Originally we were just going to broadcast an addendum, but we're thinking this deserves the attention of a full-fledged scene... In yesterday's episode we voiced our concerns about Mac OS X's new Finder, which, we believed, eliminated the flexibility of today's Finder by restricting the user interface to a single window. As it turns out, we were misinformed; Steve actually noted onstage that Mac OS X's Finder did still allow multiple open windows-- he said something to the effect of "you can be the janitor if you want to be." That's great news to janitors like us, who rely on multiple open Finder windows to get our daily work done. Unfortunately, we missed that teeny little part of the keynote due to a QuickTime dropout. Here's an excerpt from our unedited notes:

Controls:  elements look liquid. Windows: window
buttons are red, yellow, and green.

Whole thing looks Kai-esque.

[Signal's breaking up.  NOOOO!!!  I have video and no sound.  But the
Aqua interface looks darn cool.]

Steve's apparently demoing live dragging, live scrolling, neat 3D
pop-out windows, etc.

[Now I have sound and no video.  Please, can't I have my cake and eat
it too?  --ed.]

Back button, search field right in open and save dialogs.  New view:
Browser view.

That's when it happened: feedback started pouring in from all over the place to correct our false impression. Literally dozens of faithful viewers wrote in to note Steve's "janitor" demo. Some mentioned witnessing multiple window support first-hand at the Expo. Heck, we even got mail from some of Apple's own programmers confirming multiple window support-- shhhh, don't tell Steve-- who claim it was not a trivial feature to put in. It was like the end of Miracle on 34th Street when all the bags of letters to Santa get delivered to the courthouse. So our fears of a single-window Finder weren't just allayed-- they were pretty much stomped into dust, and for that we're grateful. (We were also pleased to note that a sizeable proportion of AtAT feedback is arriving with Mac.com return addresses-- looks like iTools is off to a strong start.)

So what have we all learned from this? Well, for one thing, QuickTime 4 Streaming has a ways to go before it's a bulletproof informational medium. For another, we can always count on legions of faithful AtAT viewers to steer us straight (or, in some cases, flame us silly-- but in a good way!) when we're misinformed. And lastly, Apple would appear to deserve the benefit of the doubt-- even though nixing multiple-window support is exactly the kind of stunt that, to us, fits quite nicely with similar moves like foisting "Brushed Metal" on us all. Or completing the Mac OS Themes architecture and then never releasing the Themes themselves. Or lowering the speeds of the whole G4 line while keeping prices the same. Or... well, never mind. The good news is, Mac OS X is shaping up to be a killer, and we can't wait to see what this summer brings.

If you watched the keynote, you know that the big news was Mac OS X and Apple's new Internet strategy. But if you watched the keynote and thrive on Apple rumors, you know that the really big news was Pismo's no-show. Pismo, the next-generation PowerBook, was expected by everyone with a pulse, including several people at Apple, and its conspicuous absence left most of us wondering, "Why?"

Well, we received quite a bit of feedback from viewers with various claims to inside information, and some of it is rather interesting. We're not going to mention any names because we certainly wouldn't want to get anyone in trouble, but... several sources claim that Pismo, in its current form, runs a bit hot. Well, okay, more than a bit hot. Here's the thing: these folks are claiming that Pismo's internals are throwing off so much heat, the bottoms of the units are literally melting. If we had to come up with an expression to describe that phenomenon, we'd have to go with "not quite ready for prime time." Or maybe "of course we haven't announced them yet-- the frickin' things are melting, for crying out Pete's sake!"

Opinions about just how long it'll take Apple to smack Pismo into a useable state (as in, one that won't require oven mitts or skin graft surgery for users who operate these things on their laps) vary wildly, but at this point we're not holding our breath for Pismo to ship anytime soon. Maybe as late as May, even, but that's just our guess. And so the Apple portable curse continues-- nary a laptop emerges from Apple's labs unscathed by unseemly delays.

It's no news that Apple isn't "beleaguered" anymore, right? Apple suffered under the weight of that tag for years-- it was their own personal media albatross during the Scary Times. Things are much better now, of course, what with all the black ink, the rising sales, the kick-ass products, etc. As far as we know, Apple hasn't been referred to as "beleaguered" in years, thus freeing the term for application to less fortunate companies. "Beleaguered Compaq" is one of our personal faves right now.

But what's this? Thanks to faithful viewer Jim, we've been treated to a rare sight indeed: A Microsoft operating system actually being described as "beleaguered" in an honest-to-goodness CNET article. Okay, sure, the OS in question is Windows CE, which is indeed beleaguered by almost any sane individual's standards, but it's still remarkable to see such a thing happen in the "mainstream" press. It seems that Bill Gates was at a Consumer Electronics Show, introducing a new version of CE called "Pocket PC." (Microsoft no doubt is hoping to get away from the obvious and apt contraction, "WinCE.") Whether Pocket PC will be able to make a dent in Palm's handheld market share remains to be seen.

As for the rest of Bill's announcements, well, let's see-- there's a new electronic book that'll run Pocket PC using ClearType technology. You remember ClearType, right? The Microsoft font "innovation" that was actually used on the Apple ][? There's also the "Millennium" edition of Windows 98 that will include "Microsoft Movie Maker" for home video editing. Sound familiar? It must have to at least one member of the audience; when a speaker in Bill's video presentation said, "People need a company they can count on," somebody shouted, "Like Apple!" Sounds like Bill's minions still haven't been able to duplicate Steve's RDF in the lab...