On April 7th, Acer executives unloaded the promotional gatling gun for their upcoming Aspire Timeline laptop. And despite their playing down of Android's large-format potential, it seems that 'droid-related material is what everyone took home from the event.

The development of the Android-powered Acer cell phone was confirmed, and you can read a bit more about that here. Engadget reports in their coverage of the event, that Acer's Jim Wong mentioned that pretty much everyone is currently testing Android netbooks. He also said that Android isn't quite ready for that. I, like Mr. Wong, realize Android has a little way to go before it can ship  preloaded on netbooks. But it is an open-ended, scalable OS, and I think it could really shine in that context, eventually.

Here's the part that surprised me: GEARlog's Sascha Segan has pointed out a tweet by the Editor-in-chief of PCMAG, Lance Ulanoff, which states that Acer has a prototype of an Android desktop:

I'm thinking it's a slip or miscommunication, as the Engadget post on the same soirée includes a similar sentence in reference to netbooks. I'm not totally in agreement with Segan or Ulanoff's sentiments that Android just can't cut it - that is, if we're talking about a netbook... but a desktop?

Well, Google has surprised us before, folks. Android as we know it could just be the jumping-off point. A well-backed Linux variant could mean big changes in our computing lives, and Google likes dabbling in those. I'm typing this post on a $450 Acer laptop running Linux. Had it come without Windows pre-installed, I probably would have paid $100 less.

So as silly as this scenario sounds to bloggers with a lot more experience, knowledge, and expertise than I have, I'd like to say that I find the idea intriguing. And considering how Acer likes to undercut the competition, I don't think the concept is too incredibly far-fetched. But Google would have to be keeping something very big behind the curtain. Don't confuse the interface with the Operating System, folks.