CES 2017: Endless OS - Mission Computers
We caught up with Endless Mobile, Inc at CES Unveiled earlier this week to talk about their new Mission Computers. Endless Mobile, Inc are the creators of Endless OS, which is a beautiful flavor of Linux that puts apps at the forefront. The home screen is a display of installed applications, and is very familiar if you've ever used iOS or Android. It is designed with the whole family in mind and to be just as productive offline as it is online. It's main goal is to be accessible to as many people as possible, and Endless has succeeded in this, delivering a powerful computing experience to developing countries across the world.
The UI is elegant, and surprisingly empowering for as simple as it is. The mention of Linux in the consumer market is usually an immediate deterrent, but in the case of Endless OS and Mission Computers, it is a major advantage.
The Mission Computers are small PC's on the lower-end of the price spectrum, but deliver a powerful punch. The machines themselves are gorgeous, and are meant to be proudly displayed on your desktop or entertainment center. Easily fitting in the palm of your hand, the cases are a natural wood veneer accented with white. There are two models available; the Mission Mini and the Mission One. The Mission Mini comes in at $129 with a Quad Core processor, 64gb of Solid State storage, and an HDMI out. The Mission One is $249, but is more of a traditional desktop PC with an Intel Celeron processor and 500gb of hard drive storage. The Mission One is about twice the height of the Mission Mini, but the desktop footprint is the same.
The announcement the Endless Mobile team was most excited about during our time with them, though, was Endless Code. Part of Endless Mobile's mission is to enable as many people to learn to code as possible. Give my development background, this really resonated with me. It has never been easier to learn what the moving parts are behind our favorite applications, and everyday the ecosystems are becoming more transparent. Endless Code is a major part of this.
Take your Weather app for example. If you want to learn how it actually works, you first have to see if it's open source. If it is, you then have to clone the code to your PC, set up your IDE, and read through the source to determine what is actually happening, and where the real meat and potatoes is. With Endless Code, with a single button click inside of the application you are curious about, the application will literally 3D transition and flip over to reveal the exact source of what you are looking at. Not only does it provide you the source, but it opens a full fledged IDE allowing you to make code changes and modify the application to your liking. If you ask any developer, most of the time they learned to code by reverse engineering their favorite applications. Endless Code has now made this easier than ever. The best part is that Endless Code is available now as a free download within Endless OS.
For more information on Endless, visit https://endlessos.com/home/.