Short Take: Up All Night, Watching Apple.com, n/t

by , 8:00 AM EST, January 3rd, 2002

As a recent convert to the Mac side of the universe, one thing is for sure: PC users never showed this much love for their platform.

With all of the buzz about Apple and MacWorld Expo, everyone is rallying in support for their platform in many ways. We are all on the edge of our seats waiting to see what is to come from Cupertino, and you know what? This is the most fun I've ever had with anything dealing with computers. I mean, how many times do you see, on some PC message board, some guy saying that he heard from his cousin's sister's best friend's baby-sitter who is married to someone whose brother works for someone who knows a guy from some PC company and that they will be releasing a new color for their T-shirt lineup - causing mass histeria at the [insert said computer company's name here]extreme.com message boards?

Charlie, in a post to the TMO message boards

I may be bad, but I feel good.

from Sam Raimi's "Army of the Dead"

1/2/2002, 9:48 p.m. All is well…
Judging from the various message boards around the "Mac Web," I won't be alone tonight.

When I should be cranking out an Access database for work tomorrow, I'm instead sitting here drinking beer and watching Apple.com, in hopes that I will see what the next message is from On High. I won't be alone because there's a chance that several other Mac geeks have the same thought.

The Mac web is feeding more frenzied than usual, with Apple's latest successful attempt to whip the acolytes into throes of self-flagellating homage.

Refreshing my browser display of Apple.com. Nope, no change…

1/2/2002 10:19 p.m. No change…
You already know about the last three days of teaseful messages on Apple's home page, promising us, swearing to us -- no, guaranteeing that there has been no product introduction like the one the world will witness on January 7.

Part of me yawns, because I'm still store about the iPod being hyped as a breakthrough digital device. Excuse me? Hell, yeah, I bought one! Hey, I'm quick to forgive. Apple is like that bad boyfriend that girls love to hate. But, there is always hope that we will finally fulfill those dreams long deferred:

• Apple can unveil an OS X-laden PDA (I'd sell my Visor Prism that I just bought last week).
  
• Apple can make the G4 the entry-level process, hence, a G4 iBook (I'd sell my iBook that I bought just two weeks ago).
  
• Apple could unveil something to replace the Cube, packed with the features -- and the price -- that we'd line up to pay (I'd sell my first-generation Cube, not to mention my left you-know-what).
  

Apple could do all of the above and still announce some iProduct, some merger, some acquisition that will bring the Mac one step closer to the world domination we've predicted since 1984.

Refresh. Hmmm… no change.

1/2/2002 11:43 p.m. Same as before…
Regardless of what happens on Monday morning, I think most of us will be spending January 7 and 8 cheering, bragging and lusting after whatever is announced. This is what being a Mac user is all about. Actually, there is more than that…

There's something rebellious about our computing choice. We honestly believe that the Mac is better. The Mac is elegant; the Mac is intuitive; the Mac is fun. We always talk about what the Mac is. For me, I'm looking forward to the MACWORLD Expo and future Apple gadgetry mainly because of what the Mac platform is not. It is not Microsoft. It is unPC. It doesn't blend in. It doesn't conform to what's dictated by the boss, by the government, by the computing establishment.

We're watching the web as though we're looking heavenward because it points to the next stage in the rebellion, phase two of the revolution, Plan B in the debunking of the "The Matrix." We're awaiting January 7 for Steve Jobs to tell everyone, once again, that "there is no spoon." In a way, the Mac is our righteous cause, counter stream against what the rest of the world thinks is the future.

That's why we hold on, in spite of the ridicule. That's why we "keep the faith." That's why we follow what Apple does, our constant criticisms notwithstanding.

(Now, I just hope Apple's Hype Gun isn't aimed at Steve Jobs's shoes...)

1/3/2002 2:09 a.m., somewhere in Minnesota…
Refresh… Wait! I see something! It's… it's… it's… snore...

Rodney O. Lain doesn't have a life. He wastes his evenings and weekends trolling message boards and AIM sessions. When he thinks about it -- which isn't often -- he takes a bath and eats a Tic-Tac, then writes his iBrotha column for The Mac Observer, as well as the occasional editorial. Rodney lives in Minnesota, where he is an IT supervisor for The Man at a Fortune 50 company.