Whenever we meet the fine folks who keep us supplied with PR material, they often ask "we're not Agency Blue, are we?!?" They refer to the oft-named PR agency whose misadventures we chronicle. But that name was simply chosen at random, they could have been Agency X or Agency 001. Amazingly, Agency Blue kept providing us with public relations faux pas, in excelsis.

Finally, another unnamed PR firm (we'll call them "Agency Red") stepped into the breach. One of our editors conducted an interview with Finnish virus guru Mikko Hypp'nen. The affable Finn assured us, not once but twice, that no viruses existed for the current Apple Macintosh operating system: the Unix-based OS X.

Shortly after the interview, an operative from Agency Red rang out of the blue. Would we like a trial copy of Mac OS X antivirus software from [VENDOR NAME]?

One of our editorial staff, juggling the standard three or four simultaneous tasks, suggested that as one of the world's foremost computer virus experts had recently declared that OS X viruses don't exist, said product was likely not an essential piece of software kit. Agent Red protested. Said editor, perhaps a bit too snarkily due to espresso excess and task-itis, suggested that the vendor was quite possibly "selling air."

The Red Agency chief (who, it must be said, is a fine fellow and far more switched-on than any or all of the Blue Crew) sent an email the next day saying: