xxxviii white: OnLive launches desktop app, streams start menus to your iPad, we go hands on (video)

Friday, January 13, 2012

OnLive launches desktop app, streams start menus to your iPad, we go hands on (video)

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.

Continue reading OnLive launches desktop app, streams start menus to your iPad, we go hands on (video)

OnLive launches desktop app, streams start menus to your iPad, we go hands on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email this | Comments