As we're sure you've noticed, everybody on the planet is writing about the iMac, Apple's newly-unveiled consumer-level Mac due for arrival within the next 90 days. And the good news is, just about all of the mainstream press has been positive. The article that probably made us happiest was this CNET article which describes retailers' reactions to the iMac announcement. The consensus is pretty gung-ho.

For instance, CompUSA CEO Jim Halpin plainly states that the iMac is "the sexiest computer [he's] ever seen," and that he expects CompUSA will have no problem selling "lots of them." And better still, he thinks that the sheer coolness factor of the iMac's design may well attract buyers who would otherwise buy a Wintel system. That's a good point, because many of us Apple-watchers have been thinking about the iMac as just another Mac from Apple, so it's easy to get caught up in saying, "But where are the PCI slots?" But to think of the iMac that way is to miss the point; it's got a completely different target market: those families who don't yet own a computer, probably don't know much about them, and most likely aren't even necessarily thinking about PCI slots, or even Windows vs. Mac OS. They want a computer that's low-cost, fast, internet-ready, easy to use, worry-free, and cool enough to keep the kids happy. The iMac has the potential to turn the whole consumer market on its head. In fact, we'd be willing to bet that Apple's place in the industry may look a whole lot different a year from now. (And we have a sneaking suspicion that those retailers who stopped selling Macs may get a certain sinking feeling in the pits of their stomachs when CompUSA reveals the sales figures for iMacs and Wall Streets early next year. Eat your heart out, Best Buy.)

As for the iMac being the "sexiest computer ever," well, we're not sure we agree with that. But we do admit that it's competing quite well for the top spot in our hearts-- the spot that's currently inhabited by NeXT's seamless black cube of yesteryear. Isn't it interesting that both machines were Steve Jobs' babies?

Okay, yes, as of right now, the iMac has no floppy drive. The debate over this issue is pretty fierce. We've heard from viewers who say that the lack of a floppy drive could be a serious roadblock on the path into consumer's homes, because the kids won't be able to transfer their files between school and home, and the parents won't be able to bring home that proposal they were working on to finish up at night. On the other hand, we've also heard from plenty of viewers who say that getting rid of the floppy drive was the best design move Apple's made in a while; after all, if you only need to transfer 1.4 MB of data, why not just email it? (That argument may hold pretty well for the parents transferring files to and from work, but for the kids in grade school it may not be a viable option.)

We can certainly see both sides of the argument, which is why we continue to hope that Apple will accommodate both viewpoints by selling an external USB floppy drive to households who want one. We were happy to see on Mac OS Rumors today that Apple's hardware developers are "playing with" a USB floppy drive, but then we saw Apple's official statement on MacCentral that plainly states, "Apple will not be offering a floppy disk drive configuration or external floppy disk drive for iMac." That would seem to be the final answer, but there have been enough times when Mac OS Rumors was right, and the official Apple spokespeople were wrong, to give us pause.

Actually, there's another peripheral missing on the iMac that's almost as important as the floppy drive-- the Zip. Without a SCSI port, there's no way to connect a Zip drive to the iMac. That could be a real problem; why have a kick-ass multimedia system that's just begging to be used to create nifty graphics and sound, if the only way you can get your work off of it is to email it via a 33.6 modem? (Yes, we know about the ethernet connection, but most households that would buy an iMac wouldn't have another machine to connect it to.) Here's hoping Iomega comes up with a USB Zip drive, complete with Mac drivers, sometime soon.

AtAT's viewers continue to amaze us with their sharp eyes and commendably overdeveloped senses of paranoia. This time it's faithful viewer "Edward Pollard," who risked life and limb to alert us to a continuing conspiracy that has surfaced on AtAT several times in the past. Here's the scoop, in "Edward's" own words:

Recently, Guy Kawasaki sent a message across the EvangeList in regards to an article on abcnews.com about Apple.

In this article is a picture of a CompUSA Apple boutique. But something was wrong-- very wrong. I saw this and smelled red tape and cover up-- a sloppy PR job and spit and polish to cover the TRUTH! Using my pixel sniffer I unearthed the ORIGINAL image that was taken for this PR photo, which was then touched up to cover the grisly and painful reality. The truth is out there.

Continue to fight for the cause. I fear they have discerned my location. I will send more information if I can recover it. They shant be this sloppy again I am sure.

Once you view "Edward's" illicit original image, we strongly suggest that, for your own safety, you follow standard AtAT procedure to cover your tracks. First, kill your internet connection, and then, just to be sure, disconnect the phone or network cable from the back of your computer. Next, tell your browser to clear its disk cache. After that, boot from a Disk Tools disk and do a low-level reformatting of your hard drive. And finally, remove the hard drive from your computer, soak it thoroughly in gasoline, and then burn it beyond physical recognition. Yes, it's a hassle, and it gets expensive after a few times, but it's the price we pay for eternal vigilance.