Diary date: Today's the day Microsoft saved Apple

The Mac world turned upside down on August 6, 1997, when shocked attendees at a Boston Steve Jobs keynote speech suddenly saw the visage of Microsoft head honcho Bill Gates staring down at them from a video screen.  It is also interesting to see where the two companies are at now because of this move.

Gates revealed his company had made a $150 million investment in Apple, an investment that helped secure the future of the once ailing computer firm. In exchange for the cash and a five-year commitment to support Office on the Mac, Apple agreed to drop a long-running lawsuit in which it alleged Microsoft copied the look and feel of the Mac OS for Windows and to make Internet Explorer the default browser on its computers.

Shocked gasps came from the Apple faithful, with Jobs saying, "We have to let go of a few notions here. We have to let go of the notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft needs to lose."