It wouldn't have to inherit the limits of old word processors. Let's do a different application integration strategy. No OpenDoc, no OLE to mess with. Clean connections between apps. The same approach taken by the operating system, let's start over, do something new, could be applied to every kind of software we've ever done.
New platforms create opportunities for new kinds of software.
Ask Mitch Kapor, John Warnock or Paul Brainerd. I learned that with outlining software on the Macintosh. I also learned that old platforms don't accept new software ideas easily. Gassee's pitch is working, I think, because, thanks to the Internet, the software world is reinventing itself now. An interesting metaphor.