The thing about the 60-second "Think Different" commercial was this: People generally either loved it or hated it. And a lot of the people who hated it grew to love it. So it's not entirely surprising to us that, according to MacCentral, Apple's only commercial in recent memory took second place in USA Today's recent survey of creative directors for ad agencies.

Although "Think Different" came in second, it was actually beaten by three other campaigns who each tied for first: the "Roach Motel" and "Haircut" ads for HBO, the "Dick" commercials for Miller Lite, and last but not least, the "Da Da Da" ads for Volkswagen (probably the first car company to market its vehicles--successfully--as the choice of people who have no life). Maybe it's just us, but we would like to see the "Dogs Love Trucks" campaign for Nissan up there, too.

Anyway, if that's not enough evidence that the "Think Different" ad touched a nerve, there's a little more on the subject over at Don Direct. Don Crabb talked to someone in CBS' marketing department about their "Think Funny" parody ad, and apparently their research showed that not only had a lot of people seen Apple's original, the overall measured response was "quite positive." Positive enough, presumably, to justify parodying it. After all, it doesn't pay to parody something no one's ever heard of.

Man oh man, the net is abuzz with reports and commentary on Microsoft's "compliance" with Judge Jackson's preliminary injunction, which prohibits them from requiring Wintel manufacturers to ship Internet Explorer on all Windows 95 systems. We particularly like the San Jose Mercury News' coverage. Apparently Microsoft feels that it is complying by offering its licensees three choices:

1. Ship the current version of Windows 95 with Internet Explorer, just as they have previously been forced to do.
2. Ship the current version of Windows 95 with all IE files deleted-- which renders the system unbootable.
3. Ship the original version of Windows 95 without IE-- which works "fine," if your definition of "fine" ignores the massive wealth of bugs bursting forth from that two-year-old initial release.

Gee, which option do you suppose Dell, Gateway, et al will "choose?"

Microsoft's critics and apologists alike are reportedly up in arms over this transparent attempt to skirt the injunction. An anonymous DoJ official states that this half-assed policy "does not comply with the judge's decree." Microsoft's main mouthpiece Bill Neukom, however, throws his hands up in the air and claims that Microsoft can offer no other options than the three listed above that would still comply with the judge's orders. Well, what about a current version of Windows 95 without the IE icon on the desktop? "No, that's not an option we're providing," says Brad Chase over in Internet Marketing. And why, pray tell, is that? Because that still leaves IE on the system, which goes against the judge's orders.

We simply refuse to believe that Microsoft lacks the technical ability to make the current version of Windows 95 run without IE installed. And we fail to see what they can possibly gain by so obviously flauting the judge's decision. But if this keeps up, we may soon get to answer the question, "Who would win a war between the U.S.A. and Microsoft?"

AtAT addicts may have noticed that recent episodes have been, shall we say, a bit of a downer lately. Chalk it all up to holiday depression, I suppose... But whatever the cause, after yesterday's unchecked torrent of rampant negativity, faithful viewer Dave Brutscher called us on our unseasonal behavior and sent us a reality check:

"I was at a CompUSA store today. The sales manager says there were more Mac G3's going out the door than any other single brand PC."

That little nugget really does help put things into a bit of perspective. Yes, Apple's still in trouble. But even a quick mental comparison of its state now versus three short months ago (and we'll be doing just that once our Jobs Countdown reaches zero) should underscore to just about everyone that Apple's on an upswing, no matter what its stock price is.

So Happy Holidays, everybody, and remember-- while G3's make a great gift, a few shares of AAPL might be worth considering, too-- especially while it's hovering around 14 and change. Ka-ching!