Although couched in an expected and extremely positive spin about future earnings, Microsoft didn’t have an awful lot to crow about this past quarter. Income from Windows was rather lackluster, even though sales of new PCs are on the increase around the world.

So what’s at work here, and why the disparity?

Well, one alleged reason is that a large portion of the increase in PC sales are in the third world, where computers are sold without Microsoft’s operating system and, they tell us, Windows and Office are often pirated.

But worse for Microsoft is the fact that the sales of new Macs continue to exceed analyst expectations, and are going through the roof. However, Microsoft has so far not chosen to address that troubling issue.

Worse for Microsoft, nobody is suggesting that situation is going to change anytime soon, and the fact that a reported 50% of Mac buyers at Apple’s retail stores are new to the platform — and I’ll take the figures as accurate even if it’s an open question how they were compiled — clearly means that Microsoft has something to fear.

Story continued in this week’s Tech Night Owl Newsletter.

This week, Opera released a new beta of version 9.5 of its Mac browser. Now this isn’t necessarily a significant event, because Opera regularly releases updates for its products. However, like most other browsers — with one notable exception — Opera offers phishing protection.

What this means is that, in the event you click, say, on a bogus link in a letter or on a site taking you to a page that’s designed to steal your personal information and pilfer your personal finances, you’ll be appropriately warned.

Opera’s “Stay Safe” feature is mirrored to a large extent in recent versions of Firefox and even Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Of course, there’s nothing to stop you from ploughing on and accessing the bogus site anyway, but you’ll at least be appropriately warned.

More recently, PayPal has said that, in light of the growing phishing problem, they were going to abandon support for older browsers. That sparked speculation that Safari might be included on the list, since it offers no phishing protection whatever. However, PayPal later clarified their statement, indicating that Safari would, in fact, remain supported.

So is Apple missing the boat here on a critical security protection technique? You see, phishing doesn’t know platform differences, and the Mac user can succumb to this form of criminal activity as easily as the Windows user simply by falling for a fake message purporting to be, say, from your bank. So why isn’t Apple doing more?

Certainly, I think Apple takes security mighty seriously. They issue periodic updates for recent versions of the Mac OS. A recent QuickTime upgrade, for example, according to security researcher Rich Mogull, added a number of critical changes to the code that will make the hundreds of millions of users on the Mac and Windows platform safer from exploitation.

According to Mogull, Mac OS X Leopard also has a number of enhancements that actually come close, but don’t exceed, those Microsoft incorporated in Windows Vista. Now understand, that doesn’t mean Vista isn’t a hodgepodge of bloated junk, but it does mean that Microsoft was forced to seriously consider ways to improve Windows security, after businesses lost billions of dollars over the years coping with the malware mess that afflicted the platform.

For now, except for one or two minor outbreaks and proofs-of-concept, the Mac OS X platform has remained relatively safe. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t install Apple’s security updates when they arrive. You never can tell when a security lapse will somehow be exploited. No operating system is perfect.

And, no, I don’t subscribe to the security by obscurity thesis that has it that Macs won’t be seriously vulnerable until the market share reaches some unknown threshold. I just think that Internet criminals still manage to make most of their ill-gotten gains on Windows and that’s not going to change in the foreseeable future.

At the same time, I think Apple, in addition to its questionable ethics about offering Safari installations for Windows users with a checkbox preselected, ought to consider such basics as phishing protection.

Now I have to tell you there are other ways to protect yourself, and it doesn’t necessarily require buying someone’s security software. You can, for example, make a one minute change in your Mac’s DNS settings, in the Network preference panel, to use OpenDNS rather than the DNS servers from your ISP. Thanks to the brilliant mind of developer David Ulevitch, who also created Phish Tank, a well-known repository of information about bogus sites, OpenDNS will use that technology to block access to those dangerous locations.

OpenDNS also offers a huge, highly efficient DNS cache, which means that you’ll be able to access your favorite sites slightly faster. As part of the free sign-up process, you can also configure methods to block other forms of unsavory content, such as porn sites.

Their technology is already being embraced by lots of businesses, including such disparate firms as The UPS Store and Sunsweet. A number of libraries are also reconfiguring their computers to use OpenDNS, and some ISPs are also taking this step.

Even better, it’s all free. OpenDNS pays its bills by selling pay-per-click ads for its customized landing sites, which you’ll see if you happen to connect to an inactive site by error.

In fact, I wonder if Apple couldn’t find some way to work with OpenDNS, maybe as part of the standard setup of a new Mac, so nobody would be forced to do the settings manually — although they are quite trivial actually.

For now, my own protection routine, other than OpenDNS, is the NAT security of my AirPort Extreme base stations and Leopard’s own fairly basic firewall feature. No, I haven’t installed any virus protection software, but that doesn’t mean I won’t change my mind should the need arise.

I’d like to say that there’s no truth to the rumor that the financial media and Wall Street analysts are out to get Apple. But they’ve had a long-term habit of creating negative spins about Apple’s ongoing sales picture that have, at times, knocked its stock price for a loop. So I suppose you know where I’m going here.

Take the claim that there were hundreds of thousands, perhaps over a million, unsold iPhones left catching dust in stock rooms, a theory that was quickly abandoned as it became clear there are an awful lot of these gadgets being unlocked and used with unapproved providers around the world. You also heard that, while Mac sales were extremely high, iPod sales had gone flat and maybe even declined.

So what is the truth?

Well, basically it appears that the analysts penchant for underestimating Apple’s achievements haven’t changed. For the quarter ending in March, Apple reported sales of $7.51 billion, or $1.16 per diluted share, compared to $5.26 billion and 87 cents per diluted share for the same quarter last year. Profits came in at $1.05 billion, compared to $770 million last year.

The analyst crystal balls predicted revenues of $6.95 billion and earnings of $1.07 per share.

Sales of new Macs continued to soar, with 2,289,000 units sold, representing an improvement of 51 percent compared to the same quarter last year. Despite claims that fewer iPodes were sold, sales actually increased but barely. Unit sales amounted to 10,644,000, one percent above last year, but revenue growth was up eight percent, in part due to sales of higher-cost models, such as the iPod touch.

According to Apple, the average sale price of iPods was $171 for the quarter, compared to $160 last year. In addition, iPhone sales amounted to 1,703,000.

You can check Apple’s site for the raw numbers, if you’re so inclined.

In its regular conference call with financial analysts, Apple executives delivered their usual enticing tidbits of information, fleshing them out only when it had some strategic advantage.

So we learned, once again, that 50% of the sales of new Macs at Apple’s retail stores are new to the platform. This is what they always say, but they never seem to be asked just how they come by these numbers. I mean, I’ve registered new Macs periodically, using the Setup Assistant, and I’ve never seen a question asking what kind of computer I had previously.

When it comes to the iPhone SDK, Apple reports that more than 200,000 developers have signed up and downloaded the SDK. Of these, 400 developers are involved in higher education, and the roster also includes more than a third of the Fortune 500 companies.

Clearly the iPhone is a serious contender for the enterprise, what with Apple’s decision to license Microsoft’s ActiveSync technology. RIM, makers of the BlackBerry, surely have a lot to fear. What’s more, if millions of iPhones turn up in businesses, can more business-oriented Mac sales be far behind?

In case you’re wondering, Apple says it’s still on track to sell 10 million iPhones by the end of the year and the iPhone 2.0 software is due in late June, essentially on schedule.

The 3G iPhone? Well, you know Apple never comments on unreleased products.

Apple’s cash reserves continued to soar, reaching $19 billion. It was also announced this week that Apple spent an estimated $278 million to purchase PA Semiconductor, a firm that designs low-power chips based on the Power PC platform.

That step alone raises huge question marks. For one thing, Apple supposedly abandoned that chip technology when it moved to Intel processors, so where does its new acquisition fit in? Apple isn’t saying, of course, but it does appear that Apple might use its new assets to produce chips for the iPhone and iPod. Since Mac OS X is quite portable when it comes to processor families, I suppose this won’t present a serious development Issue.

What’s more, if Apple builds the chips themselves, there’s nobody else to blame for late delivery of a new version or production shortfalls

More to the point, just what does Apple plan to do with the rest of its cash hoard? $278 million is chump change for a company the size of Apple and it may take a year or two before the real reason for the purchase is known, if then. That would, of course, depend on whether the chips will actually ever find their place in a future Apple product. You never know.

What about this quarter? Well, Apple is forecasting sales of approximately $7.2 billion, just a hair above the $7.16 billion that Wall Street expected, but profits will be $1 per share, as opposed to the $1.10 per share financial analysts expected.

So what happened to Apple’s stock in after-hours trading? Funny you should ask. It tumbled once again, in part over the company’s conservative outlook and the perilous state of the U.S. economy. So what were you expecting?

Well, maybe this: As of Thursday morning, the stock was heading upward once again. Maybe Wall Street got a needed dose of sanity this time out.

Back in the heady days of the Classic Mac OS, Apple had one lame-brained idea after another. Let’s not forget such schemes as QuickDraw GX, for example, which held out a lot of promise on paper but never realized its potential. But that was only one example of Apple’s failed technologies during the 1990s.

Perhaps the most blatant example of good ideas gone bad was the infamous Balloon Help. When activated, you simply point your mouse to, for example, a menu bar label, and it would deliver a comic book style pithy paragraph describing its function. Unfortunately, this irritant also slowed down the system something fierce, and most of you, I’m sure, simply turned it off.

Eventually, Apple took the hint and sent Balloon Help on to its appropriate fate as another failed innovation.

Today’s Help menu, aside from showing smaller text than the rest of the menu bar commands for some unaccountable reason, is largely uninspired. It’s simply a collection of Web pages that guide you to both local and online resources, and I suppose it’s adequate. Of course, it’s usefulness also depends on the extent to which an application developer will write instructional text.

Some programs, such as Peak Pro, the audio application we use for post production on the radio shows, confine most of their help text to a PDF version of the user manual. On a practical level, it’s probably no worse than the standard Leopard help system.

But isn’t there a better way?

For a while now, I’ve made a pitch for active assistance. Even though Macs are reasonably easy to use as personal computers go, you can’t call them simple. Most people who learn how to work on their Macs didn’t acquire the knowledge by reading a “Dummies” book or something similar. Instead, someone, perhaps a family member, a friend, or a coworker, shows them the basics, and they were on their own.

In my own case, I was an inveterate manual reader. When I bought my first Mac over two decades ago, for example, I read every single page of the thick books that came in the shipping carton — twice in fact. That and a few books covering tips and tricks and troubleshooting techniques sent me on my way. But that was then and this is now. Frankly, I’m not as inclined to pore through thick user guides in this day and age, although I will browse through the essentials when I need to master a specific program feature.

Regardless of your learning techniques, there’s always something more to know. Hardly a day goes by where I don’t discover some tidbit of knowledge about which I was unaware. This is the quest that never ends, and I hope you feel the same about your various pursuits.

So what do I mean by active assistance? Well, we each, in our own ways, require different amounts of information to master a task. It’s also true that you can probably be placed in a specific category of perceived expertise, such as beginner, regular user, and power user. And, no, I don’t object to a broader definition of skill levels. This is just a general suggestion.

Now here’s how my vision of a help system would operate. When you first install 10.6 or a new Mac that contains that system, you’ll have to answer a few brief questions in the Setup Assistant. That, plus the way you use your Mac, will guide its fuzzy logic to determine your skill level.

As you progress through your various tasks, there will be an occasional help screen advising you of a better way to accomplish that chore. Say you are in the habit of double-clicking on a document even when the application that created that file is open. So you’d be shown the Open dialog box as a quicker alternative.

In fact, this is a prime example. I have run into lots of long-time Mac users for whom an Open dialog is an unknown, an unfathomable mystery. When I am helping them to troubleshoot something on the phone, I’ll tell them to choose Open from the File menu and they’ll say “What’s that?”

This doesn’t mean that the person who lacks what some of you regard as a fundamental Mac skill is necessarily stupid. To some positively brilliant people, technology is not a friend but an annoyance that is only used out of necessity. I won’t get into the left-brain and right-brain thing, as it doesn’t matter. Here’s where active assistance could work its magic to empower people who are intimidated by such matters.

Of course, the most important thing about any feature of this sort is the ability to turn it off. Maybe you don’t want anyone to tell you there’s a better way to accomplish something. Maybe you’re doing some heavy-duty content creation that stretches your Mac’s processing power, and  you don’t want anything to get in the way. In the former situation, you could turn off the guidance, and restore it with a keystroke or checkbox in a preference pane. For the latter, it would turn itself off automatically when system resources are being taxed by other functions.

Understand that this is just a fairly basic concept, one that can be fleshed out in many ways.

So, dear reader, do you like Leopard’s Help system? Or do you have some ideas on how it can be improved?