I have to admit that I am glad to see him leave Sun. I am developing an Open Source POS system and originally I was using MySQL as the database. I sent an email to MySQL about distribution questions and was then contacted by different sales people trying to talk me out of Open Sourcing my project. "Do you really want you competitors to have your POS code"... "How are you going make money off of Open Source". I felt bullied.

Understand that MySQL is only GPL (Free) if everything touching it is also GPL (or internal use only). If we distribute it with MySQL and make it commercial, we need to pay yearly for MySQL ($$$). That is understood when dealing with GPL software. Just don't try and talk me out of GPL'ing my code to line your pockets. Business models like this hurt the Open Source community and don't promote Open Source software!

Honestly, it really is quite a bit of money. I, for one, will probably wait until the bugs are worked out before considering it. If the PS3 can really become a Media Center, then I will gladly pay $600 for it. But I have pretty high standards for what a Media Center needs to be in my house.

See, I have about every electronic toy I have ever wanted. My cell phone is a PPC-6700 PDA phone with unlimited EV-DO (higher speed internet). I own several laptops. I have a PSP which I game with and also a couple of GP2X's. I usually carry around a Sharp Zaurus and since I do the conversions for Dynamism, I have every model released in the past 3 years. I have a GameCube, but it is mostly for my daughter's use. I have multiple Palm and WinCE PDAs and HPCs. I am a typical geek with a pretty tightly integrated household. For me, a true Media Center would need to integrate with not only my TV, but most of my devices on-and-off the road.

I should be able to tap into it with my phone, laptop or any Internet based device to watch movies or TV when on the road or even on the can [think slingbox]. It should be able to record TV for viewing and transfer them to any media device (PDA, Laptop, PSP, etc...). I should be able to plug any media card or svideo device so I can view pictures and movies without needing to worry about interfacing my camera, camcorder, etc... hell, just give me a USB port that will accept a card reader! I should be able to game with great graphics, play older games, chat with other players/people via voice or text and never need to leave the console. It should have the ability to do VOIP with optional video. I should be able to check the weather, or any web page, without getting off the couch. In other words, it should be the center of my home AND all my devices.

Some people may think these requirements are a bit too steep for one console, but they aren't. You can easily build a small form factor computer that will do all this for under $600. It may not have Blue-Ray or the gaming ability of the PS3, but it will be a media center. With Sony buying in high quantities with the vast amount of programmers at their disposal, the PS3 should/may be.

My point?! They have the hardware to do all of these things, but will they program it to? I believe that the PS3 may be what I am looking for, but I am pretty sure that many features will be missing at launch. Sony will use the PS3 to try and pimp some of their proprietary formats, but they will improve it over time. Will it interface with many of the devices in my home? I really don't know the answer, but it will need to in order to be a media center in my house. And it could be! If it is, then I will pay $600 for it... easily!

LD