Take, for instance, the fact that we already have seen devices such as the upcoming ASUS tablet, the Transformer Prime, running the new system (it won't have it when it ships, but ASUS have a planned software update that will upgrade the device to ICS before the year is out). Of course, we also have the most recent flagship mobile device, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, running it as well.

But thanks to the many hours spent by dedicated coders and hackers, you can already have a taste of ICS on a host of other devices. The Transformer's predecessor, the Transformer, received some updated Android love within the last week, albeit the awkward, clumsy kind of love of a buggy alpha port, instead of the smooth, passionate embrace of a stable and day-to-day-use version.

Similarly, there are versions of varying reliability out there for phones such as the HTC Desire and Desire HD, the Galaxy S, the Hero, and also the original Galaxy Tab. And yes, someone has even gotten Ice Cream Sandwich running on the very first Android phone, the venerable G1. Sure, you couldn't really call it running per se; the current version for the G1 has no working wifi, and performs quite sluggishly. For the moment at least, it's not going to have people scrambling to dig their G1's out of the garbage pile.

But what it does do is show off Android's strengths. It can pop up practically anywhere, and its quasi open source nature means that it's ideally suited to community development and rapid deployment of new features.

So although community development is messy, potentially fraught, and almost always a death knell for your handset's warranty, it's also exciting, fast, and tries to tackle problems manufacturers often wouldn't want to sink money into.

Even so, I might just wait a little longer before trying to get ICS onto my Desire HD,