It is probably a mistake for me to lump the "Pro" market with the business/enterprise market. I could see them keeping some stock in "Pro" realms that I know very little about -- like small group collab/production, but for business I think they are toast.

A fair point on your part re: the Samba GPL decision, but they could have worked the problem to a different conclusion, I think, if they desired.

The notion that they might try a comeback in the server space with a more flexible Mac Pro I think is wishful thinking though maybe they could offer a non-interoperable workgroup solution (and you might say they already do if the current "Mac Pro Server" config suits your SOHO needs.)

In the end, though, their server products were overpriced relative to Linux running on less sexy commodity hardware and there were lots of other aggravations -- like perl and other packages were generally out of date. Add to those the abandonment of platforms like WebObjects (something I am having to address recently).

I remember sending an email to an Apple rep asking if they couldn't make an iMac that had an adjustable-height display. I'm not sure but I thought I heard a chuckle.

None of this is particularly new or shocking. As Apple morphed Appletalk into Bonjour -- protocols that map to their workgroup philosophy -- we were always busy running around turning it off on any new printers that might arrive

Anyhow, sleek, cool-looking stuff, but an increasingly dubious value proposition outside of the individual iSphere.