On New Year`s day LA Times  staff writer Sallie Hofmeister started something that showed conclusively how enamoured the world is with Google and, perhaps, how eager the market is for alternatives to Microsoft-based PCs.

Among her media industry predictions for 2006, she speculated: “Google will unveil its own low-price personal computer or other device that connects to the Internet.

“Sources say Google has been in negotiations with Wal-Mart Stores, among other retailers, to sell a Google PC. The machine would run an operating system created by Google, not Microsoft`s Windows, which is one reason it would be so cheap — perhaps as little as a couple of hundred dollars,” wrote Hofmeister.