YouOS (winter 07) shutting down?

https://www.youos.com/

by sown • 18 years ago

30 47 18 years ago

youos.com

Correction: That's Winter 06.

jacobbijani• 18 years ago

Didn't they move on to thesixtyone.com?

sown2• 18 years ago

I dunno. But I keep seeing this http://www.projectwedding.com/ link around their pages.

KB• 18 years ago

babul• 18 years ago

about thesixtyone.com: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=153856

axod7• 18 years ago

I'd love to see some insight into what went right, what went wrong, the decision to shut down etc

volida3• 18 years ago

in the case a startup attempt fails this is the most valuable thing that is left for the founders.

So, asking them to hand it to you is a bit obnoxious

jedc• 18 years ago

Not really.

Roger Ehrenberg has been writing some great posts on what went wrong with his company (Monitor110) at informationarbitrage.com, and has been getting some great feedback.

They can leave the private stuff to themselves, but it wouldn't be completely unreasonable for a y-combinator-funded company to at least briefly post a "what went wrong" for the benefit of future startups. They'll still have all their knowledge and experience, and sharing that won't take it away from them.

axod7• 18 years ago

if their plan was flawed, then sure, they could let others waste time to come to the same conclusion, but that seems mean to me. If they'd rather not say though completely up to them.

I think it is interesting though, as web OS things were hyped up at one point. It'd be useful to know if youos shutdown because the plan was flawed, or for some other reasons.

prakash• 18 years ago

I would like to add, insight from the investors on the reason for investing, what changed in the past 2 years, and if the market conditions have changed, if an opportunity still exists?

jcromartie• 18 years ago

What went wrong: they tried to do a "web OS." So many of these have failed, or are on track to fail, that it really surprised me to see a new one the other day.

maxklein• 18 years ago

People don't get it, do they. I have ZERO interest in an operating system. No, it's not that I have zero interest in an online operating system, I have no interest in any operating system at all! What I want are quick and convenient applications, and the OS itself is totally irrelevant. So anyone who tries to apply a paradigm that was forced on us to something that we choose to use will ultimately fail.

What is needed is not an OS, it's an organiser. A place I store files, write letters, etc. Not some multiple window thingy, but some simply thing that gives me quick access to my applications.

Everyone trying to recreate Mac OS or Windows, but webbased is doomed to failure. Mac OS and Windows are used because people don't have a choice as to what desktop paradigm they can use. If one decides to switch, there are no applications, so you are forced into using a particular way.

But it has always been a flawed design, so don't copy this stuff.

axod7• 18 years ago

For me, creating a web OS is the wrong thing to do because the web already is an OS. It just needs more apps porting to it, and more interoperability between them.

If you really want to create a new platform, I think it lives or dies depending on the apps you can get on it that can't be found elsewhere. I don't know if youos had any such killer apps...

rokhayakebe3• 18 years ago

That is correct.The web is an OS, and we only need to structure it a bit more or find a way to unify applications as Google does. Google is the web OS.

sown2• 18 years ago

I have to disagree. The Web doesn't handle interrupts or do memory allocation, schedule process and so forth. To call it that means you have to shed all meaning of the word operating system.

mbuchanan4• 18 years ago

I agree... take a look at this... especially the videos(http://www.nestedguis.com)

axod7• 18 years ago

http://www.storylinez.com/ is ridiculously unusable. (Linked from nestedguis)

bsaunder2• 18 years ago

Do you really care about access to your applications (e.g. MS Word) or the functionality they provide (e.g. editing a document)? I think it's more likely just the functionality + the information. I think more likely Mac OS and Windows are doomed to failure. All I want is my information + function + communication (an emergent property of this would seem to be collaboration).

unalone4• 18 years ago

It depends on the application. Notepad I held no feelings toward. But I will fight to the death to protect my use of TextEdit.

And you seem to forget, unless I'm misreading you: a part of using an application is the experience it provides. What are you saying will beat Mac OS and Windows? Google Docs? Buzzword? Hardly.

pavelludiq2• 18 years ago

I remember showing this to all my friends at school. I opened it up and opened the browser, then i opened it in that browser and opened a browser in that and i did that until IE crashed :D They were all like "Wow, cool"

globalrev• 18 years ago

So what do we need? More advanced browsers?

listic• 18 years ago

When you launch, they say it's a cool new idea. When you quit, they say it wouldn't work. Why are people so inconsistent?

unalone4• 18 years ago

It's a different group of people that speak up each time.

Group A doesn't care about looking at shut-downs, only at the "blooming opportunities of the Internet." They talk all the time about cool new things. Group B doesn't care about blather, but when Group A asks why something isn't working they'll explain it.

lacker• 18 years ago

Because people can learn from the experience?

srini2• 18 years ago

Hi, I'm one of the founders of YouOS. Yeah, we're finally shutting it down. We haven't been working on YouOS actively since November 2006. Why it failed is a long blog post for another time (it centers around not finding a use for it ourselves).

Since then, Sam started thesixtyone.com, Jeff works at 23andme, and Joe and I recently sold our new startup, projectwedding.com to eHarmony.

It's this last item, logistically, why we're shutting it down at this time.

tx• 18 years ago

My wife is a wedding photographer and I must say that projectwedding.com was a brilliant idea.

immad• 18 years ago

Congratulations on selling projectwedding

raghus• 18 years ago

it centers around not finding a use for it ourselves - how did you guys get the inspiration/motivation to work on pojectwedding.com? Either/both of you got married and found such a service lacking?

srini2• 18 years ago

Yes - Joe was engaged when we started it; he was having trouble finding good wedding vendors.

zeben• 18 years ago

LOL EBAUMSWORLD

YouOS (winter 07) shutting down?

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