Ever since Google launched iGoogle and Google Docs, there's been an onslaught of companies vying to be the one that's going to house your web 'desktop' or even a full-fledged online Operating System. I think the concept of an online operating systems is a sound one but there will be some major privacy issues that will need to be addressed and some early stage hackers who will get around security settings that will need to be thwarted but eventually the PC and online space will meld completely in such a way that all you'll need to work anymore is a fast enough internet connection to render graphics and powerful enough processor to handle any client-side requirements. So if you're unlike me and all you need is e-mail, an office-like suite and a browser, these online operating systems are made just for you.
Google has gone a long way with their online Apps and I have plenty of friends who now store very little except movies, music and pictures locally on their laptops/desktops. Even some store all their pictures on Flickr or Zooomr and only use their local copies as a backup. Why not, if it's just $24.95/yr for unlimited storage, upload/downloads and permanent archiving of your images?
YouTube is still a long ways away from being able to store video in qualities good enough that would make me happy when I want to see my home movies shot on my HD Handycam (that I want, but don't own yet) and viewed on my AppleTV (that I want, but haven't purchased yet) on my 42" Plasma TV (hey at least I got that one, though I want a bigger one...shut up!). I do believe they'll one day get there and adopt a similar model to Flickr but with video unless Flickr beats them to it. Wait, isn't Vimeo working on that already? It's too hard to keep track these days.
There are a slew of online sites that will store your music files for you and allow you to play them anywhere online. Shameless Plug: Qloud makes an awesome app that allows you to share your music with your social network and play it online. No, it doesn't upload anything and it's not sharing actual music media.
In any case, here's a screen shot of two of the latest ones that looks fairly decent: CloudO - checkout the guided tour too, the presenter has the most interesting accent with a lisp. They claim you can change the look-n-feel so it's more familiar to your current OS (Windows, OS X, insert favorite flavor of linux here). And Xcerion - Screen shots look interesting. Still waiting for my alpha and beta accounts on both and it's been over 24 hours.
CloudO
Xcerion
Some others:
