Linux needs applications to succeed in business. No question about
it. Not the pathetic Applix or buggy WordPerfect. Why is it that
the Windows API has not been ported to Unix? Why not the Microsoft
Foundation classes? Why not ActiveX/OLE/DCOM.
Every time someone starts talking like this, I like to remind them of
what a good friend of mine once said (not a direct quote):
"If Linux wants to suceed, it needs to get clean air, not
sit back behind the things the Microsoft monster is doing
because you'll only get back draft if you try to be more
like them to beat them. That simply does not work."
So things like having the same API for applications is perhaps not the
ideal way to approach the problem. Applications are important though,
I certainly agree with that.