That’s impressive
http://blogs.computerworld.com/17371/the_linux_desktop_may_soon_be_a_lot_faster
Linux kernel has just got a patch schedules the tasks better for desktops. The video linked from the above article ( http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=linux_2637_video&num=2 ) shows an impressive CPU distribution before and after, which clearly benefits the desktop apps. My understanding of the patch is that it is just better scheduling, not really improve the CPU utilization. That means it is not more tasks per second, but more of better perception of the human user that the computer is faster. That won’t affect server applications in my opinion, but will strongly influence desktop and mobile apps especially with large rich media and interactive online content.