OnLive Desktop for iPad Now Available on App Store

[MacRumors]

OnLive's virtual Windows 7 / Office app for the iPad has arrived on the App Store. As we reported earlier this week, OnLive Desktop offers iPad users access to full-featured versions of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The applications are running on OnLive's servers and streamed to your iPad.

OnLive offers a number of plans for the service, including a Free service as server capacity is available. Paid accounts will take priority over free accounts.

Existing OnLive customers can sign in with their existing accounts and new users may sign up for a free account -- though account activation seems to be throttled and may be delayed.

As with their gaming service, performance can be subject to a number of factors, including internet speed and proximity to servers. [App Store]

Article Link: OnLive Desktop for iPad Now Available on App Store

 

[jwm2]

Hmm not sure i like the idea of streaming my data back and forth to a 3rd party such as onlive.

 

[SandynJosh]

THIS is so Cool!

This will blow away any reason to feel like an iPad can't be used in enterprise situations. Okay, okay, I know it's really hard to write a 20 page Word document on it because it lacks a keyboard, but it really makes nothing impossible to work around easily to get the job done.

 

[Peace]

Hmm not sure i like the idea of streaming my data back and forth to a 3rd party such as onlive.

I agree but it's nice for generic stuff.

 

[pancakedrawer]

A great way to get the office suite on your iPad.

Still, you'd think they would make a promo video where the document doesn't lag when scrolling and zooming.

 

[SandynJosh]

Hmm not sure i like the idea of streaming my data back and forth to a 3rd party such as onlive.

Look... you call an 800 number and give the guy that answers your credit card information for a flight to Florida on one date and a return flight a week later for your family.

The guy has your credit info, the billing address of your home, and knows when you and your family will be far from home. He is also in a federal prison that holds a contract with a national airline to book their reservations. He also has a few old friends that live near your city and are free on parole for violent crimes. You don't give that a thought and go merrily off on your vacation.

I say, stream your data with that same level of concern.

 

[isoMorpheus]

Who cares? Why not iWork?

 

[uaecasher]

Who cares? Why not iWork?

Because some people prefer Microsoft office. it's always nice to have choice

 

[bdkennedy1]

No thanks.

 

[fins831]

I'm waiting for Office to release its iPad app...I am sure they will release it soon enough...

 

[pimentoLoaf]

Hmm not sure i like the idea of streaming my data back and forth to a 3rd party such as onlive.

I'll wait until MS releases Word for my iPad and no one's server.

 

[SandynJosh]

Who cares? Why not iWork?

iWork is good, but for some people the formatting of the original document or spreadsheet created elsewhere and imported to the iPad is too complex to fully translate.

This just removes the glimmer of any argument or reluctance to move ahead and incorporate an iPad into the work environment.

Think of it like grease...sure, things can turn without it, but everything moves better with it.

----------

I'm waiting for Office to release its iPad app...I am sure they will release it soon enough...

I'll wait until MS releases Word for my iPad and no one's server.

This should help speed up MicroSoft to do what you are asking for... I'd like the same as well. If nothing else, you won't need to be connected to internet to use the MS Office suite, which would be a step over the OnLive Desktop route.

 

[villager990]

I think that one of the real potential benefits to be had here is internet explorer (or Firefox/Chrome if they're feeling generous) - flash should run smoothly and websites should render well.

Anyone try it out yet? I haven't been able to log in and have tried countless google searches to see if the free version includes internet explorer to no avail.

 

[fins831]

I think that one of the real potential benefits to be had here is internet explorer (or Firefox/Chrome if they're feeling generous) - flash should run smoothly and websites should render well.

Anyone try it out yet? I haven't been able to log in and have tried countless google searches to see if the free version includes internet explorer to no avail.

cloud browsing would just seem irritating...you do know that flash for mobile devices is being phased out for HTML5, and Apple will support that...

 

[leukotriene]

This app is actually quite responsive! I'm surprised there's not as much lag as I was expecting. Here are some complaints I have, which I bet they're working on:

1. Printing. For med school, I have to open up PowerPoint presentations and print them out 6 slides per page, and the formatting never comes out right when using Keynote, so I HAVE to use MS Office, which I hate installing on my Mac. Unfortunately, onlive desktop (obviously) can't print any documents. This can be solved on their end by adding printing over internet support or by adding native iOS printing support.

2. Accessing documents. Getting files into the onlive desktop is a kludge that involves uploading the files to their desktop via their website from a Mac or PC. If I'm out and about with just my iPad, it's obviously silly to require me to go home to my Mac to upload files that I want to work on. This can be solved by adding Dropbox support.

3. Accessing a web browser. There's no access to a web browser, which is totally understandable considering that's the upside of paying for the $10/month plan. But again, that makes it a pain to actually get documents into the the onlive desktop since most of the documents that I need to edit are located on my school's website, so having a web browser to download the documents first would solve this problem.

4. Native keyboard. The app doesn't make use of the iPad's native keyboard. I am actually very surprised by how well Windows 7’s keyboard works! But it's still be nice to use the iPad's native keyboard. This is something that I'm sure Onlive could add in an app update. (by the way, the stylus support is much better than I had expected too!)


What makes this really interesting is that they plan on making a Mac client too, so theoretically you could pay $10/month and have access to Windows and Office in the cloud, where you can keep your office documents with zero syncing whatsoever (since for each session you're accessing the same persistent desktop). Very nice proposition for someone like me who doesn't want to run bootcamp on my 64GB MacBook Air (it would take up too much space). I can take my iPad to school, work on a document there, and then open the app on my Mac too (inside a window) when I get home and continue my work.

I feel like this is exactly where Windows needs to be for me personally: just another app on my iPad's home screen!

 

[villager990]

oh I know flash sucks, don't get me wrong. But a lot of websites still have it baked in to their core, not to mention Java which the iPad still doesn't support either. For people like my parents who just want "to be able to listen to their basketball games", the iPad isn't quite yet able to fully replace a computer but it sounds like this may bridge the gap if it turns out to include a browser

 

[nagromme]

Had to try it just for the weird factor... a slightly-slow but very powerful Win 7 desktop on iPad! It accepted my existing OnLive gaming login just fine.

I wish it used the iPad’s own (faster) touch-keyboard, but it works, and I certainly can’t complain about the price!

This makes me hopeful that we’ll see their iPad gaming client (not just the viewer) soon.

 

[slrandall]

Because some people prefer Microsoft office. it's always nice to have choice

Yeah, let's be honest - iWork isn't quite at the level of Office yet. PowerPoint and Keynote? Pretty much. Word and Pages? Kinda, but Word still has more formatting options. Excel and Numbers? Not even.

 

[Asclepio]

It turns iPad in something useful.

 

[tylerk36]

There are plenty of Word compatible programs out there. I don't see the need to have a word type document streamed back and forth on some one else's data servers when I can have it on my iPad via word or database clone program native to my iPad.

 

[199708]

It turns iPad in something useful.

In the same boat, Also waiting for some real powerhouse apps on the ipad such as word, excel and recently hoping adobe lightroom will release something that i can use on the go seeing as I can view my raw data hen copied to the ipad.

This is worth trying out and seeing how it works, Im sure its not 100% what we are after but a step in the right direction to providing users a valid reason to purchase an ipad.

 

[robertosh]

it hurts my eyes to see that image of windows on the ipad...! But I have to admit that the Onlive guys are doing a good job

 

[MRU]

Anyone else getting

"the onlive service is full, please wait...." message?

This is why we need a proper version of office on iPad, as much good a free cloud service is, when I want to use word or excell I don't want to have to wait around in a queue for an hour for the priviledge of doing so.

Cloudon worked better.

 

[ipoppy]

Why has everyone forgot about OnLive app for streaming games? Where is it? Why Apple and OnLive keep queit about it? Android got that app running the very first day after OnLive announcement a month ago but Apple app store still doesn't have it yet!!!
I know it not helps for Apple business model as such but hey!!!.....people are getting tired of that Apple eco system.

 

[CplBadboy]

Not available on the UK App store. if it is I cant find it!