OnLive Streaming Win 7 Desktop, Apps to iPad, More
On Monday OnLive revealed plans to stream a Windows 7-based desktop and applications like Word and Excel to a number of platforms, starting with the iPad tablet. Called OnLive Desktop, the initial touch-based offering will launch for free on Thursday via Apple's App Store here in the States and "soon" in the UK.
As for other platforms, OnLive Desktop will arrive on Android, smartphones, and the stand-alone OnLive MicroConsole (with Bluetooth and keyboard/mouse support). The Windows-based virtual desktop will also arrive on the PC and Mac clients with support for your typical desktop LCD and HDTVs. So far there's no word on when these will be available, only that they are "coming soon."
According to the company, the free OnLive Desktop client will include Windows 7-based applications like Word, Excel and PowerPoint software supporting instant-response, multi-touch gestures while offering a full on-screen Windows keyboard and handwriting recognition.
"iPad users will now be able to simply and securely view and edit cloud-hosted documents with full-featured Windows desktop applications like Microsoft Office, just as if they were using a local high-performance PC," said Steve Perlman, OnLive Founder and CEO. "Multi-touch gestures respond instantly and smoothly, while HD videos, animations and PC video games—never before usable on a remote desktop—play seamlessly."
The Free OnLive Desktop app comes with 2 GB of secure cloud storage and as-available access to a cloud-based Windows 7 desktop pre-populated with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, plus several utilities and touch games.
Later, OnLive will release a Pro version that comes with 50 GB of storage, the previously-reported OnLive web browser, additional PC apps and more for $9.99 USD per month. OnLive Enterprise will be available for businesses and organizations of all sizes, seeking centralized, secure computing resources, as well as Independent Software Vendors seeking to deliver custom applications. IT professionals and ISVs are asked to contact OnLive at this email address for OnLive Enterprise details and pricing.
For more information and to set up a free account early, head here.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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house70 The real (albeit limited) functional experience comes from Windows... on an ipad.Reply
Oh, the irony... Jobs must be rolling in his grave. -
joytech22 I have splashtop on my tablet and that by itself is incredibly useful and screen updates are at 30fps.Reply
Will this perform similarly well? -
If I am reading the correctly this is similar to their gaming service. You are allowed to run applications/games through their servers.Reply
Some what like a remote desktop but their servers are the desktop. -
namelessted Too bad that OnLive still has MASSIVE lag. I know internet speeds are getting faster, but I just don't see how it will every be possible to reduce latency to virtually 0. And if you have ever tried to use a mouse, or any input for that matter, with any amount of lag it is so frustrating it makes you want to kill yourself.Reply -
freggo Sorry, prefer to have the software on my system. Southern Florida is known for internet outages the moment the weather gods have a sneeze and I like being able to work with the internet being in the fritz.Reply
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mman74 But companies are already doing this with Virtualization software. The fact is nobody wants to lug their office PC around on business trips. You could bring a company laptop, but they restrict the installation of anything fun - no games, no music etc. You could bring your own notebook but it doesn't have any of the company software that you need to work.Reply
The solution is to run a software that will give you a full desktop environment just like your office machine but on your own hardware. And the beauty of this is, they are now being able to support mobile hardware such as phones and tablets! -
jryan388 I always wondered why iPads take so long to load anything, and running VNC is a nightmare... then I discovered that they only get a little over 10mb/s on their wifi (a toms benchmark).Reply