[overbroad]

I thought about this and I agree. Sort of.

There was a time when no one cared about Apple computers.

It's one thing to not care about something that you are not (made) aware of. It's another thing to not care about something that is common knowledge.

If Apple was not using UNIX and C, if Steve Jobs had not pushed them to drop OS9, I might not be thinking of Bell Labs when I look at Apple. But essentially by using New Jersey's work, in my opinion, Steve Jobs was admitting "We can't do any better." He borrowed someone else's work of simplicity.

I guess a lot of developers want to believe the public will never ever know how to build things, simple things, using the same substrate as Jobs. That's fine. Personally, I'm not so sure. At this point the public is still not even aware the possibility exists. We don't necessarily know what they'll do once they know. Would anyone have dreamed Apple would displace Microsoft as the most popular computer brand? Would anyone have dreamed companies would embrace "open source"? The future is unpredictable.