Say, you know that Windows version of the iTunes Music Store which Steve promised by the end of the year? Well, there were already plenty of indications that it would eventually materialize in the form of a fully-fledged Windows port of iTunes 4; we're thinking primarily of the exclusive article in FORTUNE last Monday (which also revealed that Steve has trouble buying jeans that are the right size). Now, though, we can erase any doubt: there's hard proof of that fact straight from the horse's mouth-- provided an Apple job posting constitutes hard proof and you don't mind likening Apple's servers to the slightly less messy end of the equine alimentary canal.

What we're trying to say, in our own charmingly obfuscatory and vaguely disgusting manner, is that CNET reports the presence of a public job posting at Apple's site which describes the company's need for "a Senior Software Engineer to design and build Apple's newest Consumer Application, iTunes for Windows." So there you have it, ladles and germs-- one of Apple's cornerstone iApps is indeed making the big move to the Dark Side. What happened to the whole idea of enticing Windows users to switch to Macs just to use all the nifty, free, and Mac-only digital hub software?

What we're trying to suss out is just how supporting Windows with its digital music products and services is ultimately expected to benefit Apple. We doubt it's strictly about direct sales revenue, since iPods and music purchases can't contribute that much to Apple's bottom line. When the iPod became available in a Windows version, we suspected that Apple's strategy was a sort of Trojan horse thingy; hook the Windows users with an appliance so well-crafted and life-changing that they couldn't help but consider making the move to a Mac the next time they were in the market for a new computer. After all, Macs also had the benefit of seamless integration with the iPod via iTunes, whereas the 'Pod was not exercising its full coolness potential with MusicMatch under Windows.

It's kind of plausible, right? But the Mac advantage (for consumer music, anyway) goes right out the window once Apple brings iTunes to Windows, and Windows-using music buffs will have no incentive whatsoever to make the jump to a Mac. Unless, of course, Apple makes iTunes for Windows somehow less desirable than the Mac version. The company could, for example, charge for iTunes for Windows while keeping the Mac version free. Or iTunes for Windows could lack certain features, like album art and Smart Playlists. Or the Windows version could insert clicks, pops, and loud, violent retching sounds randomly into the audio stream as any song is played. Why, the possibilities are endless!