OnLive Desktop Hands-On: Virtual Windows Environment Preloaded with Microsoft Office. Free!

Featured Free App of the Day: OnLive Desktop

OnLive Desktop iPad Only (3.5 stars with 4850 Ratings) Free USA Only
 
Onlive Desktop is here. Your iPad can now work in a Virtual Windows 7 environment preloaded with Microsoft Office Word, Excel, Powerpoint, as well as a few interesting Microsoft 7 touch enabled apps. The Accessories folder from your Windows 7 is also available. That means Sticky notes, Calculator, Wordpad, Paint, and other useful applications are available to use at anytime.

To get started, you’ll need to sign up for an Onlive account via their website.. You cannot create an account in-app as of this time. After you log in, you’ll be greeted with a Window 7 environment that is quite similar to something you would see on a remote desktop app streaming content from your Windows 7 desktop computer. Except in Onlive Desktop, your Windows 7 is preloaded with Windows Office 7 and other applications. Unfortunately, you cannot install other softwares to this virtual PC on the cloud. But you can import files, images, songs, and any other files under 100 MB to this virtual Windows 7 account. Simply log online to your desktop computer via the Onlive Desktop website to import files. Onlive Desktop also includes MS Media Player. So movies and songs you upload can be played within the Onlive Desktop app.

With Onlive Desktop you have access to Word, Excel, and Powerpoint in Microsoft Office 2010. There is an adjustable virtual keyboard you use for typing. Also available is a writing pad that allows you to hand write words and sentences with your finger or stylus. Initial testing shows that there is a 0.3-0.5 second lag for the writing to appear, depending on your internet connection. That may frustrate some people. But handwritten input and recognition definitely works. People who don’t like typing on the virtual keyboard can try this function instead.

Office programs on the Onlive Desktop also make use of gestures, but in a limited fashion. In Word, you can zoom in and out on the current document for a better view. Powerpoint slides can also be zoomed in and out with the pinching gesture. Flick to scroll through document thumbnails when opening the document of your choice. You can also choose to drag and drop media files to the current document you are working on.

All the functions of Word, Excel, and Powerpoint from the desktop version is available. But without a web browser on this virtual desktop, finding images and media files on the internet to add to those Powerpoint slides still requires the use of a desktop computer. Other inconveniences include the lack of automatic synchronization of your Onlive Office account to your desktop MS Office files. You are still required to manually retrieve or upload your documents via the Onlive Desktop website. Dropbox support would be nice too. And if you haven’t noticed, Onlive Desktop requires an internet connection for it to work. Since most users’ iPads lack 3G wireless service, users wouldn’t be able to access their files without an internet connection.

Onlive Desktop is definitely a step in the right direction in cloud computing for the iPad. With free Microsoft Office access, users can create content via their iPads when internet connection is availalbe. Handwritten recognition is definitely another great addition on the Microsoft Office. If you are looking to edit your Office documents on your iPad, definitely download this app, set up an Onlive account, and give Onlive Desktop a try.

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