And I thought I read there was another one that someone said had Layers...whatever that does for one.
Good morning FRiends!
So, I played with Eldy. ‘nuff said. LOL Let me describe it for you.
Junk
Crap
Spam
Scam
Spyware
Too bad, so sad.
I got kicked off of their blog last night for pointing out it’s, uh, shortcomings. haha
First of all, it’s not a distribution, it’s merely a Java based interface that runs in either Windows, or (they say) any .nix distribution. I installed it on Ubuntu 8.10, 9.10, and Puppy Linux, as wells as, Win XP and 7. It behaved nicely on all except Puppy. In fact, it froze puppy, and spewed error messages left and right.
The first screen that pops up wants you to register, or select another option saying you’re a tech and using it only for evaluation purposes, and only for 30 days without full functionality. I registered (I thought) because I wanted full functionality.
After inputting all of my info, I was offered to select my Locale, sort of. I could select any City from a list of Italian Cities, and only major Cities were on the list. So much for “personalization” and getting weather info, unless of course, I lived in one of those major Italian Cities.
Next, I was presented with (what I can only describe it as) an advertisement for several corporations, a pop up like box with Corporate logos and info on it. I really couldn’t derive that for sure, as everything is in Italian. LOL
OK, so I decided to “Walk in the Internet”, as it is described. On Windows, I received an error message in a “DOS” box, that said it was killing a process-literally-it said “invoking death”!..in English.
I rebooted and tried it again, and this time I was allowed to get to the next screen, which was a page of “Favorites”, and one big green button that said “Your Favorites” on it. In order to add a Favorite, you need to click, at least, three more times, on smaller non colored in boxes/buttons, and type in the address and then enter a name for it. Still, you can’t get to it, until you use the big “Back” button under the main screen, but, you can from there.
Finally, I was allowed to access it’s (?)browser(?), which has a huge address bar that directs you to “type in your destination here”, I did, and Foxnews and FR filled the screen...completely. Alas, no flash, but I did have Flash installed on the Ubuntu box. Arrgghh! No way to back out, and no tabs, you have to hit the big “Back” button underneath the (?)browser(?), which takes you back to the “Walk in the Internet” screen. If you keep clicking on the “back” button, you’ll get taken back to the “Big Square”, which is the default screen upon opening.
The Email was about the same experience, except, after jumping through all of the hoops, and you get to hit send, it tells you it’s only a “Trial” version, and to get this function, I would have to click on the “Elephant” on the desktop, and install Eldy Lombardia or some such nonsense. my Elephant wasn’t clickable.
Clicking on “Help” got me to, you might have guessed it, the Corporate Logo screen again. So, I tried the “Guides” button, this time I got a bunch of Italian instructions telling me, I think, the setup process. Now, if I got this far, would I really need a guide to tell me how to get this far?
In Ubuntu, I was not able to access the Ubuntu desktop, except by clicking on the Exit button, which presents a dialog box that offers three choices, “Exit” (closing Eldy), “Reduce” (minimize the interface), and “Cancel” (you made a mistake). In Windows, I was able to minimize or close it out by clicking on the Windows controls in the top RH corner.
Eldy TV, ditto. Chat, ditto.
So, there is some form of payment required, I think, to have a fully functioning version, they are probably receiving some “click through” revenue on the so called “Favorites”, and the only email address you can have is {username}@eldy.it, so all of your email goes through their servers.
I would be suspicious of letting my Grandparents, or anyone, rely on this application. As well, I would make sure they were close to a Heart & Stroke Center...