So tomorrow's the big day-- or at least Apple would certainly like us to think so. Several faithful viewers contacted us to point out that Apple's entire web site (with the exception of the Support site) was replaced by a single teaser ad. The text of the ad is a warning not to miss tomorrow's announcement, which Apple compares to "Woodstock, the moon landing, and Geraldo's grand opening of Al Capone's vault."

The warning appears under the catch phrase "Pro. Go. Whoa." Apple watchers will recall a similar teaser before last November's announcement, which featured pictures of a cookie, a screwdriver, and a shopping cart; those graphics represented the G3 (new chip), build-to-order, and the online Apple Store, respectively. So what does "pro go whoa" signify? All three words could easily be related to the new Wall Street Powerbooks, which are almost certain to be announced tomorrow. But we're hard pressed to associate any of those terms to any of the other probable announcements, such as the build-to-order Apple Store for educational buyers and value-added resellers, or details on just what Apple actually bought from Macromedia.

What concerns us most here at AtAT central are the three big events that Apple chose to compare with tomorrow's "big do:" few people remember Woodstock, especially the people who were there; the moon landing was obviously a big government-sponsored hoax; and there was nothing in Al Capone's vault when Geraldo finally got the damn thing open. Doesn't bode well for the relative importance of the announcements tomorrow, does it? But we'll know for sure at noon PST. (By the way, yes, we were kidding about the moon landing. Mostly.)

As for today's big announcement, that would have to be the joint press release issued by Apple and Intuit, indicating that Quicken is back for the Mac. In a reversal of its decision made public a couple of weeks ago, Intuit now says that it will in fact develop Quicken 99 for the Macintosh platform, and in addition, Apple and Intuit will work together to "develop new personal finance opportunities for Macintosh users on the web." Mac users who actually keep personal financial records (ahem) can look forward to new releases of Quicken and continued support for years to come. It's definitely good news for the Mac as a viable consumer computing platform.

Intuit states that their decision to revive Quicken development for the Mac was due to their having been shown Apple's "upcoming consumer products and strategies." We could certainly understand their original stance; since Quicken is a consumer product, if Apple was only going to focus on holding its strong presence in the education and content creation markets while letting consumer market share go up in smoke, it wouldn't make much sense for Intuit to keep sinking development resources into Mac Quicken. We're glad to see that they've returned to the fold.

Interestingly enough, the press release didn't mention any sort of bundling arrangement wherein Apple would pay to preinstall Quicken on every Mac. It was widely surmised that such a bundling agreement would be necessary in order for Apple to convince Intuit that further Mac development would be profitable. Apparently Apple managed to persuade Intuit purely on the strength of their upcoming consumer market plans-- that, and, of course, the awesome power of the patented Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field.™ Hey, don't knock it-- it works.

Today we came across not one, but two stories about ex-Apple execs who are currently siding with Microsoft on various topics. They serve as a great reminder about the ubiquity of the Redmond Giant in the industry.

First there's the more disappointing fact: Heidi Roizen, who used to head up Apple's developer relations organization, is now spending a few days a month as a consultant for Microsoft, acting as an "ambassador" to Silicon Valley's "Microsoft-phobic tech community," according to the San Jose Mercury News. That just goes to show how smart Microsoft really is, because Heidi was just about the only thing Mac developers liked about Apple when she was with the company. (We must say, we feel a little less concerned about Microsoft's apparent plans for world domination when we read that Heidi characterizes them as a "fundamentally ethical enterprise that wants to do the right thing." We have a hard time believing she could be so easily fooled.)

Then there's the more expected story about the sugar-water man himself, John Sculley, siding with Microsoft in the big Windows 98 battle; read about it yourself in the Computer Reseller News. Sculley says he is "basically opposed to the government sticking their fingers in it." Fair enough. But the really telling bit of the article is when Sculley is asked if the antitrust actions are actually "stifling innovation," as Microsoft constantly claims; the best Sculley can come up with is, "I never thought of Microsoft as an innovator, but they are the best implementers in the world." And there, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who can evade a question and still kiss corporate butt in the same sentence. Makes you proud, doesn't it?