Recently, we discussed the possibilities offered by the OnLive service. OnLive had expanded its service coverage to enable gaming on the Apple iPad and Android OS tablets. What was particularly notable about this expansion was the fact that OnLive didn’t simply commission cheap, tacky ports of existing games. Instead, the full home-console offering of each title was actually streamed to the tablet. This meant that OnLive subscribers could play “full” games anywhere, provided they could deal with the pitfalls included with the OnLive service, including spotty streaming with subpar WiFi connections, or the expensive proprietary controller required to play streamed games.

OnLive to play ambassador between iPad & Windows PCs

What does OnLive have in store next for tablet owners? Apparently, OnLive thinks it can play ambassador between the two largest rivals in computing: Microsoft and Apple. Wait…what? Microsoft and Apple? Seriously?

OnLive’s latest venture appears to be an Apple iPad app designed to bridge the gap between Mac products and Windows products. How OnLive plan to achieve such a feat? The app will apparently allow iPad users to stream an entire Windows 7 PC onto the tablet. How does it do this? Magic, probably. But more likely, it uses a modified version of the technology used in OnLive’s game streaming service.

Two tiers of streaming service announced, with paid version promising additional features

The free OnLive app allows users to manipulate all the typical features of a Windows PC, including viewing documents, photos, and videos seamlessly. It is currently unknown whether or not more complicated applications, such as games, will be able to run through the streaming application. The app will offer 2 gigabytes of cloud data storage, in addition to a suite of Microsoft Office products. The upgraded version of the service costs a subscription fee of $10 a month, and will allow users to store up to 50 gigabytes of data via cloud storage, in addition to offering “full” browsing. This last feature is a little attention grabbing. Was the free version not a “full” experience? What has been excluded?

Internet message boards are already abuzz with speculation regarding the various uses of this new OnLive product. It is currently unclear whether or not the new service will be expanded to include Android OS tablets. Regardless of future developments, the OnLive Windows streaming service is a huge step forward for portable computing.