All over the world, Mac fans' eyes are rolling in a collective gesture of disbelief. Wouldja believe that another company has decided to copy the iMac, this late in the game? 'Strue, we swear! According to MacCentral, the perp is none other than Fish PC, an Australian outfit jumping on the translucent, brightly-colored bandwagon nearly two full years after the iMac made its big media debut. More to the point, we have to assume that Fish PC is aware of the numerous other companies that tried to pull this crap and got swatted down by Apple's formidable legal team-- but what the heck, they're doing it anyway. You've just got to admire the nerve.

Now, if you really want to retch, check out Fish PC's marketing spiel: "No longer do you have to be like everyone else." This from a company who's copying the iMac's overall style; the irony's so thick in here we can taste it. "Fish PC changes all the rules. It's a statement. It's hip, it's groovy. It's a PC. It's sweeping the world by storm!" Pardon us as we gag on our own bile. Well, since "you've got to have it," we suppose you'd better pick a color. Guess what? This thing's available in five colors. Surprise! You get to choose between blue, navy, purple, red, and orange. What, no Li-- er, green?

What we find particularly amusing is that Fish PC is touting its system as "compact," and yet it consists of more bits and pieces than most PCs; there's the base unit itself, the monitor, the two external speakers, the external floppy drive, and of course the keyboard and mouse. Sounds like you damn near need two desks to run one of these babies. And therein lies Fish PC's best legal defense: this thing's no iMac copycat, because whereas the iMac is a tightly-integrated computing wonder, the Fish PC is a sprawling mess, both inside and out. "Your Honor, we submit that the Fish PC does not violate Apple's trade dress rights, since it's got more components than a Lego set and is startlingly ugly. We rest our case."