From:    Thomas Izaguirre                       Area: Mundane
To:      All                                    23 Jan 95 20:39:56
Subject: Holy War with Software!                UpdReq 

The following is excerpted from the current issue of HARPER'S and appears on 
page 33:
 [Analogy] THE SOFTWARE SCHISM
 From "La Baustina di Minerva," a column by Umberto Eco, in the September 30, 
1994, issue of the Italian journal L'Espresso.  Eco's column was anonymously 
translated into English and posted on the Internet in October.
 "Insufficient consideration has been given to the underground religious war 
that is transforming the modern world:  the division between users of the 
MacIntosh computer and users of MS-DOS-compatible computers.  I am firmly of 
the opnion that the MacIntosh is Catholic and the DOS is Protestant.  Indeed, 
the MacIntosh is counterreformist and has been influenced by the methodical 
path of the Jesuits.  It tells the faithful how they must proceed step by 
step to reach--if not the Kingdom of Heaven--the moment in which their 
document is printed.  It is catechistic:  the essence of revelation is dealt 
with via simple formulae and sumptuous icons.  Everyone has a right to 
salvation.
  DOS is Protestant, or even Calvinistic.  It allows free interpretation of 
scripture, demands difficult personal decisions, imposes a subtle hermenutics 
upon the user, and takes for granted the idea that not all can reach 
salvation.  To make the system work you need to interpret it yourself: the 
user is closed within the loneliness of his own inner torment.
  You may object that, with the passage to Windows, the DOS universe has come 
to resemble more closely the counterreformist tolerance of the MacIntosh.  
It's true:  Windows represents an Anglican-style schism--big ceremonies in 
the cathedral but with the possibility of returning to DOS to fiddle with 
things.  With Windows, you can still decide to allow women and gays to be 
priests if you want to.
  And what about the machine language that lies beneath both operating 
systems?  An, that is the stuff of the Old Testament, Talmudic and cabalistic.


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