Thu Jan 26, 2012
Here’s a recent offering that didn’t get much press as it should have, but it’s really cool. As you may know, OnLive is a cloud-computing company that allows you to play games on your underpowered computer by streaming the content to your screen. All the grunt work is done on their servers.
They’ve now expanded into the enterprise market by offering a free virtual Windows 7 environment. You can use the full versions of Word, Excel, and Powerpoint online and save your data in the cloud (2 gigs free). Right now, the OnLive Desktop is for the iPad only, but is coming soon to PCs, Macs, Android, and even TVs. As all the processing power is handled on their end, you could presumably run the virtual Windows on any crappy computer with a decent Internet connection.
The trend towards OS cloud integration and a more seamless user experience in cloud computing is most welcome and makes Moore’s Law increasingly irrelevant. So hold on to that old 486 PC you were about to toss out. It could soon be given a new lease on life.