Rotating Knives

The picture in this post is real and has not been doctored in any way. I am indeed playing a flash game on my iPad, while simultaneously running several other programs.  How was I able to do this?  I was because today, from the comfort of my bed, I ran Windows 7 Ultimate Edition on my iPad…..sort of. 

What I really did was remote into my desktop PC which is running Windows 7 Ultimate Edition.  I suppose this is cheating, but as a good friend of mine has often said “If you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t tryin’”.  I used a great little app called “Desktop Connect” for iPad.  It supports both VNC and Microsoft RDP and claims to be the only app that will automatically discover all computers on your network (Windows, Mac, OSX and Linux)  that are set up for remote access.  It did.  In almost no time, I was amazed to be using my desktop PC from my iPad.

Performance is not 1 for 1 here.  If you try to watch a movie via Flash, you will not get an acceptable frame rate.  However, simple, turn-based flash games are perfectly usable and you can multitask to your heart’s content.  You can also get to files on your PC without having to figure out how to transfer them to the iPad. 

When I first installed this app, I thought it would be more for the coolness factor than for anything else, but I was surprised to find that I actually used it fairly often.  When I am downstairs relaxing and need to print or view something that is on my PC, starting this app is far easier than trudging upstairs, sitting down, and logging in.  My only recommendation is that you switch Touchscreen Mode to “On”.

Up next, my son and I use the iPad for science!