Apple computer game

Tomb Raider's move to the Mac is a sure sign the once-struggling company is in good shape

Forget the stock price. Forget market share numbers. Forget four consecutive profitable quarters and a profitable year. Forget even the people stepping over Furbies and new Beetles just to catch a glimpse of an iMac. If you don't believe that Apple has come off life support and back into the public's consciousness, I have two words for you: Lara Croft.

If you know anything about computer gaming, you probably already know who she is. Croft is the improbably voluptuous uberhero of Tomb Raider, the ridiculously popular video game from Aspyr Media. And if you're a Mac user, you could only see her on someone else's unit. Until now.

Aspyr, along with its publisher Eidos Interactive and porting house Westlake Interactive, have released a Mac version of Tomb Raider II and are getting Tomb Raider III ready for the Mac as you read this.

The cynics will say this isn't a big deal. But it is. Aspyr and its cohorts have been able to sell every copy of Tomb Raider as fast as they can slap it on a CD. So why expand to the Mac now? Well, Aspyr spokesman Ted Staloch says his company is more than pleased with initial sales inquiries. Translation: software manufacturers now realize that the Mac is once again a big player in the PC 'hood. The idea that a software manufacturer can ignore Mac users is now as obsolete as a 486 chip.

This all reminds me of Intuit's Quicken fiasco of a few months ago. Intuit called a press conference and trumpeted the news they would no longer make a Mac-compatible version of their popular Quicken office software. They had a quick meeting with Jobs and then a week or two later, Intuit called another press conference to say that the latest Mac version of Quicken is proceeding on schedule and should be available soon.

What did Jobs say? Well, unlike his counterpart at Microsoft, I'm sure he didn't offer to let Intuit's CEO sleep with the fishes.

He probably just indicated to them exactly what this Tomb Raider thing has just proven to the computer world - Apple is no longer a niche manufacturer. Never again will the Mac be associated only with eccentric fringe characters from the murky depths of graphic art, Web design and multimedia.

The Mac now appeals to garners and home businesses and everybody who needs a computer.

Where's the irony in that? Well, it took the iMac - radical in its styling, porting, what it packs and what it lacks - to make Apple mainstream again. The last hurdle to widespread Mac acceptance has been leapt by an odd little character with a see-through top.

Pretty soon, the Mac will have all the software any other OS has. Until then, I suggest you download the demo version of Tomb Raider II and help Lara recover the Dagger of Xian.

Jerry Langton fives in New York City. He is on expatriate Canadian, and e veteran Mac user. We welcome your feedback. Please send your comments and questions to cdnedit@plesman.com or write to the author directly at buckley@webspan.net.