Larry:

Strangely enough, I actually approve of this collaboration between Apple and IBM. The principle here is that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And this collaboration is probably the only way to reduce the stranglehold of that ultimate enemy, Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft.

Gates is almost universally despised in the microcomputer community because of his arrogant and ruthless control of the software marketplace. He has both Apple and IBM by the short hairs, and has used that power to smother innovation and enforce his own flawed vision of the way computers should work. In short, he has more power than any one man should have.

My hope is that together, Apple and IBM will be able to create an operating system that is both user friendly and widely accepted. Of course it will be years before any of this comes to fruition. But it seems to me that at least they've made a promising start. And if this effort disturbs the sleep of the tyrant Gates, so much the better!

P.S. I just logged onto to AOL and checked a special area they have devoted to the collaboration. The area includes official press releases from Apple and a bulletin board where people can express their opinions. I had hoped to pass some of those opinions on, but was immediately overwhelmed by the sheer volume: 49 folders containing 1389 messages (as of 9/5/91) with many more messages coming in every day!