A consequence of being known as someone who wrote about Apple and the Macintosh before I became a blogger is that some of my readers expect me to have more to say about those topics than I do at Mac-a-ro-nies. Well, I am using the Mac Diva sobriquet. But, my intention is that this be a general assignment weblog. Since Apple has a niche market, I don't focus on it as much as I do computers and the Internet generally. But, that doesn't mean I've stopped following news about the Macintosh and other Apple products. I'm still tuned in.
Gary Allen isn't just tuned in. He lives the Mac. The Apple enthusiast makes a practice of attending the openings of Apple Stores as if they were A list movies. Leander Kahney of Wired talked to him recently.
On Thanksgiving, Gary Allen and his teenage son caught a plane to Japan from their home in Berkeley, California, to attend the grand opening of Apple Computer's new store in Tokyo.
Rising early Friday, the pair spent the next 28 hours standing outside the store in the rain to be the first in line when the doors were thrown open Saturday morning. Objective achieved, and commemorative T-shirts in hand, the pair flew home the next day.
"It was definitely the most exciting grand opening of all the stores I've been to," said Allen, who has turned the gala openings of Apple Stores into something of a hobby.
Allen, the 56-year-old publisher of Dispatch, a magazine for emergency dispatchers, and his son Devin, 16, have attended the openings of five Apple Stores in the United States, which they have documented in detail on Allen's 300-page website, IFO Apple Store (IFO = In Front Of).
"My wife doesn't quite understand the fascination," he said. "I try to explain to her it's a social experience. It's a fun thing. But Tokyo in the rain. She was mystified by that."
Allen's behavior is the kind of devotion that makes some people describe Mac users as a cult. However, I don't believe that. Cult members share a range of attributes. In my experience, Mac users often just have their choice of computer platform in common. Yes, I'm aware of the assumption that all Apple users are liberals. Yet, I've encountered my share of conservatives who use Macs, and even a few Right Wing wackos. On the other hand, I know people who consider themselves progressives who would never detour from the Wintel platform. Another claim that appeals to our egos as members of the Macintosh minority is that we are all individualists. Sorry to break it to you, but it is not so, either. Indeed, Mac sites such as the Mac Addict forums and Mac NN can be as much echo chambers as Windows locales.
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