Those of you who were following Steve Godun's apallingly Kafkaesque saga of trying to get Bell Atlantic to sell him a high-speed ADSL Internet connection to use with his Mac clone probably consider the story closed-- after all, Steve sure does. And it ended badly, following an apparent victory when BA posted information on its web site indicating that Mac support for its ADSL service would be available in mid-February. Unfortunately, mid-February came and went, and not only was Steve still unable to purchase the service, but he was also suddenly unable to get any of the BA reps with which he'd spoken to return his calls. Steve called it quits, and is looking for another DSL provider-- while he also switches his local phone service, not wanting anything more to do with Bell Atlantic. And, frankly, we can't blame him, because they treated him like a leper carrying an explosive device.

But one AtAT viewer (who shall remain anonymous) wrote in to say that Mac users should not give up on Bell Atlantic just yet. He claims to have a friend who is one of the primary Mac people on BA's staff-- and if you're surprised to hear that BA even has any Mac people, you're not alone. Our correspondent goes on to claim that several Mac folks within BA's ranks are "busting butt" to get widespread Mac support up and running, including finishing up the software they plan to use which will consistently report a correct Ethernet hardware address on Macs not connected to another network device. Reportedly, Steve Godun's final disappointed and bitter rant "really hurt a lot of BA people who really do care and like Macs" but who are fighting the classic bureaucracy of their company. We were told that anyone who's been following the whole Bell Atlantic ADSL story should just wait two weeks to see what happens.

We at AtAT feel that Bell Atlantic was 100% in the wrong in their treatment of a customer, but it concerns us that there really are Mac people in the BA trenches-- not the people that mistreated Godun-- who are trying hard to change things from within. For us, it's all sort of a moot point, since we're not in the market for an ADSL connection anyway, but we feel that we had to pass on our viewer's information: just because a corporation as a whole might show no concern, and the minions working the phones might not know how to treat a customer, that doesn't mean that there aren't people there who care about the Mac platform and who are working hard to get things done right. Our personal take on the whole thing is that we'd wait for the two weeks and see what happens; if there's no change, well, there's always Dale Sorensen's list of Mac-friendly DSL providers.

Vive La France! After all, the French have given us many things over the years, not the least of which are the Statue of Liberty, the film "Delicatessen," and a newfound appreciation for the comic genius of Jerry Lewis. ("Hey LLAAAADDDDDYYYYYYYYY!!!") "Oh, sure," you're saying right now, "but what have they done for us lately?" To answer that question, you need look no further than this Nando Media article, describing the French government's assertion that Windows 98 is-- prepare for a dramatic group gasp-- not Year 2000 compliant. Sacré bleu!

"So what?" we hear you say. (Boy, you guys sure can be whiney on a Monday morning!) "That's not news." Au contraire, mon frère-- to enlightened Mac fans like yourselves, it may come as no surprise that the latest version of Windows still has problems with the concept that the century's going to end, but Microsoft's Y2K web site lists all versions of Windows 98 as fully compliant, not "compliant with minor issues" as they sometimes say. Of course, there are "prerequisites" for the products to be considered compliant; for instance, the French version of Windows 98 (and presumably the others, too) needs the "Windows 98 Year 2000 Update" and the "Updated Microsoft Virtual Machine" in order to be considered compliant. Perhaps the French government didn't do their research and tested an un-updated machine, or maybe they really found some problems that escaped Microsoft's attention. At any rate, the fact that an entire government is yelling about Windows Y2K problems is sure to attract some attention-- and if Apple is really planning an ad blitz touting the Mac's millennium-readiness, now might be the time to capitalize on that publicity.

For its part, Microsoft France appears to be denying the government's allegations regarding Windows 98, though marketing chief Pascal Brier admits that Microsoft Works 4.5, the other product that the government claims failed their tests, is in fact not compliant. According to Brier, "only" seven percent of Microsoft's products will fail hard when 2000 rolls around, and a full third of the Microsoft product line will "experience minor problems." Hey, but two out of three ain't bad...

We at AtAT are currently trying to deal with our traditional post-Sweeps-Month doldrums. All the ratings-grabbing episodes are over, all the numbers have been tallied, and now the networks are airing reruns and more conventional fare. It's only natural that we'd feel a little depressed at the end of four weeks of nonstop televisual sex, violence, and surprises. Sure, we've got our memories-- the spurting wrist-stump on ER, the return of WillowVamp on Buffy, the incredibly confusing "revelations" on The X-Files-- but even such delightful memories as those are scant comfort from the knowledge that we're entering one of the troughs of the television season.

Take "Redmond Justice," for example: everyone's favorite antitrust courtroom drama certainly didn't disappoint any viewers in February. We had all that great stuff with government lawyer David Boies debunking Microsoft's video evidence-- not once, not twice, but three times. And is it mere coincidence that Microsoft finished with its last witness and rested its case on the last court day in Sweeps Month? We think not. That's right, both sides have now cranked through their allotted twelve witnesses, and Judge Jackson has called a month-long recess before the court reconvenes to hear the summing up. Which means that the show is on hiatus for the entire month of March, and fans will have to content themselves in the meantime with what we assume will be endless armchair analyses of the case so far and summaries of the highs and lows. For instance, there are already some good ones available from the Industry Standard and the Seattle Times-- it's more fun than reading Soap Opera Digest.

While we understand everyone's need for a good long rest, we're a little disappointed that the show's producers didn't take this opportunity to follow some of the characters into their private lives. For instace, the chief attorney on Microsoft's team, John Warden, pretty much went from the courthouse directly to the airport on Friday, eager to catch his plane to the Bahamas. Imagine the possibilities! The feckless Warden thrust into Magnum P.I.-like settings, trying to solve murder mysteries while wearing a stunning array of Hawaiian shirts. We'll just have to keep our fingers crossed and hope that they're filming it all for the next Sweeps Month.