It needs the peculiar skills of a Nigel Dempster or a Louella Parsons to do justice to this one, but it is fascinating that Apple Computer Inc should announce a letter of intent – for consummation early next year – for Digital Equipment Corp to market Macintoshes to its customers, and for Apple to put DEC desktop products through its dealers (see front) just a week after its fiance, IBM Corp, announces a 10-year strategic agreement with Intel Corp on a rival desktop hardware environment: close friends of the bride-to-be suggest that DEC was always keen to strike such a deal with Apple but that Apple had played hard to get, judging that the lower margins necessary on its products when sold by DEC would make the deal unattractive – until it made the shock discovery that its intended had in mind an extremely open marriage, and, outraged, started flirting shamelessly with IBM’s sworn enemy; friends of the pair wonder whether honour will be satisfied by this two-time two-timing or whether the bride is contemplating sending back IBM’s ring.
