Ah, geez, so much for thinking different... Not long after hearing that Apple had snagged the Dalai Lama's image for use in its semi-controversial ad campaign, we're now being told that the spiritual leader of Tibet is being dropped from the campaign in China. Wired News claims that Vincent Lum, Apple's Asia-Pacific marketing director, thinks the Dalai Lama isn't "well-known" in China. Instead, Apple's using the images of Alfred Hitchcock, Pablo Picasso, Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, and Amelia Earhart.

Waitaminnit... Amelia Earhart?! Sure, she's much more well-known in China than the Dalai Lama. If this all sounds more than a little suspicious to you, you're not alone. After all, Apple's got a much more likely reason for dropping the Dalai from the campaign in China-- like, maybe, not wanting to offend or alienate the Chinese government, whose fifty-year occupation of Tibet gives the Dalai Lama his raison d'être.

Not long after the, shall we say, "less than completely believable" excuse for the move hit the 'net, Apple rushed to (sort of) clarify the reasons for its decision. According to a Newsbytes article, Apple spokeswoman Rhona Hamilton attributed the confusion to possible "translation problems," and states clearly that the Dalai Lama was not dropped for Ameila Earhart. That's about all she said, though, implying strongly that Apple's playing a political game with its decision. Hmmmm...

We have to admit, as time goes on, we're less and less outraged by Microsoft's monopolistic moves and more and more entertained by them. Perhaps it's because they've seen just how little the government is doing to stop them; for whatever reason, though, their recent moves and statements have been so brash and shameless, they're really quite amusing. Take, for instance, their latest ploy to gain yet more market share for Internet Explorer: they're bribing small ISP's with free copies of Windows NT Server if those ISP's agree to "convert" at least 500 subscribers to IE. Read all about it at CNET.

Now, if this isn't a blatant example of Microsoft using its operating system software to establish a monopoly in another market, we don't know what is. Of course, Microsoft group product manager Bill Koszewski denies that, claiming that a couple of copies of NT server per ISP is "pretty limited" in a financial sense. Here's where it gets good: he claims this promotion is "like taping a package of snack chips to a bottle of Coke." Apparently Mr. Koszewski brown-bags it instead of buying lunch in the cafeteria, because he seems to think that a bag of chips costs about the same as a license for Windows NT and all the trimmings: about $1800. That's a lot of quarters for the vending machine, just to get a bag of Fritos.

In our personal opinion, Microsoft's giving away expensive software in order to establish a monopoly, and that's dumping. Dumping is illegal. Of course, given the Justice Department's super-tentative moves towards restraining Microsoft's anticompetitive behavior, we doubt it'll even come up. Heck, at this point we almost wouldn't want it to stop-- we wouldn't give up such great quotes for the world.

Just a quick note on the eagerly-awaited Wall Street Powerbooks, as mentioned in Mac the Knife's latest missive from L.A. County Jail. The Knife's jailhouse compadres confirm the dates that AtAT received from various unsavory sources, by claiming the release date for these sleek new laptops is May 6th. (Actually, the Knife was talking about Main Street, but they're all just "Powerbook G3's" as far as Apple's concerned-- all the cases and motherboards are the same, but the chip and screen are configurable.)

So we still have a solid three weeks to wait for the new portables to swoop in and take the world by storm. No matter; in the meantime, the images posted over at MacNN Reality will have to suffice. But there's one more incredibly cool thing listed in the Knife's report; apparently the big white Apple logo on Wall Street's case (as seen in this Reality photo) actually lights up when the machine is on. How freakin' cool is that?!

See, that's the Apple we're afraid of losing-- the one that isn't afraid to irritate the suits by draining battery power for a frivolous little gimmick like a light-up logo. Usefulness be damned-- this feature is cool. And we at AtAT are glad to see that Apple still has room for coolness. By the way, for those of you who were just itching to shell out $1999 for the lowest-end Main Street, you may be pleased to hear that, according to the Knife, you can shave another $200 off that price if you're doing time in an educational institution. 'Nuff said.