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( Each of these cults correspond to one   )
( of the two antagonists in the age of    )
( Reformation. In the realm of the Apple  )
( Macintosh, as in Catholic Europe,       )
( worshipers peer devoutly into screens   )
( filled with "icons." All is sound and   )
( imagery and Appledom. Even words look   )
( like decorative filigrees in exotic     )
( typefaces. The greatest icon of all,    )
( the inviolable Apple itself, stands in  )
( the dominate position at the upper-left )
( corner of the screen. A central         )
( corporate headquarters decrees the form )
( of all rites and practices. Infalliable )
( doctrine issues from one executive      )
( officer whose selection occurs in a     )
( sealed boardroom. Should anyone in his  )
( curia question his powers, the offender )
( is excommunicated into outer darkness.  )
( The expelled heretic founds a new       )
( company, mutters obscurely of the       )
( coming age and the next computer, then  )
( disappears into silence, taking his     )
( stockholders with him. The mother       )
( company forbids financial competition   )
( as sternly as it stifles ideological    )
( competition; if you want to use         )
( computer programs that conform to       )
( Apple's orthodoxy, you must buy a       )
( computer made and sold by Apple itself. )
(                                         )
( -- Edward Mendelson, "The New           )
( Republic", February 22, 1988            )
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