In a stunning turn of events, Apple has made a number of iChat buddy icons available exclusively for .mac users. These icons include letters of the alphabet, “status” icons ("out," “lunch,” “busy,” etc...), pets, Japanese characters, and many more. But hurry, these icons are only available through June 1, 2006. You must be a .mac user to download this awe-inspiring set of icons.

The excitement among Mac users has reached a fever-pitch with the release of these new icons. “Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” said one Deep Thought reader, bristling with enthusiasm. “I thought all such stupid things were left in the world of Windows,” stated another reader, right before he did a happy dance in celebration of the announcement.

DT’s Take: Insert “$99 a year and all we get are iChat icons” remarks here…