> Of course what happened here was that Steve Jobs returned to Apple and we suddenly had MacOSX come onto the scene taking at least some air out of the Linux Desktop space.

That might have been the case 10 years ago, but it isn't now. Desktop OS dissatisfaction is at an all time high in both the Windows and Apple camps, among both users and developers. If a linux distro got its act together it could steal the show. But, to do that would require an overhaul to linux similar to what Next did to create NextStep.