If Mac OS X succeeds, it will be the only alternative to Windows in the consumer space. This is probably the most important decision he has made with the operating system, and it could prove momentous indeed. In the consumer space, matters are completely different. And whether techies like it or not, looks will count in the operating systems market. Functionality is important, but it only sells to the nerd in us.
Looks sell to everybody.
Imagine for a second that Jobs, with his habitual marketing savvy, launches Mac OS X not on its own but paired with a new, updated redesigned iMac or consumer appliance as its natural complement. A slick, desirable package, where the operating system is the natural extension of the physical design of the machine. Mac OS X is probably the first mass-market operating system since Windows 95 that introduces major innovations in the user interface. What it will do, however, is to further the already perceptible trend towards increasing market segmentation. In other words, it will be essential to be able to move your data sets from computer to handheld to wireless device and back.