[besson3c]

A story about the *packaging* of Snow Leopard resulted in 179 comments:

http://www.macrumors.com/2009/08/15/...ail-packaging/

Any non Mac fanatic would look at this and say "umm... why this excitement and attention over packaging?", and every other company certainly is envious of the sort of excitement that free PR Apple can generate over relatively mundane stuff like this.

I'm not criticizing any of this, nor do I mean to come across as judgmental I was definitely a loyal Mac fanboy too before I became jaded, but do any of you stop and think about how it is sort of weird that people slobber over this sort of stuff? Or, is this not that uncommon? Do people get excited about other products in other industries in this fashion?

[brassplayersrock²]

It's more exciting because it's a leaked product image.

[besson3c]

It's not, it's a leaked image of packaging. A leaked product image would be a screenshot.

[ghporter]

Some people get excited about the smallest glimpse of what they're "dying to get their hands on."

[Atheist]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

I'm not criticizing any of this, nor do I mean to come across as judgmental I was definitely a loyal Mac fanboy too before I became jaded, but do any of you stop and think about how it is sort of weird that people slobber over this sort of stuff? Or, is this not that uncommon? Do people get excited about other products in other industries in this fashion?

You are criticizing, and you do come off as judgmental. But guess what? That's okay. We all criticize and judge. It's what humans do! But to get back on topic, yes, people get excited about all sorts of stuff. Windows fanboys can be just as bizarre. For some strange reason that is quite beyond me, many humans have a strange need to align themselves with things (corporations, sports teams, etc.) and develop quite an attachment that provokes all sorts of weird reactions.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Atheist 

For some strange reason that is quite beyond me, many humans have a strange need to align themselves with things (corporations, sports teams, etc.) and develop quite an attachment that provokes all sorts of weird reactions.

in b4 religion

[SpaceMonkey]

[Chuckit]

Weird, but not any more so than feeling happy when you see a pretty sunset. Like, there's no reason we should feel peaceful watching a giant ball of exploding gas just before our planet's movements obscure our view of it, but most people still do enjoy it. Trying to make happiness rational is a waste of time.

In other words: Some people juggle geese.

[adamfishercox]

I'm excited about what it means: it means it's possible that we'll be getting SL soon. It's also interesting to me from a design standpoint to see where their box design and OS branding is going.

Am I actually excited about the *box*? No.

[besson3c]

Chuckit: good point. Nothing wrong with juggling geese though, in fact, I may or may not be as we speak!

Mental note: juggle geese while the sun sets, and place a Snow Leopard box nearby.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by adamfishercox 

I'm excited about what it means: it means it's possible that we'll be getting SL soon. It's also interesting to me from a design standpoint to see where their box design and OS branding is going.

Am I actually excited about the *box*? No.

This.

This box is the first (well, second, if you count the SL installer icon from the latest build) glimpse of the "experience" that Apple will be marketing the next two years or so.

From the past, we know how seamlessly Apple tries to translate this experience into hardware and software design, and other product lines.

The Aurora desktop and metallic "wormhole" of the last box matched the deep black and metal of Apple's design over the coming two years.

The Snow Leopard box is somewhat more subdued and almost quiet in comparison.

Some of us spend an awful lot of time working with these machines, and the direction Apple takes affects us fairly directly.

[besson3c]

Quiet? There is a big snow leopard on the box that looks like it is about the rip my head off. It makes me piss my pants just looking at the box.

[besson3c]

analogika: I work on a Mac probably at least as much as anybody here, but I don't find that the direction that Apple takes with the aesthetics of the UI affects me in the slightest. This means I'm either weird (which is a likely possibility), or I'm not inspired by gawking at my windows and dock and stuff?

[besson3c]

In fact, what would inspire me far more is for Apple to fix what I identify as the weaknesses of OS X.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

analogika: I work on a Mac probably at least as much as anybody here, but I don't find that the direction that Apple takes with the aesthetics of the UI affects me in the slightest. This means I'm either weird (which is a likely possibility), or I'm not inspired by gawking at my windows and dock and stuff?

We're obviously very different.

The handling and workmanship of my tools affect how I work with them quite strongly. As you may gather from looking through my site, I have a rather strong affinity towards analog synths and keyboards. That affinity not only stems from the fact that these boxes do sound different from digital imitations (they vary; with many of them, such as Hammond organs, even two identical models will sound completely different), but because the handling makes them *feel* completely different.

Sitting at a 400-pound Hammond organ with bakelite waterfall keys, drawbars, presets, and the gas pedal sitting exactly where they need to be, and made of exactly the material they need to be, produces COMPLETELY different work than sitting at a generic digital controller and playing a software plug-in (admittedly in part because it simply isn't possible to play a generic weighted master keyboard the way you would a Hammond keyboard, though vice-versa would work, in a boneheaded way).

And even apart from pure ergonomics, sitting at a box I enjoy touching and looking at has a tremendous effect on the work.

A good tool is an extension of your person, not an obstruction or intrusion.

[besson3c]

I guess I understand that, but are OS aesthetics sort of like clothing in that you can grow tired of them and they need to be refreshed every once in a while, or are they more like the timeless look and design of the Hammond B3?

[Spheric Harlot]

You do realize that most things don't become "timeless" until they've gone through an interminable phase of being "dated"?

Don't mistake beauty for timelessness, if there even is such a thing.

In the 80's, people were PAYING to have Hammonds taken off their hands.

And its hardware design - especially its electromechanics - are *extremely* dated. The B3 was built virtually unmodified from 1955 until 1974!

That's what makes it so beautiful, though.

Also, I have tried to be quite clear that I am talking in a large part about the HARDware.

[Chuckit]

Everybody has to use the UI (you know, by definition) for pretty much every task and workflow on OS X. So yeah, it's pretty important.

[Gavin]

You see similar obsessiveness with car guys and guitar heads. People will discuss to death the new toggle switch on the latest model of Gibson.

People are very personal about their cars but I think something about computers makes that relationship even more intimate. A computer is in your hands and you touch it all day long, it's part of your brain, you keep you life on it, and now with the Internet it's the magic window through which you view the world. It satisfies a guy's fascination with Gear; equipment, statistics, oneupsmanship. When you find one that really suits you it can actually improve your life, like the way a good pair of shoes can take away your back pain - or how the right sun glasses make you feel cool. Some of that transfers to the provider of the magic thing (the company selling it). When enough of these elements come together it covers many of the same bases as a religion, it actually becomes important in your life. Like any good religion it brings a platform for discussion and nit picking of the intricacies: How could a just god allow tragedy? How could a company that values aesthetics give us this ugly box cover?

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by Atheist 

For some strange reason that is quite beyond me, many humans have a strange need to align themselves with things (corporations, sports teams, etc.) and develop quite an attachment that provokes all sorts of weird reactions.

This comes from lack of a strong sense of self. People who attach themselves to various icons do so because they just aren't well developed as people. Having a personality that is strong enough to support one's own choices and decisions means you don't have to adopt some sort of external group to shore up the old ego.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Gavin 

When enough of these elements come together it covers many of the same bases as a religion, it actually becomes important in your life. Like any good religion it brings a platform for discussion and nit picking of the intricacies: How could a just god allow tragedy? How could a company that values aesthetics give us this ugly box cover?

Originally Posted by Laminar 

in b4 religion

w00t