Oooo, just when we thought juicy Disney rumors had become passé, no less a visionary than the eminent Don Crabb decides to spill what he's been hearing around the virtual water cooler. Over at MacCentral, he reveals that there may be a big and secret deal in the works between Apple and Disney-- and no, it's not the buyout we've all heard whispers about for so long. It involves the exclusive use of iMacs as guest computers at all Disney vacation spots.

You may have heard that Disney recently bought a sizeable chunk of Infoseek's Internet portal. That move is rumored to have spurred Apple to negotiate to become the sole provider of computer services for guests at Disney's resorts. Imagine an iMac in every room, offering web and email access, as well as some entertainment software for kids of all ages-- especially Disney titles, of course. It's not a bad idea, especially since the iMac already looks like something Disney's "imagineers" might have cooked up after an all-night drinking binge. The really interesting bit of the rumor, though, is that Steve Jobs may be simulcasting his MacWorld Expo keynote from California for a reason other than simple family commitments-- what if he plans to appear with Michael Eisner? Or Mickey himself?

Could Steve have pulled his Pixar-woven strings to bring about such a deal? Does that explain Disney's attempt to make Disney Blast Mac-compatible by July? Regardless, it all sounds more plausible than rumors of a takeover. While we don't expect the takeover rumors will ever stop entirely, they've definitely slowed down now that Apple's stock price is twice what it was six months ago. Then again, with a new super-huge tech company buyout announced seemingly every week, we fully expect occasional takeover rumors to keep rolling in. Which is all well and good, since the juicy gossip is pretty much all we live for. Sad, isn't it?

Score another one for Microsoft! A federal appeals court has looked favorably upon their challenging of last December's preliminary injunction, which required them not to force PC manufacturers to include Internet Explorer on Windows 95 systems. (Remember, this is "Classic Redmond Justice," involving the violation of the 1995 consent decree, not "New Redmond Justice," which is the broader antitrust action filed recently. Make sure you're looking at the right scorecard.) CNET (and just about everyone else on the planet) has more on the subject.

This decision was a pretty big win for the Redmond Giant; the D.C. Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that Judge Thomas Jackson made "both procedural and substantive errors" in his handling of the case. They contend that he imposed the preliminary injunction without giving Microsoft adequate notice. They also ruled that he based his actions on an "erroneous reading" of the consent decree. And, oh yeah, they also said that he overstepped his authority when he appointed Lawrence Lessig as a "special master" in the case. (Geez, are you picking up any hints that Judge Jackson isn't too popular in the D.C. legal community? We wonder if he gets invited to many parties...)

Whether or not this latest Redmond victory in the "Classic" case will affect the outcome of the "New" case remains to be seen, but it sure seems likely. Microsoft now has more ammo to claim that Windows 95 and Internet Explorer are not separate products, which has been a key point in the government's arguments. We're not sure (we've lost track), but we think the "Classic" case is still ongoing; it appears that this appeal referred only to the preliminary injunction, and there still hasn't been a final ruling. One of these days we're going to have to sit down with a "Soap Opera's Digest" and get caught up...

It's another bummer for Intel, as systems using its new "Xeon" variation of the Pentium II may be delayed until later this summer. Apparently the problem is with the 450NX chip set-- which would give Xeon servers the ability to use more then four processors, vast amounts of RAM, and other features useful in a gigantor server-- and not with the Xeon itself. The 450NX bug is expected to delay the chip set for six to eight weeks. PC Week Online has the details.

Of course, any news about Xeon processors is less relevant to us now than we had originally thought; Xeon-based servers won't compete with anything Apple has to offer, because Apple doesn't offer any multiprocessing servers. The Xeon systems are big. Really big. And until Apple decides to ship servers with eight processors, 8 GB of RAM, etc., comparisons between Xeons and PowerPCs are rather pointless. Still, with Mac OS Rumors claiming that Apple plans to jump heavily into the server game, who knows what the future holds?