I honestly don't understand the uproar behind the removal of the happy mac. Why is the mac community as a whole so upset over Apple removing a pedestrian graphic at best and putting in place its logo on a screen we really shouldn't be seeing all that much in the first place.

I can sort of understand the uproar. Although I think it's time for us, Apple lovers, to move on to the future and accept OS X for what it is, and what it can be. Eventually.

I think its like this; the happy mac is like a nice safe reminder that no matter whether you run OS 9.2 or OS 10.2 that you're still on a Mac.

The design may seem over simple now, but in its day it was the state of the art in computer graphics. Susan Kare's icon work on the original Mac OS is still amazing to me.

Agreed Steven. I like the new "refined" boot up screen, the old one never seemed to compliment OS X's style.

Speaking of classic Mac icons, it is hard to overlook the ever famous dog-cow from the page setup windows. Read more. It's funny what apple users get obsessed about. We are a bunch of freaks.

It's tradition.

> Why is the mac community as a whole so upset

For the same reason that you guys would buy anything if it was delivered by a John Lennon impersonator in a yellow VW bug.

hhp

???

It may be tradition, but so were small icons. Things change. Some people think more of their Macs than the Happy Mac icon expressed.

While the UNIX is churning below the surface, there's no need to show an old bitmap of a Mac Plus.

Mac OS X made the Mac more mature. 10.2 pushed it further into respectable adulthood with that redesign (which by the way, is esthetically better anyway than the Happy Mac).

>???

See, this is what I meant when I said watch out for Hrant. His comments are... how can I say this? intellectual?, that's not it, but it comes close. He is a hard hitter with a sense of humor and knowledge. So, watch out. Really!

And Armin should know not to encourage me.

Kiran, I was making a social commentary of sorts (as I'm prone to do too often and too caustically). MacHeads complain about the missing happy icon because it used to give their consumerist, shallow lives that little bit of extra meaning, in the same way that a gang member would hate having his tattoo removed. And Apple knows exaclty how to milk every last penny out of this insecurity. Poor Gandhi.

hhp

Hrant

Interesting thought. But wrong. :) Apple knows how to cater to its audience (eg steve jobs keynotes), but the Apple audience is decidedly small only about 3% of the PC market. If they knew how to market as well as you proclaim the Apple market share would be that much higher.

ps. I'm not saying this to start an arguement, its just a tongue in cheek comment in response to your previous comment.

It is really interesting to see the "loyalty" that Apple users have towards apple products. I have a friend that is completely obsessed with Apple, and he really doesn't know much about the Mac, he just thinks it's sooooooo cool to have a Mac and be a designer. His major aspiration is to have a 22" Apple cinema display attached to the latest computer available. He went on some interviews to look for a new job, and he found a place that wasn't that great creatively, but they offered him said display.

I think Apple has done a good job, whether PC users like it or not, to create this sort of private club compromised of MAC users, and in return we get some of the coolest looking computers. And most people are happy with that. Personally, I would never work on a PC, even if the software is the same and it doesn't crash as much. I guess it's a matter of being used to the Mac, I've been working on one since the screen was green and black and, of coure, I wouldn't be be welcomed by the smiley Mac or by the Moof of the dog-cow.