I love it! Despite the Apple haters best attempts to spread fear, uncertaintity and doubt (FUD), Apple continues to increase iPOD and Mac to new levels- keep trying!

It's obvious people don't care or aren't listening.

This is a load of bull shit.

The lawsuits are simply the usual stuff brought to extort a few bucks if they can before a judge eventually throws the frivolous suits out.

The rest are half truths regurgitated by this electron rag to get anybody to notice their FUD, propaganda and lies. I guess even the Enquirer needs competition from the bottom feeders and their clientele, devoid of discernment or an ethical compass.

All of this is just bull shit wannabes trading off the good name of Apple, because they haven't the where with all to gain appropriate notoriety from writing intelligent articles using insight, good judgement and vision, as Apple has gained their reputation.

I think it's interesting that you're suggesting I'm an "Apple hater" attempting to spread FUD with this report. It's a factual account of what has transpired: Apple is facing a number of lawsuits, per its recent SEC filing. Time will tell whether they have any merit, though it's notable that the judge would not dismiss the case regarding the alleged monopoly.

Those of you who are truly interested in Apple technology but haven't truly explored InfoWorld's coverage might be well served to look at Tom Yager's Enterprise Mac blog.

Apple's in an interesting situation regarding the "monopoly" argument. Its clear that they hold a lead in the market, but there are certainly viable alternatives to the iTunes store. Alternatives make it hard to argue that they have a monopoly. The primary alternative is buying CDs.

But underlying, there is a question whether Apple would open up iTunes to other players. A significant part of Apple's success with the iPod is the quality of the iTunes software.

When does it make sense for Apple to let other players interface with iTunes? It may have to do with how long Apple can prevent discounting on the players.

Apple has always been a hardware business, so I don't see this happening soon. But there could be a good business case for it. It would show up Microsoft to have all those Zune players running Apple software...

Right on Richie. It will be interesting if the Zune easily converts songs purchased on iTunes. I would hope so since it took Microsoft so long to copy the iPod (the same way it ripped off many MAC OS features when it introduced Windows.

Ms. Harlow needs to check her history. Lots of the Mac OS features weren't original to Apple, they had been developed by folks at Xeroc PARC, based on the work of Doug Engelbart and others at the Stanford Research Institute. In fact, Apple licensed the "mouse" from SRI.

Engelbart is one of the great pioneers in computer history, having demonstrated the first use of a mouse with a GUI to remotely control a computer over a network--sort of a great great grandfather of the Web.

Actually, the iBook G4 lawsuit has a point. The consumers didn't invest over $1,000 on a computer that is going to break down in just over a year. If I wanted that, I would have bought a Dell. If it's a flaw in the design, Apple needs to man up and face it. If they're really so "consumer minded" as they claim they are, they'd address the issue.

It's not spreading FUD, as you put it. It's trying to get your money's worth out of something you invested in. Oh, and for the "You should have bought more insurance" argument (cause it ALWAYS pops up), some people just -can't afford it-. The laptop was pricey enough as is.