Oh, for the good old days of the Clone Wars, when high drama was the order of the day and you couldn't click through two links without reading about Apple doing something worthy of being on the Young and the Restless. Thank goodness for nostalgia (and SEC filings)! The Austin American-Statesman reveals that while Power Computing COO Joel Kocher spent this summer publicly damning Apple for "taking away the consumer's right to choice," CEO Steve Kahng was already in negotiations with Apple to sell off its Mac OS business.

Power's is a story of dizzying highs and mindbending lows. After a spectacularly successful beginning in the Mac clone market, things started to sour last spring, when Power started to post unexpected losses. The losses mounted as Power spent more and more cash in preparation for opening a new corporate headquarters, and filing an IPO. But then Apple's growing dissatisfaction over the licensing issue came to a head, with Steve Jobs eventually halting certification of new designs not three weeks after MacWorld Expo, at which event Joel Kocher was extremely (and often inappropriately) vocal about his feelings towards Apple's kung-fu grip. And it was only shortly before the Expo that Steve Kahng had started talking to Jobs about a sale.

Jobs was none too pleased with Kocher's public outbursts, and told Kahng that the firebrand's comments were "going to cost [him] something." Sound like a vindictive and petulant comment? Whether or not Job's anger cost Power any money in the eventual deal is anyone's guess-- but we think a lot of people would guess "heck yeah." Unsurprisingly, Joel Kocher resigned just a few weeks after his MacWorld Expo shenanigans, citing "irreconcilable differences" with the way upper management was dealing with the licensing stall. Apparently selling out wasn't in his game plan.

Apple Recon has more information on the mysterious visit to Apple by turnaround artist Lee Iacocca a couple of weeks ago. They still hold the opinion (as do most of us) that Lee may have been a candidate for CEO, but wouldn't take the position without also being named Chairman of the Board. Which, of course, wouldn't wash with Jobs, who wants ultimate power over Apple without the responsibility of the head slot. But recently Recon received information that makes one of the alternate explanations for Lee's visit more likely.

Recon has learned that the MacWorld Expo keynote will be an "extended" one, with "sequential" keynote celebrities lined up to speak. That supports the theory proposed to us by more than one faithful AtAT viewer that since Lee and Steve are friends, that Lee was touring Apple in preparation for a guest spot at the MacWorld Expo, where he would say something along the lines of "if I could save Chrysler, Steve can save Apple." Sounds plausible enough.

So assume for a second that Lee will speak at the Expo. Who else is on the guest list?

Remember how we were unsure whether or not the first ruling by Judge Jackson was better for Microsoft or for the Justice Department? Well, according to the Computer Reseller News, no less a consumer advocate than Ralph Nader himself called the decision "a serious loss for the Justice Department." Ouch!

Nader, who already felt that the DoJ should have gone bigger with its complaint against Microsoft, is particularly disappointed that Jackson stopped short of issuing the $1 million-a-day fine, and also feels that the judge should have lifted the nondisclosure agreements from Microsoft's licensees so that they could give useful and accurate testimony. Now, the DoJ essentially needs to start from scratch to make any dent in Microsoft's business practices.

Ironically (and not just a little portentously), Nader is quoted as saying that Jackson "has given Microsoft the second bite of the apple." Just how many bites does our Apple have left?