Geekomon

Dvorak's theory is that Apple's going to drop OSX and being nothing more than a Windows frontend.

Exhibit 1) Why is Apple going after rumor sites over things inconsequential?
I agree with Dvorak, Apple is hiding something. But all companies have secrets and it doesn't mean that their going to drop OSX. For one thing, we'd hear about it. There are some hard core nuts in Apple that would prolly quit their jobs over this. Not to mention all the work that's been done porting OSX to x86 chips.

Exhibit 2)Firewire being dropped
Well, the market has chosen USB. It doesn't mean anything other than the fact that USB has gained ascendancy. There's no reason for Firewire anymore. Apple is already in bed with Intel. Might as well go all-in.

Everything else is superficial. Still, Apple does have some real big problems. First of all, the peripherals, applications, and drivers entrench Windows users. It's hard to switch when you have to throw away hundreds of dollars of previous junk. It's a very hard hurdle.

2nd of all, you can't just be a retail store and sell only Apple products. That way lies madness. The taxes, the brick and mortar overhead, the whole thing costs money. Sooner or later, someone is going to come up with a Ipod killer. It's only a matter of time and the level of stupidity of Apple's competitors which, so far, seems infinite. (WMP11? Vista only? What?). And once that happens, your retail stores are gonna look stupid. Specialty stores don't last any more in this world. You need to be big, and serve more constituents than just the 5% Mac ppl. Even without a competitor, ipod sales are going to saturate the market sooner or later--in other words, cash cows aren't infinite.

So what is the point of a retail presence? Convenience. That's the only way to get ppl to overlook the premium their paying to get electronics. So what secret does Apple have that would solve their future troubles? The ace card up their sleeve when they can't rely on a new generation of ipods to boost their year-end profits? What did they give up to keep Office for 5 more years?

There's only one answer. More products. Apple Tivo, Apple HD-DVD player. Apple Phones. Apple Cell Phone Service. Sell other people's phones. SELL OTHER PEOPLE's phones! Sell Windows Mobile Smartphones. As many products as it fits your market. Gain as many market segments as possible before making the big play for the mainstream OS.

When applications become totally online based, the switch to other Operating systems will come much easier. Until then, Apple should just aim to stay alive and pour money into AJAX research. After that, bring out that spreadsheet program.

If i were Microsoft, I would pull Office out of Apple right now.