Well, "SJ-Day" has come and gone, and all but the most conservative of crystal-gazers who guessed about the day's events were wrong, wrong, wrong. No new CEO. No merger with Oracle. No alliance with Lucent. Not even a collaborative agreement with Sun. That's not to say these things will never happen-- but they didn't happen today.

Is that bad? We don't think so. Today we got a hell of a show (though it was only an hour long-- 60% shorter than originally planned. Did something fall through in the eleventh hour?) outlining Apple's new three-pronged plan to retake the computer world by storm. First there's the new chip-- the G3, featured in new Powermacs and Powerbooks available immediately. 20,000 Powermac G3's have shipped to stores already, and these suckers blow the doors off the fastest Wintels-- whether you're looking at the benchmarks or the real-world performance. Next there's the Apple Store, where anyone can buy a Mac (or Apple software, or an eMate, or a MessagePad, etc.) online. Only time will tell, but this could mean huge things for Apple-- especially if Steve isn't just blowing smoke about it being better than Dell's system ever was. Also, don't forget the CompUSA alliance-- 54 Apple salons before Thanksgiving, and all 150 up and running by the end of January. As CompUSA heavy Hal Compton said today, "We are committed to make CompUSA America's Mac headquarters... We expect Christmas to be huge for CompUSA and Apple." And third, there's the new build-to-order strategy. If you want a Mac, you decide yourself how to put it together. This is incredibly important to Apple, who can't forecast its way out of a paper bag; no more unwanted systems languishing in warehouses when everyone's clamoring for the exact same model with the Zip drive and a bigger hard disk.

Amazingly enough, Apple is fighting. That's a first, as far as we can see; they've been coasting for too long. And it's because they're not standing still that we at AtAT are more confident about Apple's future than we've ever been. "Speed, convenience, and choice-- the gloves are off at Apple. Our competitors better beware."

Among the aftermath of this afternoon's festivities is a lingering pride in Steve Jobs for finally addressing Mike Dell's nasty comments from several weeks ago. You remember, right? When Mike was asked what he'd do if he were the CEO of Apple, he said he'd "shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders." At the time, we at AtAT were disappointed in Steve's all-too-mature decision to let that comment slide without retribution, but now we're relieved to find that he was only biding his time. In today's presentation, he finally broke his silence-- and all but declared war.

Steve prefaced things by explaining the history behind Dell's online storefront. Several years ago, Dell approached NeXT to have them build their web commerce system, and NeXT did just that-- and it was a huge success, growing from $0 to over $750 million a year in online sales. Steve said that despite the fact that Dell replaced the system a couple of months ago with a "slower" but "politically correct" Microsoft-built system (at Bill Gates' insistence), one would think that after NeXT had helped Dell achieve such greatness, Mike would be grateful to Steve and Apple/NeXT, or at least nice. But instead, Mike said Apple should be shut down, and Steve thought that was "really rude." (He commented that he wasn't sure, so he looked it up, and it was really rude. Laughter ensued.)

So, Steve's angling for payback. The people from NeXT who built Dell's site are now Apple employees, and according to Steve, the Apple Store sets a "new standard for e-commerce" by taking that original technology and going further with it. Steve to Mike: "With our new products, and our new store, and our new build-to-order manufacturing, we're coming after you, buddy." Apple even has a fifteen-second Think Different TV spot slated to appear in January, targeted directly at Dell as their competition. Prepare for battle.

Look, believe it or not, we honestly try not to get too wrapped up in all this stuff. After all, it is just a computer. But there's a bigger picture, and we are really rooting for Apple to succeed because they represent something different about the computer world. They enable us to do things that we otherwise might not even try. If it weren't for Apple, I wouldn't be producing this show-- and not just because of a lack of material.

The first computer I ever really used was an Apple ][ in my fifth-grade classroom. I went in before school and taught myself Applesoft BASIC. In junior high I ate lunch in the science room so I could mess around on the ][+ in there. In high school I had finally saved up enough money to buy my own //e, which I used to write every single essay and report I ever wrote during those four years (in the process of which I went from hating English class to majoring in it), as well as to program simulations for physics class. And when I got my first job out of college I could finally afford my first Mac, which I used to produce four issues of a zine of which I'm really proud. I've used Apple computers for most of my life, and they have really made a serious difference in my humble existence-- by letting me work my best, while maybe not even realizing it because I was having so much fun. I've explored so many things I never imagined I would ever try: graphic design, desktop publishing, web programming. Just yesterday I made a virtual reality panorama of my kitchen. Why? I don't know, but it was fun. I am indebted to Apple for that freedom of exploration. And while we may criticize Apple's business decisions, our love of Apple's technology and their creative spirit is unwavering.

So, to end this special SJ Day episode, we'll leave you with Steve's closing words:

"We are fundamentally changing the way we do business, without losing sight of why we do business... and that is to make the best tools in the world, for people who think creatively."

Now get out there and kick some ass. ;-)

(Do we win an Emmy for this?)