What better way to celebrate the 45th birthday of Steve Jobs than by taking a fascinating glimpse into what the man does behind closed corporate doors? We all know the public Steve Jobs, Master of Keynotes-- Mr. Reality Distortion Field who could sell those free AOL CD-ROMS at ten bucks a pop to a crowd of Steve Case clones. We get fewer chances to revel in Uncle Steve's more "mercurial" side, though. Sure, we all know it's there, and we've all heard the stories; he makes people cry during job interviews, shouts at his underlings, throws things, etc. But it's not the side of Steve that makes it into the press very often.

That's why we're giddy like schoolgirls at Wired's article titled "Fear and Trembling in Silicon Valley," first mentioned to us by faithful viewer Matthew Guerrieri. The focus of the article is the "Redmond Justice" case, including the behind-the-scenes events that led up to the filing of the suit. Even if that were all the article did, we'd be happy-- especially since the early days of "Redmond Justice" were the best. But what really makes this Wired piece special is the nice little peek we get into Uncle Steve's role in the events that played out. Drama, conflict, big bucks, naughty language-- it's all here, folks.

Following from the premise that "without [Microsoft] Office, Apple is dead," Wired examines how Steve has had to bow to Bill Gates's wishes in order to keep the Mac platform alive; remember that "deal" in 1997? Microsoft continues to make Office for the Mac provided that Internet Explorer replaces Netscape Navigator as the Mac's default web browser. We imagine that kind of strongarming doesn't sit well with someone like Steve, so it's no particular surprise that when a government lawyer met with him in the spring of 1998 to discuss the possibility of filing an antitrust lawsuit, Jobs reportedly blew up. "The government is bullsh*t! The government is bullsh*t!" he exclaimed. (Pardon the censorship, but while the AtAT staff cusses like a pack of sailors with Tourette's Syndrome off-camera, this is still a family show.) "You guys have done nothing, you haven't figured it out, you've been too slow, you'll never change anything."

Then, following a long tirade about how Microsoft was "chilling innovation" and "poisoning" the industry, Steve dropped the bombshell: if the government would file suit and try to break up Microsoft, he would personally donate ten million dollars to help them pull it off. How about that? Steve actually put a price on Bill's head, and the Justice Department's the hired gun. Zowie...

The rest of the article focuses primarily on Steve's reluctance to attach himself publicly to the trial; for instance, he didn't testify personally, but sent Avie Tevanian instead. Hey, the man's no fool; who hires a high-priced hit man and then involves himself personally in the act of murder? All we can say is, we've got a whole new appreciation for "Redmond Justice" after getting this little glimpse into Steve's part in setting the stage. Happy Birthday, Steve-- and thanks for a rollicking great story.

For a long time now, all Macs have shipped with plenty of Internet software pre-loaded. For web browsers, both Netscape Communicator and Internet Explorer ship standard-- though IE's the default these days. Email and UseNet? Again, there's Communicator, and Outlook Express-- and again, guess which is the default? When it comes to picking a service provider, there have long been several choices as well. The Mac OS itself includes everything one needs to connect to the standard dial-up ISP of one's choice, but to make things simple for novices who are signing up for their first ISP, Macs have shipped with both AOL's client software and the EarthLink set-up application. Now, think real hard, now... which of those two do you suppose just got the axe? (Hint #1: Apple recently partnered with EarthLink as part of its Internet strategy. Hint #2: If you haven't guessed by now, you may want to adjust the dosage on your medication.)

Yes, it's the end of an era: for the first time in many, many years, Macs are shipping sans AOL. According to a Tech Info Library article, "AOL is no longer included on new hardware from Apple. This started with the updated Power Mac G4, iBook, and PowerBook (FireWire) products introduced at the Tokyo MacWorld [sic] Expo in February, 2000." Interestingly enough, the TIL article in question seems to have been pulled, and attempts to load it result in an "Entry not found in index" error. Suppose Steve Case made a phone call to Cupertino? Even if AOL's software is no longer shipping on new Macs, we suppose it's possible that Case wasn't thrilled with that fact being expressed so bluntly on Apple's web site.

In any event, it's definitely the case that your brand new iBook, PowerBook, or G4 is AOL-free (unless you count AOL Instant Messenger, which is probably on there as part of the Netscape distribution). That means that if you really want to use AOL on your nice, new Mac (again, you may want to check that dosage), you're going to have to install the software yourself. That means you're either going to have to download the AOL installer via another ISP, or you're going to have to find the installer on a CD-ROM somewhere... Lord knows where you'd find something as rare as that. There aren't even any on eBay that haven't been turned into clocks. We'd offer to send you one of ours, but the six that aren't all under coffee mugs are stacked up under the short leg of the kitchen table, and nothing irks us more than wobbly furniture. Sorry.

The Windows 2000 woes continue. First of all, we should mention that the Win2K virus mentioned in yesterday's episode was not the first one discovered; faithful viewer Horst Prillinger restored our shaken faith by pointing out this CNET article, which reported the identification of the real first Win2K virus way back on January 13th-- more than a month before the operating system's actual debut. Thank goodness! It gave us the willies to think that the first such virus could actually have come out nearly a week after the product itself. Now all's right with the world.

Now, on a related note, faithful viewer Chad brought another interesting tidbit to our attention. A Network World Fusion article reports that applications for Windows 2000 are rather few and far between. Let's put it this way: you know how empty the shelf looks when you try to buy Mac software at the local CompUSA? That's nothing compared to the lack of third-party software certified for Windows 2000. To date, only twenty-seven such titles exist. Twenty-seven! There are fewer Windows 2000-certified applications than there are flavors of ice cream at Baskin-Robbins.

Okay, okay, to be fair, Windows 2000 can still run the 7000 programs that are "compatible," but only "certified" software can use Windows 2000's new features. And if applications can't use a new operating system's new features, why would anyone bother to upgrade to Windows 2000 in the first place? So yeah, apparently lots of people are holding off on upgrading due to a lack of software. We think Chad said it best: "Finally, after years and years, I've heard someone say, 'You know, I'd like to get a Windows system, but there's just no software for it.'"