Tariq Krim – The First ‘Facebook’ Computer Operating in the Cloud0

Career: Founder and CEO of Nebvibes and Jolicloud, Young Global Leader (WEF)
Interests: Food, Travel, Independant & Scifi Movies, Old Typewriters & Computers, Vintage Furniture
Hometown: Paris, France

Tariq Krim is the founder and CEO of netvibes and Jolicould. He started his first online messaging system in France while attending elementary school and has been involved in the rise of the Internet in France. As a journalist Tariq wrote some of the first articles reporting about the Internet in France. He mostly reported about online for La Tribune, a financial newspaper in Paris and opened the silicon Valley branch. He left to build l8rmedia, a blog based media company to address a new generation of online readers. GenerationMP3, its main blog attracts 1.5 millions monthly readers and pioneered the use of participatory journalism in France. Meanwhile he worked as an advisor to media CEOs, politicians, the music and movie industry on the challenges and opportunities brought by the Internet. Tariq is a regular speaker in technology and media conferences. He is recognized as one of the most influential innovators in the European space. He also became the first french to receive the TR35 (Top 35 Young Innovators Under 35 by the MIT Technology Review) for a contribution related to the Internet. In 2008, Tariq Krim was nominated a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. Tariq’s latest company and fascinating vision is Jolicloud.  Not just another operating system, Jolicloud transforms netbooks into sophisticated Web devices that tap into the cloud to provide free, open and easy access to a new generation of Web applications.

Jolicloud: The idea of Jolicloud started in summer 2008 when Tariq Krim started thinking about the possibility to build an “organic” laptop, a combination of the greenest technologies and a fair trade production. This device would run an Internet operating system and replace existing costly software with their web alternatives. After travelling around the world to meet manufacturers, designers and industry friends, Tariq decided to drop the hardware to focus only on building the Internet OS. He was later joined by Romain Huet and Tristan Groléat, two young developers who shared his vision and worked hard to release their alpha version. Now Jolicloud is the Internet OS for the netbook generation. Its mission is to accelerate the accessibility of ultra-low-cost, cloud-based computing to everyone around the world. Through an elegant interface Jolicloud provides free and easy access to the Web’s best applications and technologies. Jolicloud is based in Paris, France. In November 2010 Jolicloud launches the Jolibook. Comparable to a Netbook (Tariq says it’s not a Netbook!), the JoliBook will be the first computer to take advantage of the JoliCloud OS. It is designed for people who live in the cloud and comes preloaded with Chromium, Facebook, Spotify, VLC, Skype, and a bunch of cool apps.