[ajscherer]

I don't see any reason to think a company like Dell or Sony would be well positioned to create an operating system. What software have they created that suggests they could do it? If Windows is so unsatisfactory doesn't that suggest that merely having resources isn't nearly enough? If Dell decided to create an operating system they would have little advantage over anyone else, and would have the disadvantage of being a huge company attempting an equally huge software project from scratch. They might as well just light piles of cash on fire. The sensible way to do it would be to buy a company that is building an OS.

I think Gruber is underestimating the fact that Apple has been developing not just the Macintosh OS, but the ecosystem and community for like a quarter of a century. I don't know that there is a shortcut to the latter two. When I switched back to Windows from Ubuntu it wasn't because of any failing of the operating system. It was because I was unable to find suitable replacements for all the Windows applications (and drivers) I used.

Web applications have not yet usurped desktop apps across the board, and when they eventually do, won't it be a worse environment for a new proprietary OS? At that point what would a proprietary OS offer that a free OS on inexpensive hardware couldn't?