For folks that like to ruminate on where things might head, Paul Murphy of Linux Insider has written three interesting articles related to the upcoming Sony/IBM Cell processor for the Playstation 3. The first article describes the processor itself, along with speculation that some form of Linux will be the OS for Cell derived machines. The second article speculates that Linux developers will adopt Cell based machines in droves. The final article discusses (as usual) the dire consequences for Apple -- Murphy has a conspiracy theory to explain why Cell is bad for Apple.

I know a lot of people who would plunk down $250 (the price of a PS2) for a low/no maintenance box that could run Mozilla/Firefox/Thunderbird, do their taxes, balance their checkbooks, and play cool games. I don't know if Cell is it or not, but somebody will probably do this in the next 2 years.