Shortly after Linux creator Linus Torvalds arrived in the US he had a meeting with Steve Jobs, chief executive of Apple. It was not a success. Jobs, recalled Torvalds, ranted on about his plans for Mac OS X, apparently under the impression that the entire world was obsessed by where Apple was going. Torvalds, in turn, was sniffy about the version of Unix on which the Mac OS was to be based.
    Yet the two had a lot in common. Both were involved in projects to transform enterprise mainstay Unix into a serious competitor to Windows (though that was not in Torvalds' mind when he wrote Linux). And both have succeeded, if not to an extent that will cost Bill Gates sleep, though not for want of trying on Jobs' part.

    Jobs has just unveiled the latest Mac OS version 10.02 (see right), and launched a TV campaign to tempt PC users to switch to the Mac. And he is still ranting.
    To hear Jobs, you would think that each new Mac, every last new feature, even every Apple TV ad was a cosmic breakthrough eagerly anticipated by every user. And indeed the faithful at Macworld in New York last month cheered each of his announcements as if it were about to transform their lives
    They even cheered when Jobs announced that Apple was good enough to allow them to pay $99.95 (£63) per year for its iTools online service, which currently gives them email, storage space and web hosting and other features for free. At the end of September it will become .Mac - as if a name alone can challenge Microsoft's .Net.

In truth, there was very little new at the show: a 17in model of Apple's elegant iMac and a 20GB version of its iPod music player (see below). But prices have been cut (see left) to make Macs more competitive with PCs. And low-cost eMacs, previously sold only to schools, are now generally available.
    Yet Jobs does have something to shout about. You can argue whether the Mac OS is friendlier than Windows, but the fact that it can stand the comparison at all is an achievement - Linux can't, at least not yet.
    The Mac OS demonstrates that mainstream operating software does not begin and end with Microsoft. And it makes you wonder what might have happened if the meeting with Torvalds had gone better and brought the Linux and Mac worlds together.

Ipod let loose on the PC
Steve Jobs made another move towards the Windows world by making Apple's iPod music player available on the Windows platform. It will be packaged differently from the Mac version and will require a Firewire port on the PC - one of the device's great selling points is its speed of transfer.
    Apple officials were unclear if the same iPod could be used for a Mac or PC. Beta versions of the Music Match software used on the PC has been around for some time, but it is said to be not as good as the Mac's iTunes module. The latest Mac software also includes organiser functions such as a phone book.
    The iPod is basically a hard disk with player software, a graphical front end and good i/o. The 5GB model costs £259, the 10GB £329, and the newly announced 20GB £399. All prices include VAT.