We know that many, many of you are big fans of Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 for the Mac, even if you're not necessarily fans of the company who put it together. That's fine; everyone's entitled to an opinion, and even though we're currently cursing that product down to its fruit-flavored icons for its buggy DHTML support, you're perfectly free to use any web browser you want-- for now, anyway. While yesterday's rumors of the disbanding of IE5's development team fazed us not one whit, we imagine it may have sent more than a few Mac surfers into a virtual tizzy.

Didn't you hear about this? Reports were flying that the those hardy geeks responsible for delivering what some people are calling the best web browser ever had been summarily disbanded. MacInTouch sources claimed that some of the developers had been absorbed into the (gag) WebTV group, of all things, while others were pounding the virtual pavement holding signs that said "Will Code For Stock Options." Worse yet, rumors spread that Microsoft was discontinuing further development of IE for the Mac entirely. Consternation! Uproar! Suppose Bill was upset that IE5 for the Mac was arguably better than the same product for his own operating system? Or maybe, now that he's pretty much crushed Netscape like a grape, he's decided that there's little reason to keep pouring resources into a free product for a niche market that generates zero income. Assuming the rumors are true, it'll be interesting to see if the Unix version of IE sticks around.

By the end of the day, official word from Microsoft's PR department had attempted to dispel the rumors, however; according to MacCentral, the team is "still together," they're still working on future versions of IE for the Mac, and all that happened was an internal reorganization-- which places the Mac IE team under the WebTV umbrella. For those of you who find that "positive" news more than a little foreboding, trust us; you're not alone. The idea, we suppose, is that some of IE5's coolness will hopefully rub off on the WebTV browser, but the reverse seems just as likely to us.

Besides which, even if you would consider the reorg as good news, we hope you aren't the kind of stooge who accepts everything that Microsoft PR says at face value. MacInTouch has followup confirmation from two other sources who refute Microsoft's claim, insisting that "the team has in fact been broken up, there are no plans for future Mac versions of IE, and many team members are looking for new jobs, both inside and outside MS." So it looks like this little drama isn't quite over yet...

As you are no doubt aware, we at AtAT are a deep, pensive lot. We spend untold hours pondering life's great mysteries and trying to coax meaning from the seemingly senseless-- like, if the Professor could build a fully-functional cuisinart out of coconuts in a matter of hours, how come he couldn't build a frickin' boat? Actually, in the time the castaways were marooned on that island, a man of his obvious genius should have been able to construct a fully-functional time distortion gate out of reeds and palm leaves so he could have gone back in time and never gotten on the ill-fated three-hour tour in the first place.

See? We're deep, no doubt about it. And these days, when we're not deconstructing the cunningly-veiled representation of the Holy Trinity on "Three's Company" or contemplating our navels, we're trying to figure out why Apple has apparently decided not to webcast the keynote address from next week's Worldwide Developers Conference. After all, one of the company's own crown jewels is that versatile multimedia architecture known as QuickTime, now with Advanced Streaming Goodness™. Recent numbers show that QuickTime's getting hammered in the ratings by both of its competitors, RealVideo and Windows Media, so one would expect that Apple would jump at any chance to keep QuickTime's streaming capabilities in the public eye. Plus, the company has been advertising WWDC like mad, heralding it as a massive turning point for the Macintosh platform; why not share at least the keynote with the rest of the world? Even the "vanilla" online news outlets would likely provide some free publicity.

For those of you who think the key to this mystery lies in the realm of developers-only nondisclosure agreements, we say nay-- Apple has broadcast the keynote from every WWDC in the past, to the best of our knowledge. Even in the those dark days before the first webcasts crawled forth from the primordial soup, we're pretty sure that at least a satellite broadcast was available. No, there's some other reason that Apple's decided to keep a lid on the festivities this year. That's either discouraging or slightly portentous, depending on your point of view; you can either assume that Apple's got nothing interesting to show the world, or that even the keynote will be so chock-full of super-secret plans for world domination that all attendees will be blindfolded on the way into the conference hall. As far as mystery is concerned, the Missing WWDC Webcast is right up there with Regis Philbin's unfathomable appeal.

Bet you thought Apple wouldn't have to deal with much fallout from the ILOVEYOU virus, right? Mac users are fairly immune to that particular bug, after all, so the whole thing should have been pretty much a non-issue to Apple and its customer base. Instead, though, it looks like Apple's formidable legal team has been pulled into a Love Bug-related fray-- with one of the company's own supporters. "Share the strife," we always say.

According to MacNN, a German ad agency named Springer & Jacoby cooked up a little Apple spot of its own: the full-page print ad simply says, "Dear Windows user: 'We love you!'" and includes the Apple logo and the "Think different" slogan underneath. As far as ads go, it's relatively subtle; it digs at Windows users who struggled with ILOVEYOU infection while implying that Mac users had no such problems. At least, that's the intent; we can think of plenty of other interpretations, such as "Dear Windows user: we were the ones who made that virus," "Dear Windows user: we're laughing at your pain, so feel free to hate us," and "Dear Windows user: if you didn't catch the ILOVEYOU reference, you think this is a desperate plea for attention." Oh yeah, and here's one more: "Dear virus-writers: ILOVEYOU meant nothing to the Mac; betcha can't harm our platform, nyaah nyaah nyaah."

The possibility of misinterpretations is just one of the reasons that, when asked whether Springer & Jacoby could run the ad, Apple said no. (There's also the fact that Apple's logo and slogan appear prominently at the bottom of the page, making it look like a sanctioned Apple campaign, while Springer & Jacoby's name only appears sideways in tiny letters in the top right corner of the page.) But the ad agency apparently didn't take "no" for an answer, and ran it anyway; the full-page ad appeared on Wednesday in a prominent German newspaper. Apple is, understandably, a bit miffed. Miffed enough to "release the hounds" in the legal department, at least, to nail Springer & Jacoby for misappropriating Apple's trademarks.

Now, we know that there are going to be plenty of Mac fans unhappy with Apple for suing over this ad, but frankly, we can't fault them at all on this one. Springer & Jacoby asked for permission, Apple said no, and the ad agency ran the ad anyway. The ad blatantly passes itself off as coming from Apple when it does not. And it could potentially attract the ire of both Windows users who just think Apple's being snotty and virus writers who suddenly see a new challenge before them. When all's said and done, though, it is a pretty cool ad-- too bad the circumstances are so lousy.