Microsoft could soon become an unwitting supplier of ultra-cheap Linux-based web server appliances. That, at least, is what the Xbox Linux Project is hoping if its plan to port the open source operating system to Microsoft's games console is a success.

With a 733 Megahertz (MHz) Intel Pentium III microprocessor, an eight gigabyte hard disk drive and a built-in Ethernet port, all the machine would need is a digital subscriber line or cable modem and the appropriate software.

An anonymous donor – Sun CEO Scott McNealy, perhaps – is now offering a tasty $200,000 reward for the person who completes the project and turns the Xbox into a £200 Linux-based web server appliance, perhaps making it easier for companies to justify investing in the technology.

Is this what Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had in mind when he described open source software as a "cancer" of the IT industry?