Bill Gates and Steve Jobs together at D

I felt the rift.  Seriously, will the wonders ever stop?

Actually, I thought it was a great sit-down.  What bothers me is still...for the last decade and a half these two great men (and the thousands who work for them) can't collaborate together to create a legitimate cross platform machine or application.  Yes, there were serious attempts in the late nineties and shortly after 2000, but all most everything fell through.  The break-through this past few years has been open-source software that runs cross platform, but that was developed by talented individuals outside Microsoft or Apple.

Could you imagine an Apple computer that came installed with and runs Windows Vista as it's primary OS?  How about a Zune that works with iTunes and has an open memory?  That will be an amazing day!

Seriously, I say this with all due respect, no bash ( I use both daily).

The reason Vista doesn't come installed as a primary OS on an Apple computer is because too many people CAN imagine what it would be like. 

That's why they make OS X.

I think the system as it sits is probably the most productive working relationship. Anyone who cares to can develop a technology, submit it to become a standard, and then Microsoft and Apple implement that standard in accordance with the market's wishes.

We've all got our complaints about one flavor of OS or another, but the reality is the work we do with these machines is where the similarity begins and ends. What tools we prefer, and how we choose to do our work, will always allow for variety.

That said, if you make things work together too easily, you lose competitive advantage and potential revenue. Why would you willingly standardize your mobile devices on USB connectors, thereby losing all the revenue from cables and accessories?

Major pipe dream.  As it stands, OS competition will never allow this to happen.  Also Apple feels way to entitled to their quirky, cult-appealing, OS seat in the stars to ever "come down" to Microsoft's level.  This is why Office for Mac never matured and why the other half-dozen projects you are referencing (between 1998-2001) fell through.

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