Although Apple's popular iPad
tablet has been able to
replace laptops for many tasks, it isn't a big hit with folks who'd like to use it to create or edit long Microsoft Office documents.
下流行的苹果iPad平板电脑虽然可以替代笔记本电脑执行多种任务,但是在那些想要用它来创建和编辑长篇Microsoft Office文档的人当中,iPad并不太受欢迎。
While Microsoft has released a number of apps for the iPad, it hasn't yet released an iPad
version of Office. There are a number of
valuable apps that can create or edit Office documents, such as Quickoffice Pro, Documents To Go and the iPad
version of Apple's own iWork suite. But their
fidelity with Office documents created on a Windows PC or a Mac isn't perfect.
尽管微软公司(Microsoft)已经针对iPad发布了大量应用程序,但iPad版本的Office办公软件还没有推出。能够创建和编辑Office文档的实用应用软件已经不少,比如Quickoffice Pro、Documents To Go和苹果公司(Apple)自己推出的iPad版本的iWork套装软件,但它们与在Windows个人电脑或苹果Mac电脑上创建的Office文档不能完美兼容。
This week, Onlive Inc., in Palo Alto, Calif., is releasing an app that brings the full,
genuine Windows versions of the key Office productivity apps -- Word, Excel and PowerPoint -- to the iPad. And it's free. These are the real programs. They look and work just like they do on a real Windows PC. They let you create or edit
genuine Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations.
位于加利福尼亚州帕洛阿尔托(Palo Alto)的Onlive公司将发布一款软件,将主要Office软件(Word、Excel和Powerpoint)真正完全版的Windows版本应用到iPad上,而且免费。这都是货真价实的程序,其样式和功能都与在Windows个人电脑中完全一样,可以让你创建和编辑真正的Word文本、Excel表单和Powerpoint幻灯片。
I've been testing a pre-release
version of this new app, called OnLive Desktop, which the company says will be
available in the next few days in Apple's app store. More information is at desktop.onlive.com.
这款名为"OnLive Desktop"的软件发布前,我一直在对其进行测试。Onlive公司说该软件即将在苹果软件店面市。更多详情可以在网站desktop.onlive.com获取。
My
verdict is that it works, but with some caveats, limitations and rough edges. Some of these downsides are
inherent in the product, while others have to do with the mismatch between the iPad's touch interface and the fact that Office for Windows was
primarily designed for a
physical keyboard and mouse.
我的测试意见是:这款软件有效可用,但是也有一些需要留意的问题、局限和瑕疵。这些不足之处中,有的是产品内在的固有问题,还有的问题则是由于iPad为触摸界面,而用于Windows的Office软件则是针对实体键盘和鼠标而设计的。
Creating or editing long documents on a
tablet with a virtual on-screen keyboard is a chore, no matter what Office-type app you choose. So, although it isn't a requirement, I
stronglyrecommend that users of OnLive Desktop employ one of the many add-on wireless keyboards for the iPad.
不管你选用哪种类型的Office软件,在虚拟的屏幕键盘上创建和编辑长篇文档是件繁琐的事。因此,我强烈建议OnLive Desktop用户使用外置的iPad无线键盘,虽然这并不是必须的要求。
OnLive Desktop is a cloud-based app. That means it doesn't
actuallyinstall Office on your iPad. It acts as a
gateway to a
remote server where Windows 7, and the three Office apps, are
actually running. You create an account, sign in, and Windows pops up on your iPad, with icons allowing you to
launch Word, Excel or PowerPoint. (There are also a few other, minor Windows programs included, like Notepad, Calculator and Paint.)
OnLive Desktop是一款基于云服务的软件,也就是说它并不会在你的iPad上安装Office软件,而是充当一个连接远程服务器的端口,Window 7操作系统和Office三大组件在该服务器上运行。你建立一个账户,登录,iPad上就会弹出视窗,里面有让你启动Word、Excel和Powerpoint的图标。(Windows系统的其他几个小程序也在其中,比如记事本、计算器和画图。)
In my tests, the Office apps launched and worked
smoothly and quickly, without any
noticeable lag,
despite the fact that they were operating remotely. Although this worked better for me on my fast home Internet connection, it also worked pretty well on a much slower hotel connection.
在我的测试中,Office组件启动和运行都非常快速、平稳,虽在远程服务器上运行,却没有明显的迟滞。尽管在家里的快速网络连接环境下运行更好一些,不过在网速慢得多的酒店运行效果也很不错。
Like Office itself, the documents you create or modify don't live on the iPad. Instead, they go to a cloud-based repository, a sort of virtual hard disk. When you sign into OnLive Desktop, you see your documents in the standard Windows documents folder, which is
actually on the
remote server. The company says that this
documentstorage won't be
available until a few days after the app becomes available.
你创建和修改的文档和Office一样,并不存储在iPad里,而是放进了一个基于云计算的存储库中,它是一种虚拟硬盘。当你登录OnLive Desktop后,你可以看见你的文件存放在在标准的Windows文件夹中,其实它在远程的服务器上。这家公司说,这项文件储存服务要在软件上市几天后才能开放。
To get files into and out of OnLive Desktop, you log into a Web site on your PC or Mac, where you see all the documents you've saved to your cloud repository. You can use this Web site to upload and download files to your OnLive Desktop account. Any changes made will be
automatically synced, the company says, though I wasn't able to test that capability in my pre-release version.
向OnLive Desktop里存储或从中提取文件时,你要在PC或Mac电脑上登录一个网站,在该网站可以看到你已存放进云存储库的所有文件,你可以使用这个网站将文件上传或下载到你的OnLive Desktop账户。这家公司说,你做的任何改动都将自动进行同步。我没有对预发布版本测试该项功能。
Because it's a cloud-based service, OnLive Desktop won't work offline, such as in planes without Wi-Fi. And it can be finicky about
network speeds. It requires a wireless
network with at least 1 megabit per second of download speed, and works best with at least 1.5 to 2.0 megabits. Many hotels have trouble delivering those speeds, and, in my tests, the app refused to start in a hotel twice, claiming
insufficientnetwork speed when the hotel Wi-Fi was overloaded.
由于是基于云计算的服务,OnLive Desktop不能离线运行,比如在没有Wi-Fi的飞机上。它对网速的要求也非常高,无线网络至少要达到每秒1M的下载速度,理想的运行状态则需要至少每秒1.5M至2M的下载速度。很多酒店的网络难以达到这样的速度。我在一家酒店测试时,因为酒店Wi-Fi过载,该软件两次无法启动,提示说网速不够。
The free
version of the app has some other limitations. You get just 2 gigabytes of file storage, there's no Web browser or email
program like Outlook included, and you can't
installadditional software. If many users are
trying to log onto the OnLive Desktop servers at once, you may have to wait your turn to use Office.
该软件的免费版还有其它一些局限。文件存储空间只有2G,软件里也不包含网络浏览器和诸如Outlook这样的电子邮件管理程序,而且你不能安装另外的软件。如果很多用户同时登录OnLive Desktop服务器,你可能得排队等候使用Office。
In the coming weeks, the company plans to
launch a Pro version, which will cost $10 a month. It will offer 50 GB of cloud
document storage, 'priority'
access to the servers, a Web browser, and the
ability to
install some added programs. It will also allow you to collaborate on documents with other users, or even to chat with, and present material to, groups of other OnLive Desktop users.
未来几周内,该公司计划推出一个专业版的OnLive Desktop,每月使用费为10美元。它提供的服务有:50G的云文件存储空间、"优先"登录服务器、一个网络浏览器和安装其他程序的功能。它还能让你与其他用户协作处理文件,甚至与OnLive Desktop的其他用户群交谈并向其提供材料。
The company also plans to offer OnLive Desktop on Android tablets, PCs and Macs, and iPhones.
Onlive公司还计划面向运行安卓(Android)系统的平板电脑、PC、Mac和iPhone手机推出OnLive Desktop软件。
In my tests, I was able to create documents on an iPad in each of the three cloud-based Office programs. I was able to download them to a computer, and alter them on both the iPad and computer. I was also able to upload files from the
computer for use in OnLive Desktop.
我在测试中可以用基于云计算的三个Office组件程序在iPad上创建文件,可以将文件下载到电脑上,文件在iPad和电脑上都可以进行修改,我也可以从电脑上传文件,以便在OnLive Desktop中使用。
OnLive Desktop can't use the iPad's built-in virtual keyboard, but it can use the virtual keyboard built into Windows 7 and Windows'
limited touch features and
handwriting recognition. As noted above, I
recommend using a wireless
physical keyboard. But even these aren't a perfect solution, because the ones that work with the iPad can't send common Windows keyboard commands to OnLive Desktop, so you wind up moving between the keyboard and the touch screen, which can be frustrating. And you can't use a mouse.
OnLive Desktop不能使用iPad内置的虚拟键盘,但可以使用内置于Windows 7系统的虚拟键盘和Windows系统有限的触摸功能及手写识别功能。如前所说,我建议使用无线的物理键盘,但即便这样,也还是不能完全解决问题,因为用于iPad的物理键盘无法把常用的Windows键盘指令传送给OnLive Desktop,所以结果你会在键盘和触摸屏之间来回切换,让人郁闷,而且还不能使用鼠标。
Another
drawback is that OnLive Desktop is entirely isolated from the rest of the iPad. Unlike Office-compatible apps that
install directly on the tablet, this cloud-based service can't, for instance, be used to open Office documents you receive via email on the iPad. And, at least at first, the only way you can get files into and out of OnLive Desktop is through its Web-accessible cloud-storage service. The free
version has no email capability, and the app doesn't support common file-transfer services like Dropbox or SugarSync. The company says it hopes to add those.
OnLive Desktop的另一个缺点是它完全独立于iPad的其他功能。比如,跟其它直接在平板电脑上安装并与Office兼容的软件不同,这项基于云计算的服务不能用来打开你在iPad上通过电子邮件接收到的Office文件。至少在初期,你在OnLive Desktop上存取文件的唯一途径是其通过Web访问提供的云存储服务。这款软件的免费版没有电子邮件功能,而且该软件也不支持像Dropbox或SugarSync那样的普通文件传输服务。Onlive公司说希望以后增加这些服务。
OnLive Desktop competes not only with the iPad's Office clones, but with iPad apps that let you remotely
access and control your own PCs and Macs, and thus use Office and other
computer software on those.
OnLive Desktop不仅是众多模仿Office的iPad软件的竞争对手,还与其它一些iPad应用软件竞争,那些软件能让你远程连接并控制自己的PC或Mac电脑,从而使用电脑上的Office办公软件及其它软件。
But, in my tests, I have found those tricky to use. They require you to leave your computers
running and either
install special software or learn to use certain settings.
但是,我在测试中发现那些操作有些棘手,你的电脑必须保持开机状态,而且你要么得安装特别的软件,要么得学会进行某些设置。
Overall, I found OnLive Desktop to be a
notabletechnical achievement, but it has so many caveats that it's best for folks who absolutely,
positively need to use the full,
genuine versions of the three big Office productivity programs on their iPads. For
everyone else, the locally installed Office clones are probably good enough, and simpler to use.
总的来说,我觉得OnLive Desktop是一项值得注意的技术成就,但是使用中需要留意的问题很多,其理想的用户是那些绝对、肯定需要在iPad上使用全真版的Office三大组件的人。对其他人来说,在本机上安装的Office克隆软件就够了,而且使用起来更简便。