Whoa, spooky! It's one thing when the media starts slapping the B-word on a computer manufacturer other than Apple, but it's a whole 'nother ball of wax when said computer manufacturer displays a number of other circumstances in common with the Apple of four or five years ago. And you know the universe is truly screwed up when the company with so much in common with Apple is-- you may want to sit down for this-- Gateway. Eeeeyyyyeeeeewwww!!!

Seriously, just take a gander at the very first sentence of this Associated Press article that was pointed out to us by faithful viewer Sandy: "Beleaguered computer maker Gateway Inc. is counting on an old hand to climb from the bottom of the sagging PC industry." Replace "Gateway" with "Apple" and maybe ditch the word "sagging," and it's like we're right back in 1997! Whereas Apple saw the return of cofounder Steve Jobs to bail out his company four years back, on the Gateway side, they're now witnessing the return of cofounder Ted Waitt-- "back at the helm as chief executive and would-be savior." It's sort of like a Bizarro World version of the Apple turnaround legend... only with, you know, a lot less style.

But wait, it gets better; Waitt is described as "the soul and visionary" of Gateway, which started to flounder after he left. At least he wasn't kicked out by a CEO he himself had hired. (Well, not as far as we know. The article says he was in "semi-retirement.") And how's Ted bringing Gateway back to profitability? Why, through "a series of cost-cutting and restructuring moves," of course. Not that there's anything unusual about that, but anyone who's lived through the elimination of the Newton and the controversial death of Mac cloning might still be feeling a slight twinge of déjà vu.

There are other little Jobsian touches, like Waitt immediately revoking fourteen "stupid policies" upon his return (Steve might call them "bozo policies," we suppose) and referring to his changes infusing the company with "a different philosophy." And don't forget how Gateway now "focuses strongly on the U.S. consumer market," has "no plans to go after big corporate accounts," and "won't diversify into the high-end corporate server market, where rivals already have a strong foothold." Why, it's like Apple and Gateway were separated at birth! How will we ever tell them apart? (Hint: look at Gateway's product line-up. Oh... right. Never mind.)