IBM: Cell technology is free of charge
 

"IBM, Toshiba and Sony have worked together to the development of the Cell project, and the result is a processor built around 234 million transistors
graved using SOI (Silicon On Insulator) 90 nanometer technology, which measures 221 square millimeters.

These technical specs are not secret anymore, but IBM promises that it will disclose new information about the solution that has received many praises from the IT experts. Not only that, but this information might lead to the development of an architecture for open-source solutions."

Read the entire story at Softpedia.

Open-source software seems very plausible, since anyone who knows how can modify as they see fit, but open-source hardware just seems a little more daunting. I'm not sure how many of us have electron microscopes or any of the other equipment necessary to modify 90 nanometer wide silicon. Well, maybe some small companies will now be able to compete with the current Goliaths and may have more influence on the advancement of processors.