OnLive Desktop is an impressive exercise in the potential of cloud services — a Windows 7 client with Microsoft Office that streams to your iPad or Android device. We fell in love at first virtualization, and it’s received mainstream attention (and praise) from the likes of The New York Times’ David Pogue, who specifically and repeatedly called it “Windows on the iPad.” But, critically, does the service fall in line with Windows’ licensing terms and conditions? Microsoft seems to think not.
Is OnLive Desktop running Windows illegally?
OnLive’s virtual Windows 7 client may not be properly licensed, according to Microsoft — and it’s an issue the company says needs to be resolved.
OnLive’s virtual Windows 7 client may not be properly licensed, according to Microsoft — and it’s an issue the company says needs to be resolved.
In a post today, Corporate VP of Licensing Joe Matz outlined what the company’s terms allow for in Windows virtualization. More to the point, he very explicitly called the OnLive situation an “issue” that needs to be resolved and said that Microsoft is “actively engaged with OnLive with the hope of bringing them into a properly licensed scenario.” It sounds like this discussion has been ongoing but only now is being made public due to inquiries from analyst firm Gartner — whether or not that’s actually the reason remains to be seen. We’ve reached out to OnLive for comment and will let ya know what we hear.
Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.
Most Popular
Most Popular
- Our long national sunscreen nightmare is almost over
- Kaleidescape’s movie player blows streaming, and your wallet, away
- Barret Zoph is out at OpenAI again after just five months
- Midjourney goes from generating cat images to full-body ultrasound scans
- Hue’s wired wall modules bring non-smart lights into its ecosystem
