Mozilla + OpenOffice.org == Friends?

[Manny Swedberg]

Alright, I don't think they are really, but it struck me:

* Both projects try to fill out the common user apps in free/open
source form
* Both use similar licenses
* Both are XML-focused
* Both have their own cross-platform component frameworks (XUL and
UNO)
* Both of these frameworks support a similar subset of languages (esp.
Java)
* Neither framework has really caught on
* Neither plays well with native widget-sets

Hello?

Wouldn't it make more sense to have just one cross-platform,
Java/XML-focused cross-platform component model for end-user
applications that has to work on hackability and
native-widget-niceness?

I mean, of course it would.  Of course duplication of effort is common
in open source: GNOME and KDE. Gnome and KDE won't merge because
there's already a lot of apps in both that would be broken.  BUT,
there's not a lot in XUL, and there's basically only one thing in UNO:
OpenOffice.

I'm sure I'm not the first armchair software architect to point this
out.  What's holding it back?  Sun conspiracy?  Just inertia?