AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Tiger's in the air - The menu for Apple's annual developer potluck features a stew of excitement and controversy.(Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference)(Column)

It's Microsoft's bad luck to have scheduled its TechEd conference during the same week as Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). The weeks preceding any performance of the Macintosh Tabernacle Choir, for which Steve Jobs is the opener, generate a slew of rumors, speculation, and misinformation.

I always devote a column to pre-Mac-conference junk. Planting Tiger's release just before WWDC puts matters in focus. I don't want to come across as a chump for having missed somebody's idea of the big picture.

The news broke as I was filing this story that Apple met with Intel to discuss having the Other Evil Empire supply chips for future Apple products. …