It's wartime, troops, and you all know that Apple is fighting a multi-front war. Let's consider the different territories, shall we? First, there are the two Apple strongholds: Education and Graphics. While the Redmond Terror has made significant inroads into both in recent years, Apple claims to retain the lion's share of the land; the last time we heard it mentioned, we believe Steve Jobs was claiming that Apple's total market share in the educational channel was holding steady at a healthy majority, and reports from the front indicate that many graphics shops who took a tentative step into the wonderful world of NT are more than happy to return to where their true loyalties remain. Then there's the Consumer front. Apple was long absent from that fight, and had all but conceded the territory to the Wintel forces, when suddenly the secret weapon known as the iMac turned everything around. In a strategic coup that left the beige competition gasping for breath, the translucent brightly-colored curves of the iMac stole back market share Apple hadn't seen since its Golden Age of Prosperity. That's a war story we'll all be telling our grandkids.

Now, Apple's surprise push back into Consumer territory has gotten some people wondering whether the scrappy Cupertino underdogs have any plans to try and claim some share in another non-Apple market: Enterprise. Apple's got a long history of attacking the business market and gaining nothing but a big casualty count. (Remember back when the Power Macintosh was "the Business Macintosh"? Yeesh.) Yet another attempt could be foolhardy-- kind of like fighting a land war in Asia. However, recent whispers of an alliance with IBM might seriously tip the scales if such a battle commences. Suppose IBM starts building, selling, and supporting Apple-blessed Mac OS X Server systems and net-bootable Mac OS clients to match? It's just so crazy it might work. After all, IBM's middle name is "Business." Literally.

We at AtAT don't pretend to know what Apple's doing on the business front, but the rumors are intriguing. Take Mac the Knife's latest column, for example; reportedly "Cupertino is quietly organizing a business unit that will pursue Microsoft right into its bunkers in IS departments across the land." The impetus for this top-secret black-ops unit is apparently a growing discontent in at least some sectors of the enterprise world that's said to be causing quite a few defections to the Mac platform. Grain of truth, or just a pipe dream? We can't say, but the Knife separately mentions multi-processor G4 Mac servers and desktop systems coming soon that just might be the key to winning the hearts and minds of IS departments everywhere. The current Power Mac G4 is classified by the government as a weapon; now imagine a double-barrelled one. Kablam!