OnLive, a hosted Windows and Microsoft Office service for Android tablets and Apple's iPad, has now changed its structure in order to comply with Microsoft's licensing guidelines for virtual desktops.

About a month ago, several reports started to surface, indicating that Microsoft had a problem with OnLive Desktop. Up until now, OnLive has been providing a virtualized version of Windows 7, complete with Microsoft Office 2010, but did not properly license the service.

OnLive Goes Legitimate

The app previously offered a virtualized Windows 7 desktop for free, but Microsoft does not allow virtualization of Windows 7 unless each individual user has a license for it. To fix this issue, OnLive shifted the virtualized desktop from Windows 7 to Windows Server 2008 R2, for which Microsoft allows virtualization to users without individual licenses.

"We're pleased to have been told that the OnLive Desktop application is now accessing our software by hosting it on Windows Server, and important step in delivering any Microsoft-licensed desktop-like service to the public," a Microsoft spokesperson said on April 9, in an emailed statement to ZDNet and Ars Technica. "Based on this information, we will work with OnLive to take a closer look at its service and ensure it is operating according to its license like thousands of other partners and utilizing our standing pricing and licensing terms," added the spokesperson.

OnLive's change in back-end infrastructure seems to address the licensing issue, but it is not yet certain whether the company is completely out of the woods. "We are actively engaged with OnLive with the hope of bringing them into a properly licensed scenario, and we are committed to seeing this issue resolved," said Joe Matz, Microsoft's Corporate VP of Worldwide Licensing and Pricing, in a blog post on March 8.

What Does this Change Mean for the End User?

The OnLive Desktop app is still available for download in both the iPad App Store and Google Play, with the difference that OnLive now bills it as a "PC desktop," not a Windows 7 one. End users will likely not even notice the change, as the OnLive desktop looks just like Windows 7, and functions virtually the same.

There is, however, a new OnLive Desktop keyboard, which is actually better than the default Windows 7 keyboard previously available. It looks very similar to the iPad keyboard, even on Android devices, but it does lack the previous keyboard's handwriting capabilities. Handwriting was a feature of Windows 7, but is not included in Windows Server 2008 R2. All of the other features are still available after the change.

(reported by Alexandra Burlacu, edited by Surojit Chatterjee)