What would "think different" be able to do? As an example, Apple developed the "launchd" software to replace numerous Unix startup programs (cron, init etc.), and making a much better job of it, for example making it possible to startup the Mac much faster than previously.

What if similar work would be applied to all of the system, on all layers? It seems that some of the new technology is exactly this. How much speedup would be possible? I think that on systems without separate GPUs the speedup might not be so dramatic, perhaps in the 10-50 percent region. (However, the amount of disk space needed for the operating system may decrease dramatically, resulting in much faster program launch speeds, as an example.) But on systems with separate GPUs and more than two cores the effect may be dramatic, perhaps several times the current speed. And much less overhead than currently (think about Spotlight, Time Machine, Dashboard etc.)

How would you feel about using an operating system much faster than any current ones, consuming dramatically less disk space, and being able to use all kinds of external accelerators (no need to limit to GPUs). This OS would scale upwards (to tens of cores and terabytes of RAM), and also downwards (to future mobile devices).

Perhaps the best selling argument for the OS will be the devices which are built upon this foundation. Not to speak about new possible applications, and new ways of connecting to the net/cloud.

"I know a smart business decision when I see one - choosing open standards is a very smart business decision indeed," Ms. Kroes told a conference in Brussels. "No citizen or company should be forced or encouraged to choose a closed technology over an open one."