Bob Cringley has an excellent article on the future of VoIP, personal PBXs, community PVRs, and WiFi access.
Excerpts:
1. “…There is no desktop PC in Andrew’s house. Instead, he runs a Linix thin client on a Sharp Zaurus SL-6000 Linux PDA. Somewhere around is a hefty Linux server running Asterisk Open source VoIP software PBX…”
2. “…The Zaurus equipped with a tri-mode comm. card is a WiFi phone through the PBX. Walking outside the house the phone automatically converts to the local mobile phone carrier. At office it’s back to WiFi on office VoIP PBX and also connects to the home PBX. At Starbucks, it’s WiFi phone…”
3. “…Andrew’s server runs MythTV an Open Source DVR application, storing more than 30,000 TV episodes, movies and MP3 files…”
Bob Cringley wrote this famous book long before the dot-com rush.