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The Nation of Macintosh? 514

Devon Avenger writes "A new short British film has been released according to this article at Wired depicting a cult of Macintosh fanatics who are organised in a manner reminiscent of the Nation of Islam."
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The Nation of Macintosh?

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  • Whoa. (Score:5, Funny)

    by RasputinAXP ( 12807 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @08:47AM (#4468317) Homepage Journal
    I just got a mental image of Steve Jobs as Louis Farrakhan.

    I just don't think the bow tie would go with his black turtleneck.
  • original (Score:5, Informative)

    by proj_2501 ( 78149 ) <mkb@ele.uri.edu> on Thursday October 17, 2002 @08:48AM (#4468321) Journal
    So it stars an "an original Macintosh, the 512K," huh? The original Mac had a big bad 128K of RAM. (and a 400K single sided 3.5" floppy)

    • Re:original (Score:5, Funny)

      by ArcSecond ( 534786 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @08:56AM (#4468377)
      Yeah, back in the day, we used to call the 512K the "Phat Mac". I can still remember getting the upgrade for our little 128 and hearing "Ride of the Valkyries" pumping out of that little speaker when I played "Airborne!". Ah, the memories.

      Another cool Mac vs. Islam reference: the Public Enemy song where Chuck D talks about sitting down to composes his next song by "smack[ing] the Mac on the back and attack"... anyone who remembers the old 9" monochrome machines remembers that little switch on the left in the back... and that happy little "bong!"
      • Airborn! I spent hours and hours playing that game. Later on in that machines life I played Duel Test Drive or was it Test Drive Duel, those are fond if somewhat cloudy memories.
      • Re:original (Score:4, Insightful)

        by sql*kitten ( 1359 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @09:43AM (#4468694)
        "smack[ing] the Mac on the back and attack"...

        He probably said Mack, which means pimp.
  • by BTWR ( 540147 ) <americangibor3@ya[ ].com ['hoo' in gap]> on Thursday October 17, 2002 @08:48AM (#4468322) Homepage Journal
    I think that this group will be a welcome addition to the clics in HBO's "OZ." Now you have Skinheads, Black Muslims, Italians, and the ever-so-feared Macies.
    • by teslatug ( 543527 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @08:57AM (#4468385)
      the ever-so-feared Macies

      Yeah, those guys are always parading around :)
    • NoI is not Islam (Score:4, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 17, 2002 @10:55AM (#4469291)
      The followers of the Nation Of Islam believe in (all quotes taken from their homepage or their publications): ...one God (Allah) and that Allah (God) appeared in the Person of Master W.Fard Muhammad, July, 1930; the long awaited 'Messiah' of the Christians and the 'Mahdi' of the Muslims...

      However, the Qur`an states in chapter 4, verse 36, "Serve Allah, and join not Any partners with Him; ... ". And according to a hadith narrated by Masruq, in Sahih Bukhari, 'Aisha said, "If anyone tells you that Muhammad has seen his Lord, he is a liar, for Allah says (in 6:103), 'No vision can grasp Him.'...".

      The followers of the Nation Of Islam further believe "in the resurrection of the dead--not in physical resurrection--but in mental resurrection. We also believe that the so-called Negroes are most in need of mental resurrection; therefore, they will be resurrected first." But the Qur`an states in chapter 20, verse 55, "From the earth did We Create you, and into it Shall We return you, and from it shall We bring you out once again." Even more pointedly, the Qur'an also states in 64:7,

      The Unbelievers think that they will not be raised up (for Judgement). Say: "Yea, by my Lord, Ye shall surely be Raised up: then shall ye Be told (the truth) of All that ye did. And that is easy for Allah."

      Besides the above two differences, the followers of the Nation of Islam also believe in other things contrary to Islam as defined in the Qur'an and Sunnah, such as:

      *

      [We, the Black Muslims, believe] "in the truth of the Bible, but we believe that it has been tampered with and must be reinterpreted so that mankind will not be snared by the falsehoods that have been added to it".
      The problem with this belief: The true Prophet of Islam ordered Muslims to neither accept the Bible nor reject it - certainly there was no mention of reinterpretation.
      *

      "That we who declare ourselves to be righteous Muslims, should not participate in wars which take the lives of humans. We do not believe this nation should force us to take part in such wars, for we have nothing to gain from it unless America agrees to give us the necessary territory wherein we may have something to fight for".
      The problem with this belief: The Qur'an and Sunnah are crystal clear on the necessity of going to war when the situation demands it.

      The Nation of Gods and Earths (5% Nation of Islam) is apparently an offshoot of the so-called Nation of Islam. Like its parent, this group's beliefs clearly identify it as being fundamentally outside the pale of Islam. Specifically, and we quote (from their homepage):

      The original man is the Asiatic Blackman, the maker, the owner, the cream of the planet Earth, father of civilization, God of the Universe. ...the blackman is god and his proper name is ALLAH. Arm, Leg, Leg, Arm, Head.

      This is in clear contradiction with one of the essential axioms of Islam, namely that Allah (God) is Creator and all else (including men - asiatic blacks or otherwise) is created. In chapter 25, verse 54 of the Qur'an, Allah says that He has created man, therefore it is logically impossible for man to be Allah.

      The second quote above is a prime example of a tendency of the "Nation of Gods and Earths" to conjure up beliefs that are, to a large extent, highly confused. Some examples of these beliefs that have nothing to do with Islam are "supreme mathematics and alphabet", an evil person named Yacob, a prophet named W. D. Fard, and a belief that black people are superior in some way.

      The true Prophet of Islam refuted this last racist belief in his Farewell Address,

      O people! Verily your Lord is one and your father is one. All of you belong to one ancestry of Adam and Adam was created out of clay. There is no superiority for an Arab over a non-Arab and for a non-Arab over an Arab; nor for white over the black nor for the black over the white except in piety. Verily the noblest among you is he who is the most pious.

      For a deeper expose of this group and its parent (the Nation of Islam), the interested reader might wish to examine the autobiography of the late Malik Al-Shabaz (Malcolm X).
  • by krinsh ( 94283 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @08:49AM (#4468326)
    is that ALL of us in this forum probably know at least one person like an iBrotha. They may or may not be Mac evangelists - very likely Linux promoters or advocates of some social cause [and I'm not debating the worthiness or unworthiness of *any* cause at this time] but we know a few. You or I might even be one.
  • ok... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by powerlinekid ( 442532 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @08:52AM (#4468332)
    First thought: This is stupid, but lets keep reading.
    So now I get to this little gem: It's about that whole religious fervor that grabs Mac users the way it doesn't with users of other platforms," said writer/director Jake Barnes, who described himself as a "recovering Mac addict."
    Has Jake Barnes every met a linux user? Or a BSD user? Or a VMS user? Or hell, a BeOS or OS/2 user? He probably just looked at windows and thought "well 90% of the known universe uses it, so how excited can Hip Bob be when booting it up". He has failed to see the amount of umm... love some non-microsoft and non-apple people have for their computers. I mean come on... linux... what is there not to love. Hell even IBM spraypaints "Peace. Love. Linux." on stuff. Oh well... need coffee.
    • Re:ok... (Score:4, Funny)

      by agentmunchkin ( 582568 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @08:58AM (#4468394)
      First thought: This is stupid, but lets keep reading. So now I get to this little gem: It's about that whole religious fervor that grabs Mac users the way it doesn't with users of other platforms," said writer/director Jake Barnes, who described himself as a "recovering Mac addict."

      Why bother to recover?
    • Re:ok... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by kableh ( 155146 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @09:11AM (#4468470) Homepage
      The "recovering Mac addict" part bugs the hell out of me, though to each his/her own I suppose.

      I've been playing around with some old Macs for the past few weeks. I'm trying to get Linux on a 6100 but having a hell of a time. But in the process, I've had to load OS 7.5 on this thing a dozen times, and even this antiquated OS impresses me. It is clean. Easy to use. The Drive Setup tool, the Mac answer to fdisk, is easy enough my grandma could use it. Yet this kind of stuff eluded the Windows realm for years.

      I also finally got OS X on an old G3, and it is the coolest OS I have ever used. All my UNIX utilities are there. So are some gorgeous GUI apps. It is clean, simple, and that is just the way I like it. I love the CLI in Linux because I like simple, and I can get what I want to do done, and quickly. OS X is the GUI answer to that.

      As far as I'm concerned, anyone who uses Windows is a masochist.

      And as far as the hardware debate, yea, Macs are more expensive. It is economies of scale. But even this old 6100 uses SCSI! And the layout is well though out, with one fan for the entire computer (the PSU fan).
      • Re:ok... (Score:5, Informative)

        by c13v3rm0nk3y ( 189767 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @10:06AM (#4468845) Homepage
        And as far as the hardware debate, yea, Macs are more expensive.

        I'm getting tired of this old chestnut. More expensive than what, exactly?

        Yes, the retail cost of a new Mac is more than your average clone, or built-it-yerself project, but this is not where Apple is positioned.

        When I decided to get a Mac to replace a Windows box to run commercial applications, I decided to do an accurate price compare with other high-end vendors. That means I only looked at higher-end Compaqs (or whatever they are now), IBM (when they sold desktops), and anything from Sony. I did a build-your-own run on dell.com, making sure to choose all the "extra" items that came standard on a new G4.

        Plainly put, I found that a Mac was less than $500 (Canadian) in most cases.

        If I was building a super-deluxe gaming box, I would have built my own Intel/AMD box (again) and been done with it. This would not have been an economy solution either, based on the numbers I racked up pricing out an AMD godbox.

        Look, a modest off-the-shelf or built-to-order Intel/AMD box running Windows is probably good enough for most people. If you want or need anything more, however, any top of the line brand-name box is going to be siginficantly pricier. Apple is not alone in this.

        The bottom line is that, for what I wanted a home computer to be (semi-pro music production, web development, modest amount of gaming, software development) a Mac fit my life perfectly. I get a commercially supported OS, standardized equipment and a deep well of user experience I can draw on.

        And I don't have to use Windows. I get enough of that at work.

        If you want to criticize the Mac platform, a better place to start is the lack of cheap or free software. There isn't the same culture of freeware as in the BSD or Linux world, and the commercial apps tend toward higher prices. I attribute this to market-share.

        This is changing, however. Anyone who uses OS X (and who doesn't) has access to Fink [sourceforge.net] for opensource love.

        If it's fanatical to choose a platform that allows you the benefits of a commercially-supported platform with the pleasures of a nice UNIX GUI, then go ahead and call me a fanatic. I don't know from anything earlier than OS X, so cannot comment. People tend to get attached to their first user experience. Heck, I have a soft spot in my heart for the TRS-80 Model I and Northstar minis.

        From my experience though, if you fairly compare a recent G4 with a recent offering from Sony, add the DVD-RW/CD-RW and Gigabit ethernet (ok, this last is a bit spurious -- who can use 1000 mbit devices to the fullest right now?) you'll find the price difference almost meaningless. Add a $500 tax for running Windows (that's only a dollar a crash), and the price ends up the same.

      • Re:ok... (Score:4, Interesting)

        by daviddennis ( 10926 ) <david@amazing.com> on Thursday October 17, 2002 @11:18AM (#4469534) Homepage
        Actually, I've been pricing entry level laptops for my company, and imagine my surprise when I found the iBook cheaper than the competition.

        This is for our new outside sales force, so style is legitimately more important than substance. An iBook is undeniably stylish, and at $1,195 pretty reasonable. Compare that to the Sony subnotebook, which costs $1,699, or even the entry-level ThinkPad at $1,300-odd.

        I may just wind up getting my company to purchase Macs for the first time, since the software the salespeople use is browser-based anyway.

        D
        • Re:ok... (Score:4, Insightful)

          by Graff ( 532189 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @11:50AM (#4469881)
          Actually, I've been pricing entry level laptops for my company, and imagine my surprise when I found the iBook cheaper than the competition.
          The iBooks and Powerbooks are really doing a good job on winning people over to Macintosh. When you do an honest comparison of them to the offerings from other manufacturers you usually find out that they are fairly price-competitive. The main reason for this is that Apple packs in so many standard features that the other manufacturers tend to leave out such as built-in 802.11, DVD/CD-RW, s-video out, etc. Sure you can get these features in other laptops, but they will cost you and you won't get them in as compact of a form factor as the Mac laptops.

          Once you combine this with the cool form factors, the ease-of-use, the friendly Unix-like goodness of MacOS X, and the overall stability of the Macintosh platform, you will see that many people are deciding that a Mac laptop is a nice buy. Now I'm sure that other manufacturers have similarly decent offerings, but Apple is certainly to be praised for being among those in the front of the pack.
    • People don't "love" Linux or Mac OS or OS/2. They think they do, and they like them, but they don't "love" them. They just bitterly hate being forced to pay large sums of money to use the sluggish, buggy, oddly not-fun Windows.

      I realized this after I'd used a number of non-Windows operating systems and realized that I actually enjoyed using them -- the operating system itself, not the games or whatever written for the OS. All of them. Mac OS was elegant and had some amazing concepts. Lots of people doing binary hacks for it, and tons of good spirit and fun among the community. Linux is the same way, but with source instead of binary hacks, and a more techie community.

      Windows has this bland feeling to it. You'd use it for work, but simply using and poking at the machine isn't really enjoyable.

      Oh, and you can get *annoyed* with a non-Windows operating system -- like not having the GNU utils on Solaris...but I wouldn't really call that the same thing. There's no fundamental dislike in place.
  • by Strepsil ( 75641 ) <mike@bremensaki.com> on Thursday October 17, 2002 @08:52AM (#4468333) Homepage
    You can not stop us
    We have this Unix
    You reboot now
    Are you afraid?
    Death to Microsoft
    Death to Sun
    Steve is great
  • by ygbsm ( 158794 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @08:52AM (#4468334)
    As a long time mac advocate, forced windows user and linux sysadmin . . . explain to me how mac advocates are significantly different than linux geeks who insist that Linux is the one true un*x, the one to rule them all . . .
  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 17, 2002 @08:53AM (#4468341)
    Maybe the kooks in Australia will choose a new religion, since they aren't allowed to put "Jedi" on their census forms.

    Other new religions include Linux, vi, and emacs.
    • Cool! Now maybe we can get our Macs tax free. I can imagine the mass: The priest and altar boys wear black turtlenecks. The sacrement is a CD with the latest update to OS 10, blessed as "the body of Steve". The sermon contains warnings of beng "dragged to the trash" if one does not lead a righteous life in Steve and tells of judgement day where bus errors will flood the earth and there shall be nashing of keyboards and much reformatting and only Mac users will be spared. Steve is obviously a god of wrath.
    • by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @11:32AM (#4469664)
      Macs come with Emacs and VI already. So you can imagine the fervor of an Emacs user running OS X.

      I know I'm one. And for some reason I happen to be wearing a black turtleneck today... Hmm, perhaps it's time to back away from the computer for a bit.

  • by alexc ( 37361 ) <alexc AT sporks DOT org> on Thursday October 17, 2002 @08:53AM (#4468342)
    He isn't CEO of Apple. He is now called the Honarable Reverand Steve X.
  • Every Mac user I've met was basically an evangelist spreading the good word of Mac and denouncing the evils of Wintel. Of course there was one exception, but I met him at my wife's family reunion and I didn't talk to him long enough for him to get his foot in the door (pun intended).
  • by BitGeek ( 19506 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @08:53AM (#4468353) Homepage

    Its not enough that Microsoft has the vast majority of the desktop.

    Its not enough that the macintosh has been derided for the past 20 years as a toy, as inferior, and as the machine that is more style than substance.

    Its not enough that we had a good solid ten years of the tech media announcing that apple was going out of business- never mind that when they first started making that claim, apple had more sales revenue than Microsoft!

    Its not enough that most half educated self-styled geeks think macs are slow.

    Or that theirs a cult of mac hatred, mac bashing, and downright viciousness directed at anyone who dares to buy the computer that is not the one ordained by the powers that be as the be all, end all, "how dare you want something else".

    Its not enough that despite better economics of mac software, we've had 20 years of idiot marketing types canceling mac products to focus on windows (And then losing to microsoft in the end.)

    Its not enough that bigotry and hatred towards mac users is wide spread among computer enthusiasts- and is not only tolerated but encouraged.

    No, none of these are enough.

    Now we need to start comparing mac users to terrorists?

    Its continually amazing how threatened so many people are that some segment of the population buys the computer that works best for them.

    How can you be so threatened at people thinking for themselves? Oh yeah, that's right, this is a nation that worships conformity.

    This is a sad state of affairs. And some of you should be ashamed of yourselves.

    • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 17, 2002 @09:08AM (#4468453)
      Oh come on, the Mac is hardly alone in this. Look at history and you'll see that ANYTHING NON-MICROSOFT/INTEL has been considered fringe-worthy. The only difference NOW is that the Mac stands alone, as all other computing alternatives have been eliminated.

      I agree with you that this is a cheap-shot against Mac users. But you are not alone. Amiga users were also considered zealots. So were OS/2 users. And so are Linux users.

      This has been going on for a LONG time. Anyone who isn't towing the Microsoft/Intel party line has been branded a zealot since day one. Why? What exactly about Microsoft and Intel automatically makes them the "bastion of reason", why anyone that disagrees is considered a zealot?

      As a former Amigan, I can honestly say that the Amiga had -soul-. Mac users will say the same thing about the Macintosh--and they're right. This is what inspires such loyalty, and this is the very thing the Microsoft/Intel PC has always lacked--soul.
      • by BitGeek ( 19506 )

        Sure, the mac is not alone in this. I agree.

        but the thing that strikes me is how much outright hatred there is out there.

        ITs not about preference-- its actually persecution (in the same way gay people are persecuted-- not burned at the stake, but harassed and denied opportunity.)

        Just look at the blatantly biased way my post has been modded.

        Yes, amiga users suffer the same fate, and Linux users too, but its worth noting that at least in these parts its the linux users running around calling us "macfags" and getting modded up for it!

    • Now we need to start comparing mac users to terrorists?

      The Nation of Islam is a racist, reactionist, extreme black Muslim group--but they're hardly terrorists.

      Criminals maybe. Name-thieves, probably (the orignal Nation of Islam actually became Muslim, not racist.) Ignorant racist bastards, definitly (most arabs are closer to "white" than "black").

      But they're not terrorists.

      How can you be so threatened at people thinking for themselves? Oh yeah, that's right, this is a nation that worships conformity.

      Tell me again how being a rabid fanboy of ANYTHING is "thinking for yourself?"

      I'd love to have a Mac. I'd like to be able to use Linux for what I need it to do. But neither of those means that I'm "thinking for myself."
  • Everyone in the movie is named Steve?
  • Timng is everything (Score:3, Interesting)

    by HealYourChurchWebSit ( 615198 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @08:55AM (#4468367) Homepage
    An interesting documentary topic, who's timing couldn't be better in light of Apple's recent earnings [google.com] news ... here's a snippet from the ElectronicNewsNet [www.enn.ie]
    Despite driving upgrades to its new Mac OS X 10.2 "Jaguar" operating system, Apple reported a US$45 million loss and flat year-on-year revenue for its fiscal 2002 fourth quarter.

    Hopefully, this is just an issue of absorbing the R&D costs [fool.com] of their new O/S. I'm not a Mac user, but some of my best friends are ...

    • no the loss was mostly due to the stock market falling and affecting the value of the stock apple holds (or something), before that was taken into account they made a slim profit
    • by MouseR ( 3264 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @09:43AM (#4468699) Homepage
      Hopefully, this is just an issue of absorbing the R&D costs [fool.com] of their new O/S. I'm not a Mac user, but some of my best friends are ...

      Read the earnings report yourself. They actually posted a 7M profit before one-time non-recuring changes due to an internal reorg and recent acquisitions.

      Given this, they actually met their predictions. This is pretty good while other hardware manufacturers plummet.

      With more than 4 billion in cash reserve, a net loss of 47M is just a good tax evasion for the next quarter.
  • Apple's Heros (Score:5, Insightful)

    by e8johan ( 605347 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @08:56AM (#4468371) Homepage Journal
    These users is the reason to why Apple has been able to survive the late 80s and early 90s when the x86 ran away from then performance wise.

    It is fun to notice all these little fanatic communities for all old computers: Atari [atari.st], Amiga [worldonline.dk], ABC80 [lysator.liu.se], Spectrum [worldofspectrum.org], C64 [www.hut.fi]...

    It is nice to see that some of us aren't here just for performance and the latest games!
    • Re:Apple's Heros (Score:3, Insightful)

      by k_187 ( 61692 )
      x86 didn't run away from PPC in the early 90s. The 68K series yes, but not the PPC. PPC was actually faster (clock speed wise, and we all know the MHz myth) until the first gen P3s came out in what? '98 or so. x86 didn't leap out ahead until '99 when Apple introduced the 500 MHz G4 and the P3 was already scaling up to 800. We all know the story from there.
  • Interesting (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Jack Wagner ( 444727 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @08:57AM (#4468384) Homepage Journal
    It's been my experience that Mac zealots are the worst zealots, only rivaled my the old amiga users, although the Linux camp gave it a good run a few years ago.

    I'm convinced the reason behind it is that the typical Mac user is someone who is not very technical and was perhaps intimidated by using a computer, so when they figured out how to use their Mac they get a certain sense of pride and accomplishment which they in turn morph into zealotry.

    Thankfully this is changeing with more affluent Unix people migrating over to try OSX, but the core zealot remains the same.

    The funny thing is that while I was working with the *BSD dev team to straighten out their internal shceduling problems with the threading code in the kernel I noticed that the dev guys were very calm and rational people, pretty much just the opposite of the Mac user. Interesting indeed.

    Warmest regards,
    --Jack
    • Re:Interesting (Score:2, Interesting)

      by glh ( 14273 )
      What about OS/2 zealots? I remember they were quite fanatical. Remember those "Team OS/2" t-shirts?

      I haven't seen any of them lately, maybe they joined the Mac camp. :)

    • Re:Interesting (Score:5, Insightful)

      by thedbp ( 443047 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @09:18AM (#4468524)
      I'm convinced the reason behind it is that the typical Mac user is someone who is not very technical and was perhaps intimidated by using a computer, so when they figured out how to use their Mac they get a certain sense of pride and accomplishment which they in turn morph into zealotry.

      Common misconception. Most Mac users are creative professionals that have no NEED to learn the inner workings of computers and the technical details of their machines. It has nothing to do w/ "pride" in figuring out how to use it. It has to do with the perceived ability of the Mac to facilitate their creativity.

      Like you said, this is changing. With many *nix heads coming over to the Mac camp, the average tech savvy-ness of the Mac user IS going up. However, please remember that a great majority of Wintel users can't even figure out how to use AOL by themselves, let alone use Final Cut Pro to create a full-length movie w/out a manual.

      And there are PLENTY of tech savvy mac users. I happen to be one of them. I've been building x86 boxes since the 286, worked on every flavor of windows, use linux regularly, and have ALWAYS preferred Macs.

      People with no vision are always the first to deride those with style. People with style are always the first to help out those with no vision.

      I noticed that the dev guys were very calm and rational people, pretty much just the opposite of the Mac user

      Maybe that's because instead of having to crunch their brains fixing problems (which, trust me, the high-level OS engineers at Apple would behave the same way as your BSD dev team) with a kernel, most Mac END-users are EXCITED that they have enough free time after getting all their work done cuz their machines don't crash freeze ask for money or otherwise hinder functional use.

      Just a thought.
      • Macs & Creativity (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Lovejoy ( 200794 ) <danlovejoy AT gmail DOT com> on Thursday October 17, 2002 @09:37AM (#4468646) Homepage
        I just upgraded to FC Pro so I could do some stuff with a project I can't do with iMovie. The elegance of the product is really astounding. It's well thought-out - it scales down to my incredible level of ignorance well, and it produces a beautiful product. When I wanted to make the movie, here's what I needed: Mac, FCPro, video cam w/ Firewire.

        Now I suppose Adobe Premiere on a beefy Windows machine could do the same, but I'm getting nervous just thinking about it. I use Windows every day and consider myself a very proficient user. (blech)

        So what do I need to do the same project? I suppose:
        Premiere, Beefy Windows-based Machine (XP? 98? 2000?) - I'm guessing 2000, but that's just a guess - So I have to downgrade. And the right video card - Oh my gosh! Which one shall I get? Hmm.. And I forgot: I need a FIREWIRE card b/c they aren't standard on most PCs. Oh crap. Firewire drivers, Oh yeah - video card drivers. What, there's a conflict (IRQ?) between my add-on FW card and my add-on HD. CRAP! See what I mean?

        Before you write "Dude, you're stupid" I'll concede the point. I'm stupid. You got me.

        But I am smart enough to figure out how to run FC Pro in some fashion or another, produce multimedia, etc. etc.. and I'm pretty sure I'm smart enough to puzzle out all the Windows crap, BUT I DON'T WANT TO. I'm smart enough to get my work done, and that's all I care about. I don't like "computers" and I don't want to spend half my life figuring out why they don't work.
    • Re:Interesting (Score:2, Insightful)

      by splateagle ( 557203 )
      Interesting indeed.

      Speaking as an old Amiga user who's now a Mac user, I'd have to say you're way off base here.

      The comment about 'typical' Mac users not being very technical doesn't hold (after all what percentage of Windows users do you know qualify as remotely tech-savy?) and whifs somewhat of intellectual/technical snobbery when you stop and think about it.

      My theory is that the reason users on both platforms tend/tended to be enthuisasts is that we derive a lot of pleasure from using well designed machines/OSes (OK so there's a flaw in my argument there with pre-OS X Mac-users ;)
    • Re:Interesting (Score:5, Insightful)

      by thatguywhoiam ( 524290 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @09:37AM (#4468647)
      As a one-time Amiga zealot myself (okay, when I was 14), I can tell you that the Amigoids are definitely more hardcore than most Mac-heads. The Amiga is an undead computer platform. But I digress.

      You know what it is about Mac users? People who 'discover' the Mac (or Linux/*nix for that matter) and like it more than Windows feel like they've made this major leap. They know 90% of the planet isn't aware of any other OSes because they used to be one of those people, not too long ago.... so it's hard not to feel smug.

      Look at the reaction of any newly converted users. They are flabbergasted at the difference. Again, goes for both Linux and Mac... really, it's not hard to see why. Not for the people in here.

      This actually goes with my larger theory that only 90% of the planet even cares, or can objectively see the difference between a good UI and a bad one. Hence, Apple remains at 5~10% (don't give me the 4% figure, I've never believed that).

    • Actually.. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by KalenDarrie ( 320019 )
      I'd wager that most Windows users aren't that technical either. I think your logic is flawed.
    • In general, the Mac users I've talked to are not zealots. I -- someone who doesn't own a Mac -- had to talk two of them into keeping thier macs or buying a new one.

      These are not geeks, gurus, or deep into graphic design. They see Windows PCs everywhere and think that they are missing something since Windows is so popular. Asking them a few simple questions usually eliminates doubt and they stick with Apple out of inertia;

      * They have a Mac.

      * While they can use Windows there is no reason to not keep or buy a Mac.

      * They stick with Apple.

    • Re:Interesting (Score:5, Interesting)

      by SirSlud ( 67381 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @10:48AM (#4469226) Homepage
      In my 6 or some odd years of using Macs, I dont think I ever spent more than 5 minutes wrestling or hating my box.

      That shit happens normally on Wintel for me (cant get this or that going.)

      I'm a C/C++ developer. I'm no moron. But I have a job, friends, family, and no desire to spend my time "fixing windows that shouldn't be broken in the first place."

      I was always zealous about the Mac because it pretty much worked as advertised. If that ain't the kinda shit you preach from the mountain tops, I don't know what is.

      To me, there was very little downside to temper the kind of excitement and satisfaction I got from fuckin around with my Mac.
  • by Guido69 ( 513067 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @08:58AM (#4468387) Homepage
    How's the movie end?

    Woz: "Just trust me and insert the purple disk..."
  • So riddle me this (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 17, 2002 @09:02AM (#4468408)
    Why is it ANYONE who does not use Microsoft products is considered a religious zealout? I'm serious. This has been going on for over 13 years now.

    Way back when there WAS computer diversity, it was no different. If you used an Amiga, you were a zealot. If you liked OS/2, you were a zealot. But if you used Windows, you were the bastion of sanity and reason! (never mind the crashing, the unreliability, etc). And this was in an era when Windows did NOT have the majority (yet). And this was primarily a North American attitude, as well.

    So now we have Mac users AGAIN being branded as fantics and zealots. What has changed? The smarmy attitude of Windows drones is more like a dominant religion, in my opinion. The Cult of Bill is far more repugnant than a few stalwarts who want to compute differently.
    • by jmcwork ( 564008 )

      Whooaaa there Captain. Lower your shields!
      I don't think they are trying to say that EVERYONE who uses a Mac is a zealot. (And I do not ever recall seeing the terms 'bastion of sanity' and 'Windows user' being used together.) The 'hardcore' Mac users that I have known typically wanted a computer to do a few specific things (desk top publishing, etc) and the Mac did an excellent job for them with fewer hassles than a PC. Therefore they could not see why someone would want any other kind of system.
      Also, if you really want to see zealotry, go to a Java newsgroup and post "I heard that C++ was better than Java" (or vice versa)
    • by SN74S181 ( 581549 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @09:41AM (#4468676)
      It's called 'Anything But Microsoft' and it's been a trend for years. There are your average end users who detest the Microsoft products because of problems they experience. Then there are the ABMers, who are contrarians to the bone.

      Many of us have known ABMers. If Microsoft didn't exist, they'd find some other reason to distinguish themselves...
    • I think that is what Microsoft capitalizes upon is a sense of conformity and 'normalcy' as much as they can promote. Anything but safe Windows seems strange and unusual, making most uncomfortable at the prospect of adopting alternatives.

      It keeps people in line by their own natural reaction to strange and unknown things.
    • You Lie (Score:2, Insightful)

      by FatSean ( 18753 )
      All non-windows users are not considered zealot. Perhaps you should look up the definition of the word. If you use a Mac and like, good for you, you're a computer user. If you use a Mac and take every opportunity to point ot aupposed flaws in my system of choice and to bray about your system of choice, you are a Zealot.

      I see the Macsterbators have lots of moderator points today!

  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 17, 2002 @09:02AM (#4468410)
    "It's about that whole religious fervor that grabs Mac users the way it doesn't with users of other platforms," said writer/director Jake Barnes, who described himself as a "recovering Mac addict."


    They should try Amiga users, they're several times worse Mac users. Really.
  • by standards ( 461431 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @09:02AM (#4468414)
    I have to say that I think that the Cult of Macintosh is pretty much dead.

    Yeah, there are still Mac fanatics, but just like the suffragettes, the Cult of Macintosh faded when it won.

    The Macintosh successfully delivered the GUI desktop paradigm to the masses. After that, well, anyone applauding Windows 95+ was also supporting the ideals that the Macintosh was successfully promoting into the marketplace - like it or not.

    Sure, the Mac had some really really dark days... mostly in the late 80's, early 90's when that Pepsi guy was pretending to run the place.

    But again Apple has taken the industry to a new level, with computers that push design and function, and with a real, extendable, fairly open, standards-friendly OS behind it.

    In any case, the war is over. Maybe Apple didn't win all the love and money. But it propelled the industry forward on many, many fronts.

    Thank goodness for comapies like Apple pushing innovation into the marketplace. Maybe someday Microsoft will be able to do the same.

    Nah, they have no incentive to do that.
  • The banner above this article about 'Certified OS X Classes' LOL
  • Poor Rodney Lain (Score:2, Interesting)

    by mtec ( 572168 )
    He was all about evangelizing the platform. His columns always had a amateurish, strange, almost irrational quality (he wrote for many Mac publications as iBrotha). It's hard to tell from the article - but it appears he was associated with the production (or at least inspired it).
    I always thought he was a little macadamia nuts. You've done your damage, Rodney, rest in peace.
  • by lovebyte ( 81275 ) <lovebyte2000@gm[ ].com ['ail' in gap]> on Thursday October 17, 2002 @09:24AM (#4468555) Homepage
    And what about all the idiots who queue for hours at night to be the first to get their hands on the latest Windows OS when a new one arrives? Oh but wait a second! Those people are not zealot! Just plain arsholes!
  • by poeman ( 60885 ) <(alvin) (at) (interim-mgi.com)> on Thursday October 17, 2002 @09:24AM (#4468557) Homepage
    The wired story says the film even stars a 512k, the original Mac. Don't those heathens know their macs? Everyone knows that the 128K came out before the 512K!

    Next they'll be telling me that the Classic was the original mac like all those posers do on eBay.

  • Malcolm X (Score:2, Funny)

    by ActiveSX ( 301342 )
    I always thought of Malcolm X as a RISCOS [riscos.com] guy myself. Hmm, I guess the X [apple.com] is pretty signifigant evidence against that.
  • by Anonymous Coward
    If I visit the Apple site and see a Malcom X "Think Different" poster on the front, I'm gonna turn in my G4 for a SunBlade ....
  • by essiescreet ( 553257 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @09:32AM (#4468615)
    Saturn and Saab owners are waging holy war against each other, and everyone hopes that the NASCAR fans will stay out of it...
  • by DaveOf9thKey ( 599178 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @09:33AM (#4468623) Homepage Journal
    Apple-am a-laikum, my iBrothers and iSisters. Would you like an MP3 copy of Steve's Final Call for your iPod? Can I interest you in an iBeanpie? We didn't tear down the gates -- Gates tore us down!

    My name is Mac-colm X, and I will soon make my pilgrimage to Cupertino.

  • by Anonymous Coward
    ... it's Malcom X 10.2!
  • Passive zealots (Score:5, Insightful)

    by wazzzup ( 172351 ) <astromacNO@SPAMfastmail.fm> on Thursday October 17, 2002 @09:39AM (#4468662)
    There are Windows zealots, they're just lost in the crowd of point-and-drool Windows users that have no idea that "computer" doesn't necissarily mean "Wintel".

    I mean, what about the scores of MCSE monkeys that think every other operating system outside of Windows is a toy? Isn't that a type of zealotry? They're not going out and actively preaching Windows but they're passively dissmissing any other platform. There's plenty of Kool-aid to be drunk that's coming out of Redmond.

    If the movie's any good, they'll have a confrontation between a mac zealot and an MCSE monkey that tells him "Macs can't network." I'm picturing a Steve Martin type reaction from the movie "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" when somebody mentions "cleaning woman".
  • by nadador ( 3747 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @09:52AM (#4468758)
    Slashdot spends *a lot* of time talking about Apple. I'm not entirely sure how Uncle Steve built his company to attact so much attention, but it just seems that we talk about it a lot.

    As far as the Cult of Steve, I am a member, having recently returned from exile in the PC wilderness. Ah, how nice it is to return to the warmth of the Reality Distortion Field, where all benchmarks are Photoshop and all the UI components are lickably delicious.

    Macs aren't the only products that inspire fanatical devotion (see comments re Linux, BSD, etc.). Not even just computers (shocking, isn't it?). Have you ever met people who drive Saturns? We're rather fanatical about our friendly dealerships and polymer side panels (dent resistant *and* rust proof :)
  • I wonder... (Score:4, Funny)

    by kakos ( 610660 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @09:55AM (#4468772)
    I wonder if Steve Jobs will rename Apple HQ to Macca. Start praying, Mac people!
  • As a reprecentive on the Macintosh Liberation Front I hereby state our intention of eliminating all enemies of the Macintosh nation. This is not terrorism but rightful war against the terroists of the non-Macintosh world.

    (Yeah. I'm a mac user alright ;)
  • Holy crap!! all this time i've been hauling old computers for trade between planets and i thought it was all just a game.
    All bow down before the AmbrosiaSW oracles!!
    ~this is just the begining.
  • Why do I have this sick sinking feeling that we are going to hear from a bunch of activists that have, too much free time and too much tax payer money in their pockets,as they start berating this movie. I wonder how long it will take before someone starts a litigation against the makers of this little Indie 8 min wonder. Mark my words we'll hear, "How Dare You" and things like "The Comparision is unjust and denegrating". I can hear the liberal mass of low self-esteem activists sharpening their attourney auto-dial buttons as they foam at the mouth of this "almost as bad a Hitler" movie. I can feel the oxygen being drawn out as millions of liberal activists begin huffing and gasping at this horribly racist, denegrating, non-politically correct (Aww hell lets call a spade a spade, Socialist-Correct) film diminishing Malcom-X's role in history. Why can we see this film for what is really is? BECAUSE THE REST OF US WORKING ADULTS GREW UP AND DEVELOPED A SENSE OF HUMOR AND GREW OUT OF OUT OVER-SENSITIVE CHILDHOOD!!

    Beware, I think I heard one of them dial already... I thought they'd wait till the movie made some money...

    NEWS AT 11: Gnostic religious groups file a lawsuit against the makers of The Matrix for mis-representing the concept of the DemiUrge. Catholics groan as they thought they stomped out the Gnostics after the Nicean Council. Constantine rolls over in grave!!
  • When I used to work at the apple store, one of my friends came in to visit. He walked in to a group of about 6 employees standing around. All wearing the black apple shirt with the white apple on the front and wearing kaki's. He was spooked and asked me if apple was a cult. I told him yes ;)
  • Still... (Score:4, Funny)

    by SmittyTheBold ( 14066 ) <[deth_bunny] [at] [yahoo.com]> on Thursday October 17, 2002 @10:39AM (#4469118) Homepage Journal
    ...compared to certain radical Muslim factions, we're rather peaceful.

    For example, we don't bomb things.

    We /will/ laugh, though, when Windows bombs itself.
  • by Zen Mastuh ( 456254 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @10:44AM (#4469175)
    No more blue screens of de-eath.
    Off the pigs!
    Revolution has co-ome.
    Make the switch [apple.com]!

    [Note to mods: if you were born after 196x, you may not get the reference. Mod accordingly.]
  • by shrikel ( 535309 ) <hlagfarj&gmail,com> on Friday October 18, 2002 @02:51AM (#4476682)
    From the article:

    "It's about that whole religious fervor that grabs Mac users the way it doesn't with users of other platforms"

    Pardon him. He hasn't visited Slashdot.

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