ITALIAN intellectual Umberto Eco once compared the debate between Mac and PC users to "an underground religious war". Writing in his weekly column in Espresso, he argued that "the Macintosh is Catholic and DOS is Protestant. Indeed, the Macintosh is counter reformist and has been influenced by the ratio studiorum of the Jesuits. It is cheerful, friendly, conciliatory, 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, he says, is Protestant, or even Calvinistic. "It allows free interpretation of scripture, demands difficult personal decisions imposes a subtle hermeneutics upon the user, and takes for granted the idea that not all can reach salvation. To make the system work you need to interpret the program yourself: a long way from the baroque community of revellers, the user is closed within the loneliness of his own inner torment."
With the passage to Windows, he argues that the DOS universe increasingly resembles the "counter reformist tolerance" of the Macintosh, and represents "an Anglican style schism, big ceremonies in the cathedral, but there is always the possibility of a return to DOS to change things in accordance with bizarre decisions when it comes down to it, you can decide to allow women and gays to be ministers if you want to..."
What about machine code, which lies beneath both systems or environments? "Ah, that is to do with the Old Testament, and is talmudic and cabalistic . . ."