In our episode yesterday, we wondered aloud if anyone could free us suffering Mac surfers from the repressive shackles of a two-party system. With Microsoft's Borg-like bent for dominion on one side and Netscape's indifference (and occasional hostility) to all things Macintosh on the other, we find ourselves trapped in a "lesser of two evils" scenario unmatched since the last U.S. Presidential election. With independent candidates like Apple's Cyberdog cast in the role of (ahem) Perot, things looked gloomy in the browser races.

But just when we'd lost all hope, it was AtAT's faithful viewers to the rescue. The biggest buzz is for a fresh young face looking to get into the Macintosh ring, known as Opera. This Mr. Smith lightweight is making a noteworthy splash on the PC side, with its tiny RAM footprint, super speed, and advanced features such as Javascript support. Learn more at the Opera Software web site. And then join the effort to bring this contender to the Macintosh by visiting the Project Magic web page, which asks for interest and support in porting Opera to alternative OSes. (The official voting period is over, but it's not too late to tell them that you'd love to be able to run Opera on your Mac and trash the "incumbents.")

But that's not the only alternative sparkling on the horizon. Paul Arthur tells us of a development that may elevate Cyberdog to spoiler status, at least on the Mac side. A venture known as Kantara Development is working on a new web browser component for the OpenDoc-based internet suite. Code-named Blake, this browser part adds Javascript support and fixes the rendering and speed problems that made AtAT switch back to Netscape. Best of luck to Steven Roussey, the head of Kantara who's heading up Blake development-- the web site claims that the part is due by the end of the year.

Thanx to the slew of AtAT viewers who wrote in with information! We're constantly amazed at how responsive you folks are. Kinda gets us all choked up inside... (snif)

Aaaaaaand speaking of browsers, Judge Jackson has given his ruling in the Department of Justice vs. Microsoft case. Unfortunately, we're not entirely sure how to interpret the results.

The first announcement we saw was the news.com article entitled "Judge Issues Order Against MS." Sounds pretty clear-cut. Judge Jackson has "issued a temporary order forbidding the company from requiring licensees of Windows 95 to carry Internet Explorer." And since it comes only six days after last Friday's hearing, we figured that Judge Jackson saw things pretty much the way the DoJ did. In his 19-page decision, he states that while "the government has failed to prove its case" that Microsoft was violating the consent decree by forcing the inclusion of IE on all Windows systems, he felt that "Justice has a strong likelihood of prevailing in the future." He has called for more evidence in order to settle the case. About the only part of the decision that benefits Microsoft is his denial of a DoJ request to release Wintel manufacturers from their nondisclosure agreements.

However, we then saw the coverage over at thessaSOURCE. And while the basic facts are the same (temporary cease-and-desist order, etc.), the spin is entirely different. ThessaSOURCE states that Judge Jackson "ruled against the Justice Department" and "rejected the DoJ's arguments completely and dismissed their civil contempt charge altogether." Sounds like a Microsoft victory in that light. So what's the real deal? Sigh... Legal interpretation is so much easier when watching L.A. Law...

Help us, please, somebody help us-- our collective heads are spinning like a top! Well, okay, not really. But it's interesting to hear from MacOS Rumors that Niehaus Ryan, Apple's PR firm, contacted them with the express purpose to put to rest the rumors that Apple would be announcing new NC's and a strategic alliance with Oracle at next month's MacWorld Expo. According to NH (via Rumors), Apple will blithely ignore the NC issue at that event, refusing to acknowledge that such a project even exists within its walls.

So let's see... it's widely assumed that an Oracle announcement was first scheduled for the November 10th announcement, and then pulled at the last minute. Then the announcement was expected at the upcoming January Expo, and now that's apparently off, too. The NC's were originally projected to appear in March, but we've now got to assume that we'll be waiting significantly longer to see these puppies.

That being said, is it portentous or merely noteworthy that NH tried to kill the rumors just one day after Oracle's stock dropped some 30%, following reports of lower-than-expected earnings? How about that timing, hmmm? Could the events be related? Nawwwww...