In case you’re not familiar with OnLive Desktop, know that it’s a virtualization app that runs a copy of Windows 7 with Office via streaming to an iPad or Android device. Although the idea is brilliant, Microsoft is not happy at all with this, since after all tablets are the replacements for PCs and people actually get to run their OS on a couple of tablet PCs illegally, having only paid for one license.
In a recent detailed post on this matter, Joe Matz, Microsoft Worldwide Licensing and Pricing VP said that OnLive is a problem and they’re discussing a solution to fit the developers’ work into some sort of licensing program. OnLive launched the OnLive Desktop app this past January, providing everyone with a free, virtual Win 7 desktop access plus Office apps and added to that 2 GB of cloud storage for free. There’s also a pay option added last month, plus a cloud browser also added recently.
For a long while OnLive was iPad material, but it also started reaching out Android tablets at the beginning of March, so maybe that’s why MS sees a problem here. Meanwhile, the dispute is kind of foggy to me, since both OnLive and MS representatives refuse to comment on the matter. Matz says that he’s actively engaged with OnLive, looking to solve all problems and wants all Microsoft partners to be very clear on the terms they use their products. Let’s hope this ends in an amiable way…
