No, seriously. The whole point about Apple’s and Google’s combination is to stop making the computer world look so Microsoft centric. If there is such a conspiracy, it can’t be hidden for long.

The X Windows system is a result of that ten year period when the Mac OS was the top GUI. So, X Windows was a UNIX response to it. But then, when Microsoft Windows became a virtual monopoly, X Windows took on much of the Windows look and feel. This issue is confused by the fact that Microsoft stole so much of its look and feel from the Mac OS. It is further confused from the fact that there is little unity among Linux distros.

Linux didn’t exist back when X Windows was conceived. And Linux wouldn’t exist, at all, if BSD hadn’t been in a lawsuit with AT&T and looked as though Open Source would be dead, so Linus Torvalds wrote Minux. He said that if BSD had looked viable and open, he wouldn’t have bothered.

Let’s fast forward to today. You can’t deny how much the X Windows borrows from Windows, can you?

I was pushing the point that it would be good for both Google and Apple if Chrome had the Mac look and feel. That would differentiate it from the other Linux distos. And it would bring the conspiracy out into the open too late for Microsoft to do anything about.

That’s exactly what’s happened. Google and Apple are the only two businesses that could ever remove the Microsoft stranglehold on computing.

And it looks very much as though it is working. So, as you say, Schmidt’s job on Apple’s board is now complete.

In a literal sense, X Windows is hardly a rip off of Microsoft Windows. Why? Because X predates MS Windows by many years, dating at least to the mid-1980s.

Of the many window/desktop managers available for X, some do mimic elements of the Windows GUI style. On the other hand, some managers, like KDE, also include influences from other sources (e.g., the panel from the Common Desktop Environment [CDE] that ran on Sun and HP workstations in the 1990s).

Both KDE and Gnome aspire to be Mac-like to some extent, especially KDE 4.x. Calling X Windows a rip off of MS Windows is a rather uninformed comment.

not sure about putting up with Windows mobile but wanting a iphone. I had a windows mobile phone and now I have an iphone and I really miss the functionality of Windows Mobile. Why or why is the email and calendering functionality on the iphone so far. Who on earth needs a digital compass when you can’t even forward meetings are add people to a meeting ???

Regards

Martin

Mac OSX and Chrome are both Operating System’s but they will not compete with each other. Apple is at the high end of the computing market while Google will be at the low, cheap end — netbooks initially.

Apple uses its OS to sell its premium hardware while Google will give away its OS to prevent MS from sabotaging its Google applications and search engine. Same thing is true with the iPhone OS and Asteroid; there will be a major quality and marketing differences. Will Apple care if Google provides a free phone OS to replace Windows Mobile and Symbian? I don’t think so. Apple is not in the feature phone market.

What do both Apple and Google have in common? They have a desire to take down Microsoft. So, they act as conspirators. Apple hits MS from on high while Google hits from below. Can Apple and Google broadcast this fact boldly? No. So, Eric Schimdt must leave.

I expect that Apple will continue to take away Wintel’s premium business. Google will create a free operating system which replaces the Windows OS and MS office at the low end and in the Enterprise markets. Both are areas that Apple does not choose to engage in. Rightly so, because both areas presents a problem for Apple’s consumer marketing.

Occasionally, such as with Google Voice, one company will step on the other’s toes and be forced to back off. That does not make them enemies.

The computer market is very wide. There is a place for many operating systems and marketing strategies. Chrome will not satisfy anyone who needs more than basic web surfing and web applications.

I do not know how the Chrome OS will look or act. Even so, I do not expect it to be like the Linux X Windows OS such as Debian and Ubuntu uses. Why? Because X Windows is a rip off of Microsoft’s OS. It teaches computer newbies how to get used to Microsoft Windows. Why would either company want that?

If Apple and Google are in cahoots, then the Chrome OS will look and act like the Macintosh OS. Apple will have no problem with that. Why? Because that will naturally lead people who need more from Applications than Google wants to provide to migrate to the Apple Macintosh, instead of Wintel.

This was all hashed out many years ago. Eric Schmidt needed to be on Apple’s board to help set things into motion and herd both companies cats in the same direction.

The foundations have been laid. Both companies are moving in coordination, so Eric need not be a member of Apple’s board. So what?