Steve Jobs: Apple's Anti-Gates

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Today, in a neat twist of fate, Jobs is running Apple again, an interim chairman who seems to be in no hurry to find a replacement. Brought back in a kind of Hail Mary play by a company running out of time, Jobs staged a remarkable turnaround. He signed a peace pact with his nemesis in Redmond, killed off the Apple clones, launched an eye-catching ad campaign ("Think Different"), streamlined his product line, slashed inventory and turned a surprisingly large profit. Suddenly, Apple is cool again, thanks to a sexy, blue, Internet-friendly machine--the iMac--that is almost as hot as the original Macintosh. He may not run the computer world, but he sure can make a dent.

--By Philip Elmer-DeWitt