Well, so much for heady optimism. Those of you who donned your rose-colored (or is that Strawberry-flavored?) glasses and peered through them looking for the best of all possible worlds-- i.e. new iMacs at NECC-- may be facing some mild disappointment today. This was, after all, the date of Uncle Steve's keynote address at the National Educational Computing Conference 2001. What's that? You missed it? Well, if you were hoping for some big Stevenote-sized announcements of massive import to Mac users the world over, then trust us: actually, you didn't miss a thing.

Not that it came as any particular shock to us, mind you, but there were no new iMacs joining Steve onstage this morning. Slightly more surprising, however, is the fact that there were no new anythings unveiled; at the very least, we expected a rebranded and updated version of PowerSchool, the student information package that Apple bought in a mad splurge back in March. We figured, if nothing else, that Steve would finally reveal what Apple is planning to do with that not-so-mysterious ISCHOOL.COM domain name that Apple snagged back in January. But noooooo.

Instead, Steve's dog and pony show was all about Apple's "commitment to students, teachers, and administrators," and focused exclusively on existing technologies. On the student side, he talked up AirPort-enabled iBooks, for example, which our glorious CEO calls "the future" of the computer-aided classroom. (According to Steve, at least, Apple is number one in education notebook sales, as well as in wireless connectivity.) Teachers, on the other hand, should be drooling all over Apple's "digital hub" strategy, which allows them to use devices like digital cameras and DV camcorders together with iTools, iMovie, and iDVD to make learning fun and effective. For administrators, there's PowerSchool-- yes, the same old PowerSchool-- to make "real-time, centralized, Web-based" student information tracking... um... well, fun and effective.

And that was it, technologically speaking. Ah, well; more for Macworld Expo, right? In a way, we're glad that nothing earthshattering happened at NECC, because we would have missed it completely. The alleged "live webcast" was completely and utterly broken, as far as we could make out (maybe they should have used QuickTime instead of Real), so instead of basking in His Steveness's digitized and compressed glory, we relied on MacNN to get us the goods instead. But at the Expo, you can bet your sweet bippies we're going to be live, in person, and as close to the stage as possible, not only to bathe in Steve's life-sustaining Reality Distortion Field, but also to get a good glimpse of the new iMac-- which had better show up at the Javits Center then, or we're gonna have to bust some heads.

Don't get us wrong-- just because Steve didn't have any hot new products to show off at NECC, that doesn't mean there wasn't any actual news going on. Those of you who were hoping for new iMacs, the rebirth of the eMate, or Steve's onstage dramatic reading of Ashton Kutcher's heartwrenching Oscar-worthy monologue from "Dude, Where's My Car?" were sorely disappointed, but those of us with more realistic expectations at least came away with some encouraging usage stats. For instance, we all know that PowerSchool isn't an Apple-developed product, but then again, in some ways neither is iTunes, iMovie, or Mac OS X, for that matter. So we still take it as a good sign when Apple announces that PowerSchool now boasts another "nearly 500,000 students."

Yes, pretty much the only actual announcement at this morning's Stevenote revealed that three more school districts have signed on to use PowerSchool, Apple's recently-acquired student information system that "gives teachers, administrators, and districts the ability to easily and cost-effectively manage student records and make data-driven decisions to improve performance of their schools while allowing parents to track their children's progress in real time." (In other words, if little Johnny wants to change his D to a B, the days of faking Teacher's handwriting are over; he's going to have to learn the ins and outs of compromising the security of network servers, which is a far more marketable job skill than petty analog forgery anyway.)

The latest districts to hop on the PowerSchool bus are: California's Fremont Union High School District (five schools, roughly 9,000 students); the Archdiocese of Baltimore (100 schools, 37,000 students); and the biggie-- Chicago Public Schools, with a whopping 601 schools and over 434,000 students. That's right, people; apparently every single public school in the City of Big Shoulders will soon be using PowerSchool to manage its student records. Hopefully landing such a huge account will help Apple persuade other districts that PowerSchool has enough "oomph" for them, as well. And then Apple's real motive for buying PowerSchool kicks into gear: suddenly the company's got its foot in the door to sell a slew of hardware along with its student records system. "Would you like a side order of iBooks with that PowerSchool, sir?" Once that happens, booting Mike Dell off the education throne is just a hop, skip and a psychotic bawling tantrum away.

Bet you thought we were through with the hand-wringing over Adobe's decision to bail on next month's Macworld Expo, right? Well, not quite... we've still got a bit of angst left in us. After all, first the company which produces the most important graphics applications for the Mac platform drags its feet in a sheepishly noncommittal manner when it comes to cranking out Mac OS X ports of its products. Then it announces that it's skipping Mac OS X's "coming-out party" due to "budget constraints." Well, that makes us a mite edgy... not to mention suspicious.

Okay, we know that ever since Steve moved the summer Expo from Boston to New York a few years back, exhibiting at said show costs an arm, a leg, two lungs, a kidney, and six pineal glands. And we're also well aware that most tech companies are in a bit of a financial pinch right now. Still, for Adobe to skip an Expo for the first time in years-- especially an Expo as strategically crucial to Apple's plans for the platform's future as this one is-- well, let's just say that the timing is darned unfortunate. But hey, if Adobe's out of cash and can't afford to exhibit at a trade show in the Big Apple, that's all there is to it. It certainly doesn't say anything about the company's lack of commitment to the Mac these days, right?

Wrong. Because Adobe did have the cash to exhibit at a New York trade show, and it didn't blow it all on penny whistles and moon pies. Instead, Adobe blew it all on-- ready for this?-- exhibiting at a New York trade show. As faithful viewer Jay pointed out, while Adobe is conspicuously absent from the Macworld Expo's exhibitor list, the company's name clearly graces the PC Expo exhibitor list... not once, but twice. In other words, Adobe lacks the necessary funds to attend our Expo, but has plenty of green to slap up a booth or two at a less Mac-centric New York show.

Now, we seriously doubt that PC trade shows are somehow less expensive than Mac ones-- especially when both events are in the same city and in the same convention center. It sure looks to us like Adobe made a choice-- and that choice was to go to PC Expo instead of Macworld Expo. Maybe it's just us, but that doesn't sound like the choice of a company that's overly gung-ho about supporting our platform. We know, we know... realistically, the company needs to spend its money where its going to generate the highest return on investment, and that may well mean PC Expo. But that doesn't mean we gotta like it.