Windows on an iPad? That’s what OnLive is promising with its free OnLive Desktop service, available from Thursday in the iTunes App Store in the US, with a UK version to follow.

The company, which has attracted plenty of attention for its cloud-based gaming technology, plans to deliver full Windows 7 applications – including Microsoft Office – to Apple’s tablet.

So how does it work? Well, Microsoft software such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint is hosted remotely on powerful PC servers in the cloud, rather than the iPad, and accessed over the internet.

A full on-screen Windows keyboard and handwriting recognition make it easy to view and edit complex documents. OnLive says rich media, such as video, animation, slide transitions – even PC games – will run fluidly on the iPad, too.

“OnLive Desktop is the first app to deliver a no-compromise, media-rich Windows desktop experience to iPad, opening up powerful new possibilities for consumers and businesses,” said Steve Perlman, OnLive founder and CEO.

“iPad users will now be able to simply and securely view and edit cloud-hosted documents with full-featured Windows desktop applications like Microsoft Office, just as if they were using a local high-performance PC.”

The OnLive Desktop app comes with 2GB of secure cloud storage and access to a cloud-based Windows 7 desktop pre-populated with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, plus several utilities and touch games.

Using instant-response touch gestures such as pinch and zoom, flick to scroll, drag, drop and Aero snap, users can navigate files, open, edit and save the ones they need, and store them securely in the cloud for access from any device through a simple web interface.

PC apps have full desktop functionality: Word documents can be created and edited with full redline and commenting capability, using a full Windows touch-screen keyboard, handwriting recognition or Bluetooth keyboard.

PowerPoint presentations can be created with rich graphics, videos and animated slide transitions, and even presented directly from the iPad, either onscreen or via an external monitor.

Data can be updated and analyzed instantly in Excel, translated into graphs and transferred into presentation documents.

If you don’t have an iPad, don’t worry: Android, smartphone, PC, Mac and monitor/TV support (via the OnLive MicroConsole thin client with Bluetooth keyboard/mouse) is coming soon, with the same OnLive Desktop available by login from any device.

An OnLive Desktop Pro version is also planned, with 50GB of cloud storage, priority access, full-featured cloud-accelerated browsing, additional PC apps, and other OnLive-unique features for $9.99/month (UK pricing TBA).

Source:http://tech.uk.msn.com/features/onlive-brings-full-windows-7-software-to-the-ipad

EzW2 W2 and 1099 preparing software is designed with small business users in mind and is easy to use from day one. The new ezW2 2011 version can support unlimited companies and unlimited recipients with no extra, which make it a good option for the big companies, CPAs and tax professionals too.

ezW2 software supports forms W2, W3, 1099-misc and 1096. The new ezW2 2011 version can print all W-2 forms on plain white paper. The laser substitute forms of W-2 copy A and W-3 are SSA-approved. Since IRS does not certify substitute forms now, ezW2 users need to print 1099-MISC Copy A and 1096 on red-ink forms. ezW2 software can print other 1099-MISC Forms (copy 1, 2, B and C) on plain paper.

New user can try ezW2 for free at http://www.halfpricesoft.com/w2-software-free-download.asp, with no obligation and no cost. The main features of this 1099 & W2 printing software include:

(1)ezW2 2011 can print 2 forms on one sheet—using half as many expensive red form sheets
(2) ezW2 2011 eliminates need for W2 Copy A and W3 by laser printing Social Security Administration-approved substitutes on plain white paper
(3) Users save valuable time by eliminating the learning curve – ezW2 2011 is designed to be simple and intuitive, allowing users to get started right away
(4) Users save valuable time by importing employee data and contractor data from csv file – no need for users to enter the data one by one.
(5) Users save even more time by saving form data for later use and modification
(6) Support unlimited accounts with one flat rate
(7)Go green with PDF document converting and electronic filing (e-file) features
(8) At $39, ezW2 is among the lowest priced, full-featured software available for small businesses.

EzW2 is compatible with Windows 7 system, 32-bit or 64-bit. It can run on Windows XP, Me, 2003, Vista system or MAC machines installed with Virtual Machine or Parallel.

Priced from just $39, ezW2 is an affordable W-2 Form printing and 1099 form printing software solution for any business – no matter how small the business is.

“Tax issues are the single most significant set of regulatory burdens for most small firms,” said Halfpricesoft.com founder Dr. Ge. “We intentionally engineered this 1099 & W2 software for business owners who are not professional accountants and tax expert. We hope this free trial will help users find the right 1099 and W2 tax reporting solution.”

Source:http://www.sbwire.com/press-releases/sbwire-120104.htm

Microsoft Corp explained the delay in updating its new phone software, partly blaming phone manufacturers for the problem.

Windows Phone 7, launched last October as Microsoft’s attempt to catch up with Apple Inc and Google Inc in the smartphone market, was well received, but criticised for lack of some basic functions such as cut and paste.

Microsoft initially said an update to the software would be available early in 2011 to remedy the problem, but it has not yet been implemented for the majority of users.

“We had expected it to be earlier than now,” said Joe Belfiore, head of Microsoft’s Windows phone program, at a software developer conference in Las Vegas.

Belfiore said the update was started, but the company ran into problems with some newly manufactured phones that would not function properly after the update.

He did not name any manufacturers involved. Samsung Electronics, HTC Corp and LG Electronics are the main handset makers of Windows phones.

Once the company found the problems, it overhauled its update procedure, said Belfiore, which added more time to the process.

“We felt it would be better to be a little bit patient, make sure that when we get updates out that they would happen reliably, and unfortunately that caused a delay in getting things out,” he said.

Belfiore said he is now “optimistic” that there will not be similar problems with future updates.

Microsoft’s phone software still only has a 4 per cent share of the worldwide smartphone market, according to research firm Gartner, but it is expected to be a major player once its deal to provide the operating system for leading handset maker Nokia comes into effect.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/software-services/Why-Windows-Phone-7-update-got-delayed/articleshow/7978451.cms

Clearly, there’s a great deal that Windows Phone 7 users need to appear forward to using the platform’s very first main computer software update, nevertheless it appears that one annoying issue will not be addressed with it.

For people who have the chance of utilizing the camera function with Windows Phone 7, they’re possibly annoyed by the reality that it does not retain its settings. Particularly, should you run the camera app and modify points like resolution or sharpness inside the alternatives menu, you will notice that the settings will restore back towards the default settings should you come about to exit out of the app. Naturally, it is a lot more of an annoyance than something else having to continuously altering it back when operating the camera app once more, but this annoying bug may well not be addressed inside the upcoming computer software update for the platform.

The team more than at MobileTechWorld managed to obtain their hands on the most recent unlocked emulator of the platform, which brings forth the new characteristics coming using the expected huge update, but they’ve found the annoying issue to nonetheless happen using the camera app. Sadly, there’s nonetheless no word from Microsoft if they even planned on resolving this distinctive dilemma – which implies that we’re all going to reside with this for some time. That is unless they managed to speedily address this one and sneak it in to the upcoming update.

Source:http://www.phbeta.com/microsoft/windows-phone-7-first-major-software-update-wont-retain-camera-settings/