OnLive Unveils Gaming On Demand – Will CAD & Other Apps Follow?
Publicly unveiled in late March, OnLive bills itself as “the world’s highest performance Games on Demand service.” They purportedly have the technology to stream games, including the latest high-end game titles (such as Crysis Warhead and BioShock) to broadband users. (For a full list of supported games, click here.)
The service will run through the OnLive Microconsole and play on a user’s TV, or can be run directly on a Mac or PC. The founder, Steve Perlman (of WebTV and Apple’s QuickTime), says, “The first patents expire in 2022, so we have at least 11 years to establish our business before there is a clone.“ Understandably, there has been much skepticism about the claims OnLive is making, but with the support of major game powerhouses such as Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, and Atari, and even NVIDIA, it’s clear that this is a serious venture.
So What Does This Have To Do With SolidWorks?
Well, it stands to reason that if OnLive can get games running in such a way that users will no longer have to purchase the software (or specialty hardware to run them), then who’s to say that the same can’t be done for SolidWorks, or any other app for that matter? Jon Hirschtick even talked about this application as one of his future technology trends in the Tuesday General Session of SolidWorks World 2009 in Orlando, FL, this past February.
If OnLive can get a hardware-intensive game, such as Crysis, up and running online, how hard could it be to get a 3D CAD app, such as SolidWorks, “in the cloud”? I think this is a very exciting time and this will bring “cloud computing” to a whole new level! What do you think?
OnLive is currently taking applications for Beta testers (I’ve already signed up!) and is scheduled to go live in Winter 2009.
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I'm glad someone in the CAD community blogged about this. cool stuff for sure. Check out InstantAction.com too. 3D games online. This is really, really gonna make a lot of app developers think of the possibilities… or should.
Quite an intriguing post Brian. The possibility of SAS on the cloud for something as hardware intensive as SW is exciting. I also see it as being very useful for someone who could be a telecommuter and not need to have a massive PC or laptop at home.
It would be a huge gain for anyone who had to travel to a job site or for field service techs also. Just pull up the model of the machine and be able to make a configuration to show changes made in the field or quickly generate a drawing and slam notes down telling the designers what needs to be fixed for the future machines to make it better.
Hi Brian-
Interesting post. I don't play computer games, so I'm not familar with any game User Interfaces.
In my area, SoCal, internet speeds, in general, are too slow to support resource intensive applications. My DSL speed varies considerably and cable internet starts at $100.00 per month and goes up to $750.00 per month, very expensive. Wireless, while plentiful, is also quite slow in San Diego.
Another question, what if an internet connection is not available? Would a local machine install still be required? If so, it would run so must faster than a Cloud application.
Thanks for sharing,
Devon
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From what I have gathered, they do the heavy work crunching on their server farms, and then basically stream the video to you; almost like watching a movie. I would think that your connection speed would still play a part in it though…
If no connection, then you have the same problem as with every other cloud application…dead in the water.
As far as standalone running faster than SaS, that would be true provided you had the hardware required. But with something like this, there is the potential to run say, SolidWorks, on that old dusty box up in your attic or maybe even a smartphone!
That is one of the things that gets me most excited; you could go longer between hardware upgrade cycles, for instance!
Also, you can rent the software instead of having to buy and maintain maintenance. You will always have access to the latest and greatest.
I'm not a fan of cloud software for high end CAD applications. Image if a company no longer wishes to upgrade SW and just wants to use what they have? They can't. Also, for companies in regulated environments, this would be a massive no-no since there is no way for the company to control the version in use, which is essential when V&V'ing.
Matt,
True, I think that there will still be a definite need for standalone versions. But there are certain cases where access to SolidWorks (and other apps) via SaaS would be a very nice option to have.
The only reason I can see gaming developers using something like this is to generate the recurring income that World of warcraft and the likes live off. Most of these intense games are for players who have the latest and greatest to start with. It will be interesting to see if they thinking the app market general could even support such an idea. Relying on external sources (your ISP and then the cloud) to perform day to day business operations might make it too risky for real world use. If a game plays up no production time is lost…
Yes, there is a lot of dependence on ISP's and the Internet, but I do think that this is defintely a viable business model if the performance lives up to the hype.
Although there is something about having the actual media in your hands…kind of a sense of ownership. But this way, your games will always be up to date (no more patching!)… I wonder how mods will work?
Yes, there is a lot of dependence on ISP's and the Internet, but I do think that this is defintely a viable business model if the performance lives up to the hype.
Although there is something about having the actual media in your hands…kind of a sense of ownership. But this way, your games will always be up to date (no more patching!)… I wonder how mods will work?
cool i want this
cool i want this
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