Desktop sized games aren't the only thing Palo Alto's premiere streaming service is pushing to your tablet -- now OnLive is out to stream you an actual desktop, as well. Following up on an old Windows 7 demo and later promises to build a "no-compromise, media-rich enterprise experience," the outlet is now launching OnLive Desktop. It's almost exactly what it sounds like -- Windows, seamlessly streaming to your iPad.
Microsoft's OS rides the same bandwidth pipelines that host OnLive's gaming service, and offers tablet owners a streamed desktop with access to fully functional versions of Microsoft Office products like Word, PowerPoint and Excel. The iPad app that is launching Thursday represents the outfit's "free" version of OnLive Desktop, and packs 2 GB of secure cloud storage in addition its limited suite of office applications. OnLive plans to expand the service with OnLive Desktop Pro, a paid variant (starting at $9.99 a month) with 50 GB of cloud storage, priority server access, additional applications and "cloud-accelerated browsing." Need something more specific? OnLive Enterprise will let firms custom tailor their cloud desktop to suit their needs -- dictating data, application and device access by user.
But how well does it work? It depends on your connection, of course. We dropped by OnLive's west coast headquarters to stream it from the source. Read on to see how it did, or simply skip the bottom if you're looking for an official press release.
Diving into OnLive's Windows stream is seamless and simple. Rather than booting to a application selection menu, à la the current games service, OnLive Desktop boots you directly to a Windows 7 desktop, complete with start menu, shortcuts and even a recycle bin. Launching Word, Excel or any other program is as simple as clicking on it. That's it. The entire interface mimics a Windows 7 tablet, and although we noticed a small amount of lag when dragging windows and writing prose on a bluetooth keyboard, the experience is satisfactorily fluid. The app might use Windows 7's touch controls too well, however -- the operating system's built in keyboard isn't exactly conducive to tablet typing. The outfit told us that it had considered using a custom keyboard, but opted to use Window's default setup to ensure OnLive Desktop launched with full, native control. In fact, we were told that new features -- such as keyboard options, new gesture controls and additional software -- will be dictated by customer feedback.
Cloud storage, which was sadly absent from our demo, is handled by uploading files through OnLive Office's website -- enabling them to be accessed via the streamed desktop's documents folder. When we probed our hosts about future software support, we were told it depended on what users demanded -- although nearly anything is possible. We've already seen OnLive desktop run Maya, and we were told it could easily bring resource heavy media editing software to the touchscreen as well.
OnLive told us part of its motivation to expand was simply a necessity of optimizing server utilization. Its gaming service drove the firm to build massive server farms across the globe, most of which are only used during peak gaming hours -- nights and weekends. Daytime, or working hours? All quiet on the digital front. OnLive Desktop can fill that utilization gap, and provide a pretty mean service, to boot. Still, the streaming firm is taking it easy at launch, limiting the free app to "as-available" access -- meaning that server access goes to paying customers first. Users who opt for the upcoming Pro version will be able to skip the potential server queue, and will also get to make use of a suite of collaborative services based on OnLive's spectating and voice chat technologies. In other words, paying customers will be able to run online meetings, activate screen sharing and use remote desktop control.
Via engadget
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Free OnLive Desktop App for iPad - Review & Overviewby OnliveFansCom2,789 views
@jadjadb You have to do it on their site.
NDSLover350 2 weeks ago
/watch?v=qZvwtP3MMH4&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
flashidea123 1 month ago
how can u create an acccount??
jadjadb 1 month ago
How do u connect
Robbygoot 1 month ago
any software can wipe out the windows logo?
BBnose 1 month ago
Where is ipad version onlive player?
zamarawa 1 month ago