In my last article, I talked about a certain
Web site that seemed to be a Mac-bashing Christian site, and it was
being talked about all over the Mac Web. As it seems by some
investigating by Charles W. Moore on Applelinks, the site may well
be a hoax. Of course, nothing has been confirmed, but I have read lots
of articles about how writers were "amused" by that site.
iWalking It
Remember the iWalk
rumors last fall? We all do. If you were living under a rock, SpyMac.com posted pictures of a Palm-like
device with an Apple logo, but when it turned out to be the iPod, all
of the information on it disappeared from their site.
Or How about This One?
Remember last summer when everybody thought this was going to be the
Expo when a flat-panel iMac was finally released? A week after the
Expo, everyone was saying "I told ya so" about the new iMac - or lack
thereof. And then we were surprised when the new iMac actually was
released in January?
InfiniteOS
Speaking of supposed Mac hoaxes/rumors, going a little farther back,
there was an
article posted on Wired's site about the InfiniteOS, a supposedly
new operating system for the Mac. Whether or not it was a hoax is
uncertain, but a search on Google shows it still under development.
Jag Quits the Mac - and Returns
A hoax that shocked the Mac community happened last spring when Jag,
owner of jagshouse.com and a
definite classic Mac guru, posted a message basically saying that he
was tired of using the Mac and OS X meant the end of Macs, etc.
But after I watched everyone on the various email lists I read freak
out over this, I noticed how Jag quietly returned and is back doing
what he does best - helping out Mac users. Maybe it was a late April
Fool's Day prank.
Rumor, Prank, and Hoax: All the Same?
Not only is it in our nature as humans to crave the latest
information - and as Mac users to want to be the first on our block to
hear about Apple's new product before they release it, or even to make
our own guesses as to what will be released next - but it's also our
nature to jump on the "me too" bandwagon and share our thoughts about
things. In a way, I think that this is good, since not only does it
give us something to do to "keep us off the streets," but it also
creates mystery around what will happen next.
If the original site actually is a parody (which it seems to be),
then it did a very good job at making everyone believe it wasn't a
parody. Of course, parodies mock something, so what exactly is it
mocking? Fanatic Christian sites or fanatic Mac sites? I'm not quite
sure, but I'm going to wrap this up - my head's starting to hurt.
