With all the talk recently of Onlive, and online game streaming service. It had me thinking that since Microsoft was rumoured to be releasing a new camera type peripheral that perhaps it could be used to run an entire OS which is run on virtual machines on their Live servers.
If someone buys an Xbox 360 for $200 and buys games and plays offline or subscribes to Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Live Windows for say $100 per year it still ends up being a source of profit for them one way or another.
Virtualising game processes and virtualising an entire operating system are two completely different things. You could run dozens of instances of Windows on a single server blade, and the operation itself isn't nearly as latency dependant. Nor do each Windows instance require much CPU time to keep operating in general use by the end user. It also gives them a way to develop their server architecture in case they do end up wanting to follow the Onlive route and stream games as well.
In the end its a possible source of massive profits, it locks people in to the Xbox brand and entices a much wider market to consider buying a console. They have the means, the incentive and the opportunity to pull this off. I think its just a matter of time before we get an announcement.
Tease.
