Just a quickie, here, folks: remember back when the original iMac was all the rage? Remember how Wintel manufacturers saw all that money being spent on blue-green space eggs and decided to experiment with unusual designs and colors in hopes of cashing in on the trend? Remember how virtually all of the desktop designs the Wintel world came up with were universally abhorrent and abominations upon this very plane of existence? There was a translucent blue one shaped like a Mayan pyramid, another that looked like a clamshell, a third that resembled "a flower vase from an old lady's house"-- basically a whole lot of flailing form that had less than zero to do with function. Gee, we wonder why they never caught on?...

Well, the chronology's a little skewed, but the Mac mini seems to be involved in a similar dynamic. According to a CNET article pointed out by faithful viewer Mike Dominy, "Windows PC makers are closely following consumer interest in Apple's Mac Mini and hoping to piggyback on the product's success if sales soar." Once a vulture, always a vulture-- but there's a difference this time, because there are already plenty of teensy PCs that were on the market before the Mac mini made the scene. In fact, CNET was kind enough to post a brief slideshow; care to see what the mini's design peers look like? Okay, but consider yourself warned...

Touchdown Industries's contribution is a squat-'n'-boxy black thing that sits inside a football helmet. Little PC's LPC-401X looks like the boxiest black rack-mount server Dell ever shipped, only smaller; the lack of style is palpable. And Dell's Dimension 4700C goes for "sleek" and "futuristic," but comes far closer to "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" and "feeble attempt to relate." In short, they're all pretty horrible to look at, and once again we're left to wonder why it is that Apple can come up with this thing, while the rest of the industry is apparently capable only of cranking out stuff like this other thing. Is it genetic?

So be prepared, because if the Mac mini does take off at least to the degree that the iMac did, we're no doubt going to be flooded with an endless parade of small but ugly computer designs slapped together by every PC manufacturer still in business. If you're the cautious type, you might consider signing up for comprehensive eye insurance, just in case any of those designs turn out to be really bad. After all, if you're going to wind up blind, why not make a little cash on the transaction while you're at it?