It's official, now-- the profit that Steve Jobs reported at last week's MacWorld Expo has been posted, and surprise! It's even a little bigger than he said: $47 million instead of 45. The really interesting phenomenon, though, is seeing all the different "spin" imparted on the story by various news sources. Some articles, like the one by Bloomberg News, indicate that the profit is higher than expected, while others report it as "lower than analysts predicted." You may want to head over to MacSurfer's Headline News to check out the range of responses to the posted results.

Overall, we sense what we'd call "guarded optimism" about Apple's future. Most people are saying that the profit is good news, but it doesn't signify a turnaround unless it's sustainable. (Duh.) The other good news is that the profit really does appear to come in part from great sales of G3 Macs and higher gross margins, and not just from one-time cost-cutting measures. In the coming days, though, we're sure we'll see lots and lots of analysis on the final numbers...

By the way, it's good to see that in some quarters, at least, the obligatory anti-Apple sentiment is still alive and well. Take, for instance, CNet's coverage, which focuses almost entirely on negative aspects of Apple. It just wouldn't feel right if it were actually a positive piece. (We fear change.)

That karma wheel just may be taking Microsoft on a downward cycle. In today's episode of "Redmond Justice," the contempt hearing between Microsoft and the Justice Department finished up with the software giant poised precariously on the edge of a million-dollar-a-day cliff, and Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson poking them in the butt with a sharp stick.

Okay, maybe it's not quite that dramatic, but it's pretty clear that the judge is just plain out of patience when it comes to entertaining the specious arguments put forth by Microsoft's lawyers. A Techweb article describes an incredulous Judge Jackson asking Microsoft's counsel, "It was absolutely clear to you that I entered an order that required that you distribute a product that would not work?" Microsoft's lawyer responded, "In plain English, yes. We followed the order. It wasn't my place to consider the consequences." What a hoot... Both sides will present summaries on Monday and closing arguments on Thursday, and the judge is expected to issue a ruling within a week thereafter.

To add injury to insult, news.com reports that today Judge Jackson also denied Microsoft's request to disqualify Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig as a "special master" in the ongoing case, despite Microsoft's claims that Lessig is "biased" against them. So as of today, it seems that the official expert in this Microsoft anti-trust case is a Mac user. The possibilities boggle the mind, don't they? Lessig is already known to have gotten upset when installing Internet Explorer on his Mac screwed up his Netscape bookmarks; Microsoft had better hope that Lessig wasn't a Mac Word user who got burned by the "upgrade" from version 5.1a to 6.0, or the temptation to exact revenge will be far too great for a mere mortal to resist...

What the?!... We must say, it came as a bit of a surprise when we started noticing all the rumors about Claris selling off a slew of products and then being reabsorbed into Apple. For example, the buzz at MacOS Rumors is that Home Page may be bought by Netscape, Emailer will either be sold with Home Page or will simply be dropped, Filemaker Pro may be sold to Oracle, and ClarisWorks may be assimilated by Apple and renamed.

Rumors' take on the possible reorganization is that Apple is taking a page from Microsoft's book and is trying to bring their OS and application teams closer together, in hopes of using the strengths of each to bolster the other. Also, since Claris consistently does well financially, being able to list their profits on Apple's main ledger sheet could be incredibly helpful. All in all, it may be a very sound and well-reasoned idea.

Of course, as faithful viewers have no doubt guessed, that interpretation is a bit too staid for our tastes. We personally favor the excellent conspiracy theory put forth by MacTimes, who wonders, what if there was a secret clause to the Apple-Microsoft agreement last August? Like, for example, an "understanding" that Apple would rein in Claris from competing with Microsoft on the applications end of the software market? (Is that a second office suite over there by the grassy knoll?)