I don't think it will happen till octane 3.1, which is when we'll get programable shaders. That should give the ability to read attributes. With the current timeline I'll say that won't happen till October or November. That's my guess.
Unless if the new C API will allow the developers to do that. I don't know what that means but it's mentioned in the OTOY slides from their GTC 2017 presentation. That's a feature in 3.07 which should be available in about 3-4 weeks. The developers said that they're going to go stability tests for the next 2 weeks and then announce availability.
https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/OTOYInc1/the-future-of-gpu-rendering-gtc-2017-76278133Also I have figured out a way to read point colours in Houdini. Not just float values. I'll make a tutorial for it soon.
Here's the link to that thread. What's shown their uses all 3 uv channels but after another user explained you can store point colours using just 2 uv channels.
https://render.otoy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=61155Regards
Rohan