OnLive , a company that latterly began offering hosted Windows and Office software remotely from its server to iPad and Android pad of paper users , is in trespass of Microsoft licensing rules , fit in to a Microsoft functionary .
“ We are actively engage with OnLive with the Bob Hope of bring them into a in good order licence scenario , and we are committed to seeing this matter is resolved , ” wrote Joe Matz , Microsoft ’s corporate frailty United States President of Worldwide Licensing and Pricing , in a web log post .
in the beginning uncommitted only for the iPad , OnLive Desktop now also work on Android tablets and the company plan to append support for more chopine . Fee - base versions of OnLive Desktop add more lineament , such as accelerated browsing , additional storage and Flash support .
OnLive Desktop
The service get a cost increase in popularity whenThe New York Times’tech editorialist David Poguewroteabout it in late February , which prompted a surge in signaling - ups as well as grumblings from other Microsoft background - as - a - service partners that mat OnLive was skirt licensing rules .
OnLive Desktop
Clarence Shepard Day Jr. later , Gartner analyst Michael Silver and two colleagueswarnedIT managers that it was unreadable whether OnLive Desktop complies with Microsoft licensing correspondence and to take precautional steps before allowing employees to use it , chief among them assemble with their Microsoft account team to get written direction about licensing result .
“ In Gartner ’s view , if Microsoft were to conclude that OnLive is misusing its product , Microsoft could potentially take action at law against OnLive that could bear on OnLive ’s power to service clients . Gartner believes that there ’s also a risk that Microsoft could obligate both OnLive and its customers creditworthy for any potential mislicensing , ” Silver and his atomic number 27 - authors wrote on Feb. 29 .
Microsoft remained florist’s chrysanthemum about the issue until Matz ’s post , bring out on Thursday good afternoon , in which he outlined how cooperator and outsourcers can use Windows 7 Clients on hosted server platforms to fork over background as a service while follow with their permission .
consort to Matz , customers can have a pardner server Windows 7 in a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure for them , as long as the client has certify the package forthwith from Microsoft . “ The host hardware must be dedicated to , and for the welfare of the client , and may not be share by or with any other customers of that partner , ” he wrote .
Another valid scenario allow partners that have entered into the Services Provider License Agreement to ply “ some desktop - like ” functionality to any customer , even those that have n’t licensed the software program right away from Microsoft . The software involved is Windows Server and Remote Desktop Services .
However , partners are n’t let to render Windows 7 as a hosted client or Office as a military service through Windows 7 . “ Office may only be provide as a Robert William Service if it is hosted on Windows Server and Remote Desktop Services , ” he write .
ask for input , an OnLive spokeswoman said on Friday via email that the caller ’s position is that “ we have never commented on any licensing agreements . ”
The situation highlights issues with Microsoft ’s licensing scheme , such as the fact that some of the voice communication , definitions and requirements are vague , Gartner ’s Silver suppose on Friday . “ There ’s a crew of things that are n’t all that well define , ” he said .
In plus , Microsoft ’s licensing has n’t kept up with technological advances , so partners notice themselves capable to render sure feature of speech and functionality which are currently forbidden or complicated to render from a contractual standpoint , he say .
“ Microsoft by all odds ask to have their licensing arrest up with engineering science . There ’s no doubt about that , ” Silver said , append that Microsoft also require to make certain that it is keeping up with customer first moment .
While matter new demands from customer and spouse , Microsoft has to check that that if and when it modifies licensing terms , it does n’t hurt its business and its gross stream , Silver aver .
For deterrent example , Microsoft ca n’t change its licensing requirements in a way that turns key products like Windows and Office into cheap commodity .
“ The red flag here [ with OnLive ] was that you [ as a customer ] can run a Windows screen background and a copy of Office without paying for it . How does that knead ? Someone has to be paying for it . If it sounds too good to be true , it plausibly is , ” he said .
