Huh? Apple dumped Intel because they were not happy with the heat issues on the G5 that kept apple from putting their top of the line processors in the powerbook. It was a good decision based on the architecture of the chips and apples needs. Linux was nowhere by apple was mentioned as a factor.
So what? They are obvious and natural competitors, battling for number 2 on the desktop. The point remains, the threat of free software like Linux is causing heretofore unthinkable partnerships, from Palm and Microsoft, to Sun and Microsoft, to Apple and Intel. Without the arrival of open source like Linux none of those partnerships would have happened. To think it was all simply simultaneous coincidence is laughable. IBM is the only major vendor contributing to GPL software, all others are either exploiting it, isolating it, or buying it and killing it.