The defining factor is whether it'll let you run any unsigned program, and to my knowledge this hasn't been fully disclosed yet. If it does, it'll be a computer, and it'll probably suffer rampant piracy very swiftly. If it doesn't, it'll be a videogame console with a web browser and a few other downloadable bells and whistles. I'm prepared to guess which Sony will think is the better deal, but I'll wait for a full announcement of the system's capabilities before passing judgement.
I doubt Sony will allow that right out of the box. That is like releasing a console with a built in modchip and stack of games on CD-Rs. Sony isn't that stupid. High chance the OS will be a closed system and they will probably, in the future, release accessories to give the PS3 more functionality.
it is a video game machine not a computer... just because you have web doesn't make it a computer. Example is webtv from msn.
