Power Computing is firing back at former vendor TCI, who recently slapped them with a $42.75 million lawsuit for exiting the Mac clone business, and thus stranding TCI with millions of dollars of unsellable merchandise. A BusinessWire article has Power's reaction to the suit.

TCI is really suing Power for allegedly "unfairly canceled" orders, but Power CEO Stephen Kahng says that all purchase orders from Power state that the buyer is allowed to cancel the order as long as they provide written notice at least thirty days before the scheduled delivery date. And Kahng says that's just what Power did.

Kahng goes a little further, and speculates that the real reason for the TCI lawsuit is to try to "renege on the $1.1 million debt that TCI currently owes Power Computing." However this mess ends up, it's not a pretty situation for either company; while TCI has laid off all but 6 employees, Power is rumored to be floundering badly as it attempts to enter the highly-competitive Wintel market. (Some would surmise that Power's woes are bad karma traceable back to their public announcement that they would ship NT/Intel servers in addition to Mac clones.)

Wheeee, Ralph Nader is one cool guy. Not too many individuals would take it upon themselves to tackle Microsoft for its "predatory ways" in the interests of consumers everywhere. Take a look at his recent article in Slate, in which he enumerates several ways in which Bill & Co. are eroding the rights of computer-using consumers.

Among Nader's charges: That while never having been "known for its innovations," M$ operating systems are running on about 90% of the world's personal computers; that as M$ has dominated one desktop market after another, there has been "far less innovation" in those markets; that M$ has the inside track on developing applications that work best with M$ OSes; that M$ is undermining Sun's Java initiative in an attempt to maintain control on the desktop software market; that M$ is trying to monopolize the browser market by creating and giving away MSIE; etc. etc. etc. And he gives links to plenty of examples.

This is all in preparation for his big Appraising Microsoft Conference, to be held in D.C. in a couple of weeks. If anyone can raise public awareness of Microsoft's business practices, it's Ralph.

Goodness, seems we've opened up a can of worms. Yesterday we asked if anyone knew how to pronounce "Rincon," the code name for the new PPC G3 variant rumored to be destined for Apple's upcoming PowerExpress line of high-end Macs. Well, a lot of faithful viewers know. Or think they know.

While JR. Cortez tells us that it's pronounced "reen-KONE," Mike Cowan says that "Rincon is pronounced Rin-con (Rin like rim and con like con-artist)." Adam Gillitt sides with Mike: "Rincon is the name of a shopping center/condo complex in downtown sf... its pronounced RIN(G)-con, rhyming with king kong (sort of)..." But AtAT buddy Brian Breslin of Mac-Mania agrees with JR: "Hey you asked how "rincon" is pronounced, well it means corner in spanish. It is pronounced reen-cone, not rin-cun."

Thanx, guys-- it's crystal-clear now. ;-) AtAT is proposing that the code name be changed to avoid potential bar brawls over the name's pronunciation. May we humbly nominate "Tater Tot"? (Hmm, we sense a potential contest basis...)