Hey, remember back in 1997 when Apple signed that contract in blood at midnight by a crossroads where a virtuous man was murdered? Well, actually, we're mostly just guessing about the specific circumstances of the formal agreement, but by Apple's own admission, it did make a pact with Microsoft-- a pact that gave a lot of us Mac fans a serious case of the willies. So it's kinda hard not to imagine Bill Gates having been present with horns, a pointy tail, and a golden fiddle straight out of an early '80s crossover country hit. (Tacky? Maybe. But just because he's the ultimate personification of evil, that doesn't mean it's easy for him to accessorize. "Hey, Melinda, does this pitchfork make my butt look big?")

Setting aside for a moment the burning issue of Bill's diabolical accoutrements, basically, here's what happened: Apple agreed to drop its patent infringement claims against Redmond and switch to Internet Explorer from Netscape, while Microsoft agreed to invest $150 million in Apple stock and promised that Office would stay on the Mac platform for five more years. Well, a quick glance at a CNET article pointed out to us by faithful viewer Alex Gunkel (or, alternatively, a quick thumbing through the wiener puppy calendar on the wall in the kitchen) reminds us that the clock's a-tickin' on those five years of guaranteed Officeness. To be precise, once August rolls around, Microsoft has the option of taking its Big Ball O' Bloatware™ and going home.

Apple, for its part, claims not to be worried, because it and Microsoft are now so chummy; Phil Schiller, for instance, states that "it's not an issue today, a contracted commitment between Apple and [Microsoft's] Macintosh Business Unit for the future of Office products. They have shown us in many ways their commitment to the Mac." Microsoft's Kevin Browne concurs; the two companies are much more buddy-buddy today than they were in 1997, and so "Microsoft and Apple have not talked about doing any formal renewal of the agreement." Indeed, we doubt there's much to worry about, since Microsoft certainly didn't amass its hoard of filthy lucre by cancelling profitable products-- and Mac versions of Office are profitable indeed. We've also long suspected that there's a sort of unspoken understanding between Cupertino and Redmond: Apple carves out a healthy niche that stays nicely at or below a 10% market share level, and Microsoft supports the unthreatening Mac platform as a convenient hedge against further antitrust ickiness with the Justice Department. So we're incurable cynics. Sue us.

But CNET raises some interesting points about the Apple-Microsoft relationship not being all penny whistles and moon pies. While Steve refused to get on the stand and testify against Microsoft during the "Redmond Justice" trials (he wisely sent Avie Tevanian instead), His Steveness did recently make a big public stink about Microsoft's proposed antitrust settlement that would flood the nation's poorest schools with Windows; soon after, the proposal was shot down. And let's not forget the rumors that Steve himself initiated and funded "Redmond Justice" in the first place. We have to imagine there's a lot of acrimony on both sides swimming around just under the surface; how deep it runs may determine what happens to the Mac version of Office once this summer winds to a close. And maybe it's just the cynicism talking, but when it comes to an agreement with Microsoft, we'd much rather have a signed contract than a smile and an "understanding."