The Editor writes: Apple's pact with the devil

Fascinating to hear some observers speculate on how Microsoft expects to fend off US anti-trust regulators over last week's purchase of 6% of Apple. Reading between the lines, some say that Microsoft will present its tender-hearted intervention as an attempt to preserve some kind of competition in the operating systems market.
US regulators have already started guffawing at that, we think. If, as we suggest on page 12, the MacOS still represents a 'viable' alternative to the world of Windows, then there can be no other reason for taking the stake than to bend what remains of Apple to Microsoft's will - and to capitalise on those few still-inventive strands of thought within what long ago ceased to be a great computer company.
Keep the brand alive, focus on software and get small: that's now the recipe for Apple. Although the company needs to maintain its hardware sales for cash flow purposes in the short term, it more urgently needs to focus on software development.
Microsoft's shares are non-voting - that's to say Bill Gates has no 'official' voice on the board. Perhaps the most intriguing challenge for Steve Jobs will be to hold the line between his new silent partner and Larry Ellison of Oracle, who has joined the Apple board with a remit to speak (and vote).
It's an intriguing, and potentially explosive, mixture that Jobs must handle adroitly if Apple is to survive in any recognisable form. Sadly, perhaps, Jobs' past record offers little evidence that he is equipped with a spoon long enough to sup with two devils simultaneously.