On Linux (the opensuse-kde-friendly fork, running on Arch though), I cannot say I've found 29 that different. The tabs are more rounded, yes, but other than that, the difference is quite minimal. Instead of having a menu link on the left of the tabs, it's on the right of the location/search bars - I pretty much never use it anyway, so I don't really care.
On Windows 7 it is distracting, but I never liked the Aero transparency anyway. But on KDE, a non-issue personally. If Firebug works better, I'm all for it.
Seriously, I'd like to see you present a single example where Apple has been benevolent towards the OSS community.
Clang? ALAC? libdispatch? mDNSResponder (Bonjour)? Their CalDAV & CardDAV server? Darwin Streaming Server?
Thanks for providing some concrete examples. So let us walk through your list:
But what I'm getting at is that despite their ample cash flow, you don't see "Apple Summer of Code" (just as an example - there are plenty of things to dislike about Google as well).
Living on Earth may be expensive, but it includes an annual free trip around the Sun.