My biggest gripe against iPad is its inability to run my favorite office applications like Microsoft Word or Excel. Although there are some alternatives like Apple’s Pages or Google’s Docs, I still want to see those beautiful “ribbons” or the familiar interface of the aforementioned Microsoft creations. As of this writing, there are no clear indications whether the MS Office suite will be eventually populating our apps library. Its true that the recent release of OneNote for iOS can be a premonition of things to come, but I’m sure it is going to take while to finally realize this dream of mine.
However, if you are as itchy as I in seeing Word on your lovely iPad’s display, we are surely in for a treat. OnLive, the guys who allowed us to play awesome video games using almost any device, just released a cloud based, virtualized windows computing environment for the iPad called Onlive Desktop. Some companies have been doing this for a while with the help of virtualization applications provided by Citrix or VMware. But its cost goes beyond the reach of a common man.This time, however, is better because it is now available for ordinary joes like me and you, and most of all, “drum roll please”….. Its free.
Yes, its free. Just head on to their website and register. Install OnLive Desktop from the app store and voila! You can start writing your next office report using Microsoft Word or prepare your next presentation with Powerpoint on your beloved iPad. Free users have 2 GB storage limit. Which I believe is more than sufficient for our needs. You can upload and download your documents from their website for offline editing or printing.
Based on my initial prying and poking, the application works well. I do not see any considerable lag in its responsiveness. I was able to write a 1000 word document on my iPad and formatted it using the latest APA guidelines without any major glitch. In other words, I love this app! especially if it stays free. Long Live OnLive! Finally, my beloved iPad and Word can now live happily ever after.
Here’s the link to Onlive Desktop’s website. Here. Then visit your iPad’s apps store and download the Onlive Desktop app.
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