Do we even need to link to a source? The news is all over the web like a bad rash: As revealed by Steve "I'm Dramatic!" Jobs at the end of his Expo keynote, Apple expects to post a $45 million profit for the last calendar quarter of 1997. Key factors in the turnaround were spectacular sales of the G3 Powermacs (133,000 sold since November 10th, vs. Apple's projected 80,000) and, surprisingly, increased sales of Macs in CompUSA following their "salon store" commitment (Mac sales rose from 3% of CompUSA's total sales to 7% in stores still awaiting their new Apple section, and to an incredible 14% in CompUSAs outfitted with the new "store within a store" sections). For those of you who really, really need a source for this info, we humbly suggest our buddies at MacCentral, who've posted a wonderful Expo Keynote Report, which covers the whole Jobs keynote-- not just the great news at the end.

From what early analysis we've seen, it seems that this profit is real profit, and not just the result of some creative figure-juggling to qualify for a Christmas bonus, á là Gilbert Amelio. Now all that remains to be seen is if Apple can sustain this new-found profitibility through the next quarter-- typically Apple's toughest of the year. We at AtAT are pretty confident that can happen.

There's a bittersweet side to this victory, though... Steve's announcement effectively "steved" our quarterly "Beat the Analysts" contest, in which viewers register their guesses as to the final numbers to be posted by Apple for the past quarter in order to compete for fabulous prizes from our Baffling Vault of Antiquity.™ Guess we'll have to wait for next quarter. Way to step on our buzz, Steve. :-/

Yet despite his triumphant keynote address, all was not perfect in Steve's day today. Shortly after his speech, he was interviewed on CNBC by tech reporter Bruce Francis, and the interview, shall we say, took a nasty turn. According to thessaSOURCE, when Francis wouldn't stop badgering Steve about the CEO issue, Steve decided it was time to leave.

"We weren't going to talk about this," said the harried (and hairy!) Steve, as he got up and left in a snit. Francis had repeatedly been asking about the CEO search, saying the many people felt that the whole thing was in "disarray." Apparently he couldn't just accept Steve's simple disagreement with that opinion, and when he pushed further and asked Steve if he had fully ruled out becoming the permanent CEO, Steve walked. We only wish we had seen it ourselves; we live for stuff like that.

C'mon, what's an episode of AtAT without at least one semi-childish and potentially-embarrassing public act by one of the major cast members?

Meanwhile, back to "Redmond Justice." Is Judge Jackson trying to sneak in a ringer? Faithful viewer Bob Rodenburg pointed us to a Washington Post article which describes Microsoft's dismay at Jackson's choice of a "special master." Last month Judge Jackson appointed Harvard law professor and "technology expert" Lawrence Lessig to examine the facts in the infamous Internet Explorer dispute. Apparently Microsoft's less than thrilled with the prospects of Lessig having any say in the case's outcome

Why? Because, they claim, Lessig has "preconceived notions" about Microsoft. As evidence of this, they point to email that Lessig has sent to--gasp!--a Netscape employee. (Makes sign of the cross and spits over left shoulder.) The DoJ says, of course, that it's perfectly natural for a tech expert to know someone who happens to work at Netscape. (And after all, where are you ever going to find a technology expert who has zero preconceived notions about Microsoft?)

We're sure that our faithful viewers find it plain to see the real reason that Microsoft is sweating the Lessig appointment: Professor Lessig is a Mac user! And after spending a July day dealing with ensuing problems after installing IE on his Mac, in an email message to Netscape's global public policy counsel, Lessig wrote, "Ok, now this is making me really angry..." What do you think? Is the judge stacking the deck against Microsoft? After all, it could just be a coincidence-- a lot of Mac users who installed IE on their systems spent some time cursing Microsoft thereafter...