Personal Tech: OnLive brings Windows, Flash to iPad

— -- People with iPads routinely browse the Web, watch video, play games, read books and otherwise keep themselves entertained on the go. Far fewer rely on the iPad as their go-to work machine.

It's not as though you can't use your iPad for work. Quickoffice Pro, Documents To Go and Apple's own Pages, Keynote and Numbers software are among the very fine Office-type productivity apps for the tablet. (Microsoft is rumored to be readying a version of Office for iPad, though it remains mum.) But when it comes down to the chores of your job, the iPad is generally no substitute for a laptop.

In January, Palo Alto, Calif., cloud-computing company OnLive, best known for a streaming video game service, unveiled a free service to make the iPad more productive. OnLive Desktop brings to the iPad online versions of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

These aren't stripped-down iterations, either, but fully functioning versions that live in a virtual Windows 7 desktop environment hosted on OnLive's powerful remote servers. You can create, edit and review Word documents; add graphics, videos and animations to PowerPoint presentations; and massage data in Excel as if you were working on a Windows computer. You get 2 gigabytes to store your work in the cloud and can access the files from a PC or Mac. This free OnLive offering also comes with Windows Media Player and other Microsoft accessories such as Paint, Notepad and Calculator. The Windows Touch Pack is here, too, with programs such as Microsoft Surface Collage.

On Wednesday, OnLive added to the mix the Adobe Reader for viewing PDF files. And it introduced a $4.99-a-month OnLive Desktop Plus service with Internet Explorer as the key new attraction. Other offerings are promised soon, including a $9.99 monthly OnLive Desktop Pro service that ups storage limits to 50 GB, gives users the ability to download additional PC apps and provides priority access to the servers. Under the free plan, you may be competing with fellow users for access during peak times. Also coming: OnLive versions for Android tablets and smartphones, PCs, Macs, even TVs.

I concentrated on the new Plus version, and it is hard not to walk away impressed. But I hit a few stumbles and encountered other limitations. For example, printing isn't yet an option.

You may be wondering why you need Internet Explorer when there's a perfectly capable Safari browser built into the iPad. The answer: Safari on the iPad famously does not make nice with the Adobe Flash sites still prevalent on the Web. IE is fully compatible with Flash video and games sites and can also access full websites at times when Safari (or other iPad browsers) display mobile-only versions or can't access them at all. (OnLive plans to add the Firefox and Chrome browsers to the Plus and Pro versions at some point.)

Once you get the OnLive app and create an account at desktop.onlive.com, the Windows desktop that appears is a bit barren but familiar, with the taskbar on the bottom of the screen and icons flanking either side of the screen. Open Word or other Office apps, and you can access the "ribbon" menus as if you were working on your office computer. Save a file through IE from a service such as Dropbox, and it lands in your virtual Windows desktop in the Documents folder.

Within Windows, you can employ touch gestures such as pinch and zoom, drag and drop, and flick to scroll. There's handwriting recognition, too. I frequently summoned the onscreen Windows keyboard, but the iPad's own onscreen keyboard doesn't function within the OnLive environment. If you type a lot, go with a wireless Bluetooth keyboard if available over any onscreen keyboard. One snag: When I connected my iPad to an iPad keyboard dock, OnLive's screen was oriented horizontally and didn't adjust even though the iPad was propped vertically.

To exploit OnLive, you need an Internet connection of at least 2 Mbps. With a robust connection, OnLive is fast and fluid. Videos play smoothly. The Web is zippy. Downloads are quick.

But my experiences were uneven. On a 3G connection, OnLive warned that I could continue on this network for only 10 minutes. Later, in my Manhattan office, a message indicated that my "connection … is not sufficient to provide good video quality." On iffy connections, OnLive goes fuzzy.

I don't expect OnLive to alter the way everyone approaches the iPad. Flash browsing is nice, but not everyone will choose to pay the $4.99 a month for IE. And those with hardcore business requirements may well stick to a laptop. But the free OnLive service is worth checking out. Even with drawbacks, this cloud service performs at a high enough level to make the iPad even more flexible.

Details about OnLive Desktop

desktop.onlive.com

Free for OnLive Desktop Standard, $4.99 a month for OnLive Desktop Plus

•Pro. Free online access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other programs in Windows 7 environment, with 2 gigabytes of storage. Internet Explorer browser (capable of viewing Flash sites) comes in Plus version. Generally fast and fluid.

•Con. Doesn't perform as well with iffy Net connection. No printing.

E-mail: ebaig@usatoday.com. Follow @edbaig on Twitter.