Nine years ago, things were looking grim for Apple. Gil Amelio (arguably the worst CEO in Apple's now 30-year history) was presiding over a 12-year record low stock price. Apple's PDA, the Newton, had failed miserably. And the next generation Mac operating system code named "Copland", was bogged down in development. When Michael Dell of Dell Computer was asked by industry pundits what he'd do were he in charge of Apple, he replied, "I'd shut down the company and give the money back to the shareholders". Needless to say, that didn't sit too well with us Mac advocates.

Then magical things happened. Apple purchased NeXT Computer, which gave them the code of a powerful UNIX based operating system and brought Apple co-founder Steve Jobs back to the company. Gil Amelio was ousted as CEO in favor of Steve Jobs. The first iMac was released, to great acclaim. Then NeXTStep was fused with the Mac OS to create Mac OS X. A few years later, Apple opened a line of retail stores and released the iPod. And well, it's been a hell of a ride ever since.

So today, we Mac users cherish the moment that we've been waiting on for nearly a decade. Apple has passed Dell in market value, at $72,132,428,843 compared to Dell's $71,970,702,760. With the release of DualCore Intel systems from Apple and continued iPod and iTunes Music Store growth, analysts expect Apple to continue to perform well. So, for those Mac enthusiasts who were with me in the dark times all those years ago, please join me now in saying:

In your Fuckin' Face Michael Dell!