Wow, we had the strangest dream last night... We were sitting in the middle of this big, open field watching "America's Funniest Microsoft Trial Videos" on TV when a little bird sent email to our iBook. And that bird claimed to have all sorts of privileged info about what was going on inside the walls at One Infinite Loop-- including what surprises Steve has up his sleeve for the big Macworld Expo keynote coming up in a few weeks. It all seemed so real, we felt we just had to share these insights with you just in case it wasn't so much a dream as it was a premonition. (Is this goofy premise just a thinly-veiled attempt to protect a real inside source with what may be true and startling information? Hey, that's for you to decide-- we just work here.)

Anyway, here's what that little bird told us: Yes, the "Pismo" PowerBook will be unveiled, with availability set for a couple of months later. Yes, the entire Power Mac G4 line will be speed-bumped, at least back to where it was before the Great Megahertz Theft of 1999, and possibly higher. But most interestingly of all, Apple Computer will be changing its name-- to Apple. Just Apple. Whether you're a Freudian or a Jungian, it's not hard to interpret what that would mean; Apple plans to formalize its diversification, 'cause the Apple logo ain't just for Macs anymore. Our dream was deliciously vague on details, but think QuickTime. Think Internet and "My Apple." And think about a collaboration with a huge graphics company and what that might entail. Unfortunately, just before we could read more about it, our iBook turned into a flaming giraffe and wandered off in search of an iced tea.

Sadly, the dream ended with nary a mention of any Apple-Palm device, so even our collective subconscious has apparently given up hope on that one. This whole vision ended with us suddenly sitting naked in a high school classroom staring at the final exam for a math class we'd never attended as all of our teeth started falling out, but that's just par for the course. But the question remains: was it just a dream, or is Steve's keynote going to seem strangely familiar as it takes place onstage at the Moscone Center? (If he brings out a flaming giraffe, we're setting up our own psychic hotline.)

Now wait just a darn minute, here-- something stinks in Redmond, and it ain't Love Plumbing and Remodel's consumer report on low-flow toilets. Microsoft announces that they've completed Windows 2000 and suddenly the company's stock shoots through the roof-- it's up 16 points or so since the news first broke. (Evidently, after so many delays, investors were shocked and amazed that the project actually got finished.) That's all well and good for Captain Bill, whose pockets get even bulgier with each successive MSFT improvement. In the meantime, Apple's stock has been floundering for the past week, losing about 20 points off its all-time high of 118; at least some of that might have to do with Windows 2000's little press party. It's clear that the very act of finishing Windows 2000 is a real boost for the Redmond Giant, especially given all of the positive press this occasion is receiving-- and that's where we've got a little problem.

For instance, in yesterday's episode we noted that the high-traffic Barnes & Noble online store was being served by systems running a beta version of Windows 2000-- a testament to that operating system's stability and scalability. We got that info from a Wall Street Journal article we cited, and we simply assumed it was true; why would the Wall Street Journal lie? We quote: "Barnesandnoble.com, a joint venture of Barnes & Noble Inc. and Bertelsmann AG of Germany, is running its entire Web-based bookselling operation on a prerelease version of Windows 2000 with no problems, said Gary King, Barnesandnoble.com's chief information officer."

Except that eagle-eyed faithful viewer Russell Swan decided to check for himself, so he had Netcraft report what server software Barnesandnoble.com was running. What do you know? "www.barnesandnoble.com is running Microsoft-IIS/4.0 on NT4 or Windows 98." And it's not just the home page; shop.barnesandnoble.com says the same thing. At first we just figured that maybe beta versions of Windows 2000 simply showed up as NT4, but then we decided to check shop.microsoft.com: "shop.microsoft.com is running Microsoft-IIS/5.0 on Windows NT5 beta." So we have to wonder-- what's up with Barnesandnoble.com's bogus claims? What are they getting from Microsoft in return for lying to the press-- free tech support when Windows 2000 misbehaves (when they actually start using it)?

Boy howdy, you know Apple's in the big leagues now; sure, they may not be getting nailed on antitrust issues here in the U.S., but overseas and across the border it's another matter. Recently it came to light that the Japanese FTC raided the offices of Apple Japan, searching for evidence that the company was withholding merchandise from resellers who refused to comply with Apple's minimum pricing policy. And now it appears that Apple Canada faces an antitrust lawsuit in the Great White North, brought against them by a former Apple dealer alleging monopolistic business tactics. Sure, it's a far cry from a high-profile Justice Department-and-19-states "Redmond Justice" situation, but it's a start, right?

According to ehMac, Computer Buyer's Warehouse Direct claims that after Apple had initially approved the CBWD 100-page catalog, they then rescinded their approval and barred the company from "advertising pricing for any Apple products within the catalog or from shipping Apple systems outside an approximate 200 km radius of their Markham, Ontario location." Then Apple Canada allegedly set up an "out-of-territory sale" on purpose, and when the sale was completed, they used that as a reason to terminate CBWD's authorized reseller status. Holy entrapment, Batman, eh? The antitrust stuff comes into play because CBWD's elimination leaves Canadians with only one catalog source for Macs: MacWarehouse.

Valid complaint or frivolous grudge-suit? You be the judge... but, of course, your opinion doesn't count for squat. It'll be interesting to see what a real judge's take on the situation is, and whether CBWD will get the $5 million Canadian they're going after. Meanwhile, why do you suppose Apple Canada seems so keen on keeping MacWarehouse as the only Canadian Mac catalog reseller? We don't know anything about CBWD, so we're not going to speculate on whether or not they're up to snuff, but as long as it's not a Best Buy type of thing going on, we figure the more ways for people to buy Macs, the better.