I had no idea. Don’t get me wrong — [some of it][something] I expected or even
predicted.[^nda] Did everyone turn into movie critics when panther released?
Okay, so they probably did. Maybe I just repressed it.
Here’s something a little tiny bit less dramatic; the release itself. Not the
software, mind you, I’m talking about standing outside of an Apple Store
waiting for 6:00 PM local time and making small wagers with the nearby
Mac-ites about what lame melodrama a couple of the employees will do this year
thinking they’re clever.[^panther] Anyone who guessed they’d just blare _Eye
of the Tiger_ really loudly as they opened the door won some slightly
weathered Panther dog-tags from the person next to them.
I was there with a friend — our respective Fiancés stared mockingly at us from
the top floor for a couple minutes, then ran off. There’s a tradition of sorts
at these things — spot the posers. Why someone would pretend to be a Mac user
is beyond me, but there they are anyway. Even the techies _look_ like Mac-using
techies; we must have an aura or something. A couple years ago, that same
friend and I were walking into the very same Apple Store when I wondered aloud
whether I was looking more and more like a Mac-user by the day; my hair was
pretty long at the time.
Anyway, this Friday one of the “employees” really stuck out. I thought he was
swaggering way too much; like a roadie who is in it to look important setting
up for the band, rather than for love or money. My friend thought it was
rather odd that he had an iPod Shuffle _and_ regular iPod hanging on a cord
around his neck. You don’t really think people work at an Apple Store because
they pay well, do you?
The one thing I really didn’t get was the other people in the mall. It’s 5:45
PM on a Friday night, the Apple Store is the only store in the mall that’s
closed, there’s a line of people in front of it, and you have neither a Mac
nor an iPod; do you really think that when you ask us what we’re waiting for,
it’ll be something you care about? Sheesh!
[^nda]: Granted, my prediction was subject to my NDA with the Apple developer
program — so there’s no record of this anywhere.
[^panther]: For Panther, and I swear I’m not making this up, two idiots burst
out of the stairwell at one end of the mall a couple minutes
before opening, one of them carrying cheap briefcase handcuffed to
his wrist. Sure, I believe you crammed the many dozens of boxed
copies of the OS into a briefcase and set them up all over the
store in two minutes without mangling them all — really.
[something]: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20050430210248363