Cool stuff as this computer will most likely be cheaper than a G70 graphics board :-)

Besides hacking cell sounds like fun !

Too bad linux sux though but wheres the PC's with 36GB/sec memory busses and power to make use of it ?

This coming from the same people who said that the PS2 hard drive with Linux pre-loaded on it would negate the need of a PC for most people in their home.
Bottom line is it looks like Sony knows its getting beat when it comes to the hardware and the fundemental software core (especialy services) so they have to rely on people's general distatste for Microsoft and the new craze called Linux.
And lets us face it, even with the magical PS2 hard drive with Linux on it a modified xbox was closer to a true Linux PC then anything Sony could have dreamed of.

If you actualy read things like Ars' coverage of the fundemental hardware you will learn that while Sony has raw power, Microsoft and Nintendo use it more smartly. Cell is great for graphics, but the SPEs have made AI and physics crippled while trying to directly increase graphics. Xenon has three non-crippled PPEs (that while not as good for AI, Physics, general compuatations, etc as a real PC CPU) make a more balanced aproch.
Nvidia's chip is raw power, but wasteful. ATI's route, while more expencive and complicated, allows much better use of resources.
You can even see the flaws in something as simple as the controlers. Sony is now going to use Bluetooth 2.0+EDR (aparently) for its controlers. Having bult many a gaming PC I can tell you bluetooth is awful for anything related to latency sensitive input. Its increadibly lagy, but great for syncing of small ammounts of data and keyboard input.

Even then everything comes down to the games and software made avalible for it. But lets face it, a propetary Microsoft product is always going to get more Linux effort in it then a Sony product. There is something so nice about shaming M$ by helping put a compeditors product on their device.

P.S.
The line between PC and Consoles are actualy becoming less-blured. Last gen you saw Sony trying to hawk the PS2 with its optional hard drive as a replacement for the home PC.
If anything in the next gens they have learnt not to try that again. Instead they are targeting the Consle where it belongs, hooked up to the TV. They are trying to sell the consles as gaming, entertainment, and conveniance devices. It more attacks media center extenders, dvd players, generic media streamers, and forms of steros.
Look beyond the hype and actualy read into what both sides say. There is a reason Microsoft decided not to come out with an Xbox PC and Sony droped its PlayStation becomes a internet access device. Once they do that they are going up against an upgradable and better suited PC.

Uhm, is it just me being dazzled by PR or am I right when I think a PS3 running linux would be an great Folding machine?

Ya and so what? Noboby can use linux unless they are perpetually single.

MS will make 360 a PC. Dell and just about every PC makers about to go out of biz, sell short, on intel/AMD too. MS and IBM are about to rule the world, again.

Why would they allow people to run their own program on the console? Wasn't this one of the mayor problem for the xbox? With easy access to the HD it was soon used for other things than playing games. And remember, it's from the games they make money. There should be no intreset at all for Sony to do this, but...

One word: clustering.

Microsoft said Xbox 360 will running on Apple Mac OS X.

PS3 will have 80GB or 120GB HDD?? That's a nice...

All I see happening here is the console "OS" will be based on Linux. That's all. I don't think they will be tossing a full OS on it, just a glorified media center type thing.

Remember the old days, when the PS2 fanboys insisted that an XBOX was just a glorified PC. How times change.

This is very interesting.
First, just because it can run Linux doesnt mean that everyone that buys one will want to run linux. Think of all the mod chips available for the Xbox and PS2; did every owner get one? My un-educated guest will be that 15% or less of the people that buy a PS3 will run linux on it.

As far as pirating games, I am not sure how they will control it.

Again, I see some people have failed to shake their shaker of salt here...

So does this mean we can actually benchmark the Cell chip?

Hmmm..

Sounds more like speculation than fact:

"So in order to declare that the PS3 is a computer, I think we'll have [the PS3's HDD] preinstalled with Linux as a bonus."

Another Quote from the link:
"IPCW: So Linux can be run on the Cell?

KK: Linux is legacy, but it will be a start. In the case of the Cell, operation systems are applications. The kernel will be running on the Cell, and multiple OSes will be running on top of that as applications. Of course, the PS3 can run Linux. If Linux can run, so can Lindows. Other PC Operating Systems can run too, such as Windows and Tiger (Max OS X 10.4), if the publishers want [them] to do so. Maybe a new OS might come out."

Sounds like he is talking about some form of virtualization? Or maybe he is just a marketing guy that doesnt fully grasp what he is talking about. At least it doesnt sound very clear to me

[paris_hilton]That's hot[/paris_hilton]

ok, that's great... but how well will it fold?

I seem to remember that the PS2 got hammered by import tax in Europe since it was declaired a "games console" rather then a "computer". Sony were VERY upset about that.

Maybe they hope to avoid that happening again by announcing the Linux kit from the start?

So what. There was a linux kit for the PS2. Practically nobody bought one. I did. I had Linux on the PS2 for a while. Yay. Then I realized it couldn't do anything a Linux PC couldn't also do and I was gonna wreck my uptime every time I wanted to try beating my high score in Frequency, so I sold it on eBay. The linux kit, that is; obviously I kept the PS2.

It'd be pretty sweet if one PS3 or Xbox 360 could function as a server for 16 to 32 other gamers for, say Counter Strike or Gears of War or [insert FPS here]. The 512MB RAM may be somewhat limiting, though.

thats very interesting... the line between PCs and Consoles is becoming very blurred, if that's the case you could easily use a PS3 as a desktop machine to do all your basic things such as word processing, email, browsing etc