Tuesday during the D: Dive Into Mobile conference, OnLive CEO Steve Perlman took the stage and revealed the company's goal to take it's cloud-based streaming service beyond gaming and video. While we've previously reported that a video streaming service is planned for a 2011 launch, Perlman quickly proved on-stage that OnLive is taking cloud computing to the next level.
The plan, according to AllThingsD who hosted the OnLive presentation, is to turn almost any device into a console for the cloud system. Users will eventually be able to virtually run applications that exceed the computing limits of the device at hand. As an example, users will have the ability to create 3D models in Maya using Apple's iPad.
To prove this, Perlman whipped out his iPad on-stage and showed the audience that he could run Windows 7 via OnLive's cloud connection within Apple's iOS. He then launched Internet Explorer and surfed over to the Flash-heavy Mercedes website-- all streamed to the iPad via an OnLive datacenter located about 50 miles from San Francisco.
Perlman then paused for a moment with the iPad demonstration and whipped out the Android-based Samsung Galaxy Tab. He then showed the audience that he could run Quicktime Video by using OnLive's cloud computing. "Perlman says none of the applications are running natively. He says all that’s happening is a tiny app is running to decompress video," reads AllThingsD's transcript.
Eventually Perlman moved back to the iPad and launched Autodesk's Maya on the iPad via OnLive. He began to edit a 3D character while someone else was spectating the editing process through the OnLive app on the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Although the spectator wasn't able to join in the editing process, Perlman indicated that the ability may be available in the future.
To read the entire transcript, head here. Does this mean that high hardware requirements for software will soon be a thing of the past for consumers?
