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After bringing Windows 7 to iPad as a virtualized desktop, OnLiveis facing scrutiny by Microsoft over the legitimacy of its softwarelicensing. OnLive, which started by offering PC gamers subscription basedaccess to a virtualized session hosted in the cloud (allowing themto play games with graphics rendered by more powerful hardware thanthey had locally), first brought its technology to the iPhone in late 2009. In January, OnLive began offering a Desktop app "delivering an instant-response Windows desktop andfull-featured Microsoft Office apps to your iPad," followed by a$4.99 per month Plus service that added support for acceleratedAdobe Flash, all of which are rendered 'in the cloud' and deliveredto a user's iPad over WiFi or fast mobile networks. The company also said it plans to offer Pro and Enterprise versionswith more cloud storage and customized environments andcollaborative services, and added an Android client similar to itsiPad app. Interest in OnLive has captured the notice of Microsoft, whichposted a blog notice from Joe Matz, the company's Corporate Vice President of WorldwideLicensing and Pricing. Without ever referencing Apple's iPad by name, Microsoft stated"Some inquiries about these [licensing] scenarios have been raisedas a result of recent media coverage related to OnLive Desktopand Desktop Plus services." Matz said Microsoft is now "activelyengaged with OnLive with the hope of bringing them into a properlylicensed scenario, and we are committed to seeing this issue isresolved." Licensing terms oriented toward conventional PCs The violation Matz alluded to in general terms states that"customers that want to work with partners to have them hostWindows 7 in a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure solution on theirbehalf, can do so when the customer provides the partner licensesthrough the customer own agreements with Microsoft," and that"the hosting hardware must be dedicated to, and for the benefit ofthe customer, and may not be shared by or with any other customersof that partner." OnLive's business would appear to only make sense if it weresharing its server hosting services across all of its free or $5per month subscribers, and iPad users are not suppling their ownlicenses for Windows 7 to use the service. Additionally, Matz wrote, "Microsoft partners who host under theServices Provider License Agreement ('SPLA') may bring somedesktop-like functionality as a service by using Windows Server andRemote Desktop Services. "Under this solution, the partner is free to offer this service toany customer they choose, whether or not they have a directlicensing agreement with Microsoft. However, it is important tonote that SPLA does not support delivery of Windows 7 as a hostedclient or provide the ability to access Office as a service throughWindows 7. Office may only be provided as a service if it is hostedon Windows Server and Remote Desktop Services." Post PC Licensing Commenting on Matz' blog posting, reader Simon Bramfitt noted, "Youhave to acknowledge that it is long past time for Microsoft toaddress the shortcomings within its current licensing policy withregard to VDI. "The increasing adoption of mobile technologies coupled with theconsumerization of IT and bring your own device programs isincreasingly blurring the boundaries between corporate devices andpersonal devices. Microsoft's licensing policies in this regardhave failed to keep up with these trends and needs to be addressedpromptly." Andrew Fidel echoed the same opinion, writing "How about fixing itso that SPLA partners can offer a proper VDI environment? You canoffer almost any other piece of Microsoft software through SPLAincluding stripping down a 2008R2 RDS session to be nearlyidentical to Windows 7 but for some reason Microsoft is beingstubborn on offering what their end customers and partners actuallywant." Microsoft is rumored to have developed a version of Office for iPad, but appears to be hesitant torelease it, directing interest toward its own Windows 8 tabletplans instead, perhaps hoping to see if its Office software couldbe leveraged as a differentiating factor to push sales of Windows 8tablets when the begin to appear at the end of this year or inearly 2013. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Ptfe Sealing Tape Manufacturer , China Gasket Rubber Sheet, and more. For more , please visit Teflon Ptfe Sheet today!
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