Onlive came clean! And the future looks bright!

Onlive app now available for the iPad... Can't play with it yet, but you can observe. Check it out.

I have been using the Onlive PC & Mac app for many months, and I love it...

They recently announced their foray into other industries...

In response to comments made to the following article:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Maya-OnLive-Cloud-Computing-Steve-Perlman-iPad,11763.html

Stream Windows 7 to iPad via OnLive App

7:40 PM - December 8, 2010 by Kevin Parrish - source: All Things Digital

Welcome to the world of cloud computing.

Zoom

Tuesday during the D: Dive Into Mobile conference, OnLive CEO Steve Perlman took the stage and revealed the company's goal to take it's cloud-based streaming service beyond gaming and video. While we've previously reported that a video streaming service is planned for a 2011 launch, Perlman quickly proved on-stage that OnLive is taking cloud computing to the next level.

The plan, according to AllThingsD who hosted the OnLive presentation, is to turn almost any device into a console for the cloud system. Users will eventually be able to virtually run applications that exceed the computing limits of the device at hand. As an example, users will have the ability to create 3D models in Maya using Apple's iPad.

To prove this, Perlman whipped out his iPad on-stage and showed the audience that he could run Windows 7 via OnLive's cloud connection within Apple's iOS. He then launched Internet Explorer and surfed over to the Flash-heavy Mercedes website-- all streamed to the iPad via an OnLive datacenter located about 50 miles from San Francisco.

Perlman then paused for a moment with the iPad demonstration and whipped out the Android-based Samsung Galaxy Tab. He then showed the audience that he could run Quicktime Video by using OnLive's cloud computing. "Perlman says none of the applications are running natively. He says all that’s happening is a tiny app is running to decompress video," reads AllThingsD's transcript.

Eventually Perlman moved back to the iPad and launched Autodesk's Maya on the iPad via OnLive. He began to edit a 3D character while someone else was spectating the editing process through the OnLive app on the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Although the spectator wasn't able to join in the editing process, Perlman indicated that the ability may be available in the future.

To read the entire transcript, head here. Does this mean that high hardware requirements for software will soon be a thing of the past for consumers?

While I understand the confusion when comparing OnLive's services or technology to "Remote Desktop Access", don't be fooled. Onlive has developed a nation wide infrastructure and a set of technologies much more important and impressive than some standard, Thin Client, RDP or VPN.

Onlive has virtually eliminated (or reduced to an acceptable level,) all latency and limitation associated with the real-time compression of remotely hosted, high-end, high resolution computing. Not only has such flexibility and power never been offered to the public, it has never been developed or positioned via multiple, local computing centers, strategically placed throughout North America to deal with (speed of light,) physical, latency limitations. When Onlive 1st revealed to the public their "gaming service" back in February, it was apparent then this would have a far reaching impacts on the high-end computing, and the high-tech production and design based world.

Being a person who has launched and lead several separate computer animation studios during the last decade and a half of my career, I understand the burden of massive hardware and software cost. Creating options, creates freedom, which opens up creativity, innovation and yields products a productivity which are hard to put a price on.

To have "tested" its technology and/or attracted its first run of investors through it's initial delivery of gaming and garnering of those related revenue is great; however, the opportunities this same platform will now provide to the design, CG production and "creative" professional communities and/or individuals who understand how to leverage these remote computing centers, will truly be a game changer.

** For those of you who are "independent developers", Onlive will now give you a chance to completely level the playing field, by providing you an on-demand arsenal of high-end, 3D capable computing and design tools which rival the largest design, gaming and CG studios.

http://themichaelhulmeproject.blogspot.com/2009/04/this-does-completely-change-game.html >

A side note to those who are windows "haters":

Personally, I am a loyalist only to effective technology. The brand dose not factor in to my final orders and studio designs near as much as the quality of the solution.

I have outfitted the back-end of past Animation Studios with the likes of six figures in Apple X-serve and fiber channel SANs editing solutions; and gone the complete other route towards Linux and Windows based technology when that also served our needs. On a personal note, I now use a dual quad core Mac Pro at home, but the OS of choice I bare metal boot on this machine is Windows 7. The comparison of the two OSs on that particular hardware is almost humorous.

The Windows 7 OS makes OS-X feel as dated as OS-X makes XP feel. And perhaps it is not fare to compare a state of the art OS, such as Windows 7, to a now ageing platform such as OS-X. On the same token, forming an opinion on "Windows versus Apple" to one's exposure to say Windows XP (circa 2001) versus OS-X progressive releases over the years, is also uneducated. Apple's OS has the luxury of living within a consumer bubble that few long standing product have been afforded. This "bubble" as it were, is a great choice for some consumers, but far to restricted for many of those wishing to push the ceiling on tech based production.

When you make comments, like "Windows is antiquated, Balmer sucks, and I hate Microsoft!" you are revealing your lack of knowledge or your tendency to cut your nose off despite your own face. More specifically, comments about the "antiquated nature" of Microsoft's current product line tend to reveal a user who has no direct exposure to their current OS; nor access to a valid framework for comparison; nor any past or present professional dependencies on high-end, PC applications. This is why folks reply with simple thoughts like "morons" to whom this concerns.

Onlive came clean! And the future looks bright!