Reality just recently posted a neat little month-old tidbit that adds fuel to the rumors about Microsoft window-shopping for outside OSes (no pun intended). It seems that an Apple Road Show worker had been instructed by the higher-ups "not to confirm or deny Rhapsody's existence." Confidentially, the worker revealed that the orders to keep mum were because of an unnamed competitor's interest in the Intel-compatible version of Rhapsody. That "unnamed competitor" was anticipating problems with its current OS' direction, and was therefore scouting out possibilities to fall back on-- including Rhapsody Intel and BeOS.

Okay, okay, this anecdote is all really interesting, but we find it at least a little suspect. After all, why would Apple tell its representatives not to confirm Rhapsody's existence, when information on the next-generation is readily available all over its web site? Still, even if the anecdote itself is apocryphal, the reason it resonates is because of the elements of truth at its core. It's plain that Windows 95 isn't everything Microsoft had hoped it would be (or at least we certainly hope they didn't actually design it this way!), Windows 98 is hideously unstable in beta and may be delayed because of the DoJ's recent charges, and even NT has some irksome flaws-- at least if the bluescreens we've casually observed are any indication. Of course no OS is perfect, but Microsoft isn't stupid; there's no harm in shopping around, and if they paint themselves into a corner with the current Windows architectures, they'll be better prepared with contingency plans.

In fact, the only Microsoft move we can recall that we'd classify as "of questionable intelligence" is their chosen method of "complying" with the recent injunction against them, which amounts to a great big "Bite me!" shouted at the judge and the Justice Department...