"I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft."

That was the very unexpected declaration made by Windows chief Jim Allchin in a January 2004 e-mail to Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates, as quoted by Groklaw and picked up by Computerworld and others. The previously undisclosed e-mail was introduced as evidence last week in Microsoft's antitrust trial in the USA. Now, in a blog post responding to the coverage, Allchin cautions against taking the statement out of context and writes that he "was being purposefully dramatic" to make a case for a major overhaul of the Windows development process. In the 2004 e-mail, Allchin wrote that he saw "lots of random features and some great vision," but he warned that the Windows teams had lost their way.

Allchin says in his explanatory post that the company made the necessary changes. And he takes the opportunity to make a pitch for the result, Windows Vista, describing it as "far, far better than any other software available today."

Presumably that means the Seattle-area Apple Stores shouldn't be looking for a surprise customer anytime soon. Nevertheless, Steve Jobs suddenly has an eye-catching quote to add to his slides for next month's Macworld keynote.