bodom_lx at task3 dot cc

Time for a review. Thanks to the always useful DistroWatch.com service, I discovered a new Gnu/Linux distribution, called gOS. gOS stands for Good Os, born in 2007 in California. The version I’m reviewing is the so-called “gOS 3 ‘Gadgets’”, their third release. gOS 3 Gadgets BETA is based on Ubuntu 8.04.1, and the final release is to be expected in the next 1-2 months.
This distribution is built around Goggle apps and services, comes with Google Gadgets for Linux pre-installed, as well other nice programs, like Google Picasa, Wine, Mozilla Prism for Google web applications and Wbar as launch bar. I’ve never heard about this bar, it’s very quick and light. Good choice! The distro also includes proprietary codecs for multimedia content.

As said before, being based on Ubuntu 8.04.1, gOS3 has got the same boot screen, but different colors, which lets you choose system and keyboard language.

The live cd takes a bunch of seconds to load, then the default desktop appears, without any login required.

The desktop is very clean and accurate, a customized Gnome with green colors. At the right side you will immediately notice some Google Gadgets activated, while the bottom side is occupied by the very clean dock-bar, that should have been modified for non-xgl’ed users (I’m using a desktop pc with a Nvidia 8800gt video card, and the bar is working).
The last gadget is hidden by another one. I think this is a monitor resolution related problem.

In the following screenshot you can see three applications opened (openoffice.org writer, gnome-terminal and Nautilus). The icons and the window manager themes and colors are in symphony and very elegant. You can notice that the window buttons are on the left side of the window, like in Mac Os X.

The official website reports that “gOS 3 Gadgets includes LXDE (Lightweight X Desktop Environment) applications in the renewed effort to develop a more lightweight desktop”. But I could not find any application not belonging to Gnome..
I really appreciated the presence of Mozilla Prism and various Google services (Google Documents, Calendar, and Mail) can be launch from the dock-bar as they were real applications:

A quick look at the software repositories reveals all the official Ubuntu repo activated (main, restricted, universe, multiverse), as well as other useful repositories, like lxde, skype, medibuntu. Yes, this means you can install multimedia proprietary codecs in a apt-get!
I could not resist, and tried to apt-get dist-upgrade just for curiosity. The result was a messy desktop, a second panel magically appeared on the bottom of the screen:

Nothing dangerous, a couple of mouse clicks and the situation came back as before the update.
I could not find Google Earth and Google Desktop Search, reported to be installed by default (Tracker is not included). Let’s see if they will be included in the final release.
I believe that gOS 3 Gadgets is an accurate personalization of Ubuntu. The fact is does not include personalized administration tools makes it not really an adversary of the more famous Linux Mint distribution. I see gOS 3 more as a customization of another distribution, you could even keep your Ubuntu installed and customize it to look and act like gOS. But you will spend a lot of time in doing it.
My advice is to download gOS 3 if you would like something different to the graphical aspects of Ubuntu, plus some very delightful Google tools, while keeping all the original tools that Ubuntu offers.