>They've always been that way. Remember when various small and large companies dared to try to market Apple compatible computers? Bring on the lawyers. Threaten anyone who publicizes the litigation.

It's funny -- Apple actually licensed its hardware to a cloner company, Power Computing. I bought one of those beasts because I was doing development on Macs (Foxpro 2.6/Mac) because the clone was so much cheaper than the real thing. And so much uglier. And so much noisier. And just about as slow.

This cloned bliss had lasted from 1995 to 1997, when Steve Jobs came back to rule the roost and Apple unceremoniously pulled the rug out from under the clone market. They threw $100 million worth of Apple stock at the company, took ownership and promptly killed the product. I'd have hated to be a line worker in that clone company at that point, but being Power Computing's CEO or an early investor wouldn't have been all bad, I guess...

There is a trend here, I think. Look how Apple has now told all iPhone developers that any app/widget NOT created with Objective C will not be allowed into their AppStore any more. Not just apps converted from Flash, but ANY non-Objective-C app, converted, original, whatever. I'd hate to be one of the many developers that are now unceremoniously kicked to the curb.

Wouldn't it be funny (and poetic justice) if Intel, all of a sudden, told Apple that "sorry, you may not use Intel hardware any longer: Cease and desist!"

In comparison, MS is looking mighty good, style or no style.