The author of this piece doesn not understand Apple’s marketing.
This idea that the Mac-mini is crippled to not cannibalize the iMac and the iMac is crippled to not cannibalize the Mac Pro may not know that the current iMac is already more powerful than a stock Mac Pro.
Apple likes keeping product lines lean, especially after the Gil Amelio disaster. IN fact, Apple discontinued to Mac XServe, and recommended NOT the Mac Pro, but the Mac Mini as a replacement.
Apple is about profits, and when three cell phone models that are more alike than different carve out a huge chunk of the entire market in a short time, when battling against dozens of Android models of every stripe, the result for Apple is $$$$$. Apple would love cannibalization if they could get Mini and Pro users to use the iMac, and the Mac Book users over to the Mac Air. Apple wants folks in their eco system, and they want to keep the number of devices well under control
The author also hasn’t noted that Apple is trying to make OS X more iOS like, so far without the touch capabilities.
The new Microsoft Windows incarnation, like the ribbon interface before it, is a solution to a problem that people weren’t complaining about. I almost suspect, after Microsoft’s failed Windows Tablet Edition 10 years ago, that the ships are being burned to make sure that Microsoft doesn’t bail out this time. That’s a big gamble.
There is a market for a Microsoft OS tablet in the Enterprise, as Apple is aggressively indifferent to security and user management issues. That doesn’t mean they dominate. Rather than converging all computing into the phone, an absurdity, Apple will be the Toyota, IBM will be Mack Truck, and Microsoft will be GM. Everyone making money, some more than others, in differently defined markets.
Desktops and phones are no more converging than pick up trucks and motor scooters.
“The new Microsoft Windows incarnation, like the ribbon interface before it, is a solution to a problem that people weren’t complaining about.”
On tablets, they were. MS tried running Windows of all kinds on tablets for a decade - and got pretty much nowhere.
Apple figured out how to do tablet interfaces right, and now MS is trying to mimic that without looking like an also-ran; not knowing what the actual secret to the tablet UX is, they’re failing out of the gate.