oder: Warum der Mac katholisch und der PC protestantisch ist. Vor einer rechten Ewigkeit, das heißt, noch zu Zeiten von Windows 3.11, 1994, hat Umberto Eco zwei Glaubenskriege verglichen. Auf die Frage “Whether computers kill inspiration (whether fountain pens are Protestant)” beginnt er, seine Ideen weiter auszuführen. The fact is that the world is divided between users of the Macintosh computer and users of MS-DOS compatible computers. I am firmly of the opinion that the Macintosh is Catholic and that 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 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 achieve salvation. To make the system work you need to interpret the program yourself: Far away from the baroque community of revelers, the user is closed within the loneliness of his own inner torment. Der Mac also ist gegenreformatorisch. MS DOS, so die Argumentation, ist protestantisch, da der fundamentale Weg zur Interaktion textbasiert ist. Eco hat dabei außen vor gelassen, dass man …