You can't really blame Apple/Microsoft for not experimenting to the same extent that a GNU/Linux desktop environment or window manager can. In GNU/Linux you hav

You can't really blame Apple/Microsoft for not experimenting to the same extent that a GNU/Linux desktop environment or window manager can. In GNU/Linux you have countless options ranging from small fast tiling window managers to more complex things like Unity and GNOME Shell which are discussed in the article. For any window manager you then additionally have a huge number of panels that you can choose from. All of this freedom and choice is awesome and it lets people find the solution that fits their needs and style of computing if they're willing to do so. I can navigate around windows and launch applications on my computer using a customized wmii/dmenu combo much faster than is possible on a mac or in windows and I love that. If Apple switched to a similar setup in Lion, however, they would make some extremely small percentage of their users happy while turning away the vast majority of their customers. Apple and Microsoft can't be what they are without catering to the lowest common denominator and part of that is playing it safe. Every radical decision that they make is a huge risk with the potential for a negative impact on their business. If somebody wants to make some experimental window manager for GNU/Linux that attempts to change the paradigm then the worst possible scenario is that they wasted their time writing code that people don't end up using. If Windows tried the same thing then they could lose real business. The beauty of the Linux ecosystem is that users have unparalleled freedom in deciding how they want their computers to work. This freedom allows people to create new programs without much risk to the community and it allows multiple projects with different goals and principals to simultaneously coexist and thrive. This is a major strength of GNU/Linux and I think it's part of the reason why we see so much innovation within that community.