ajaxWindows from popping up.

AjaxWindows is certainly one of the more polished web operating systems out there. You get the distinct impression that you're using an actual operating system and not just a series of web-based services from within your browser. It includes a couple of applications like a PowerPoint style presentation viewer/creator, a word processor, music player, and drawing program. Oddly, there's no spreadsheet application.

There's also integration with a variety of web services such as Gmail, Flickr, and Meebo. For example, when you click on the instant messaging application, web-based multi-chat client Meebo opens up. In other words, there's little you can do with ajaxWindows that you couldn't have just done from Firefox.

AjaxWindows does provide you with 1GB of online storage, so the idea is that you can synchronize data from your desktop and access it with a familiar interface wherever you go. But it's only familiar if you use it at home, and that just seems a bit silly.

[via TechCrunch]