About eight years ago when Don Crabb was still writing, my present Macsimum fellow columnist Gerry Curry stood up in a meeting of Mac users in San Francisco and said "I really don't care WHAT the OS runs on, as long as it's the Mac OS!". At the time I was more the purist, but Gerry still sounded reasonable if it brought down the price of retail Macs.

Today it looks like Gerry is getting his wish. Once you get past a purist point of view, one can plainly see that Windows running on a Mac has advantages for Apple in further software manipulation and development where Windows is concerned. Apple's Mac is now the house that Windows are installed in. And as the owner of "the house", Apple can make changes...many changes to the Windows therein.

The Bonjour.exe install is but one small example of this. It allows Windows users the opportunity to print from Internet Explorer, a feature that never seemed important to Microsoft, but to Apple, represented a consistent philosophy of simplicity defined. The potential for Apple to continue adding, even deleting software from Windows is evident.

So - fellow Mac users, this is a time for celebration because after thirty years of insulation, Apple has been finally opening its doors...starting with iPod for Windows a few years ago. On a side note, this continued convergence alters the perception of Apple as the underdog - a perception that I easily identified with for over a decade. The perception of Apple as a market leader will take some getting used to.