I have a Systems Analysis degree and have been involved with computers in a professional capacity for almost 20 years now. In that time I have used all the major operating systems – Windows (all flavors since 3.0), Mac and Linux. I have my own opinions about each OS, but what I especially find interesting is the followers of each one, especially followers of Windows and Macs. What does this have to do with Christianity? Bear with me.

Windows supporters generally are corporate types who simply like Windows because everyone uses it and it is the most compatible with the software they want to use. But you rarely find a true fan of Windows who isn’t in the pay of Redmond. They just like being part of the System and are content with the status quo.

Mac fans, however, are almost extreme in their devotion to the Apple OS. They love both its underlying technical strengths as well as its aesthetic beauty. They will tell any who will listen (and many who won’t) how great Macs are and why everyone should buy one. They admit the price is steep for a Mac, but well worth it.

I was thinking recently that this is quite similar to the religious battles of the first centuries of Christianity. Windows represents the old pagan religion of the Empire: most people followed it, but few were devoted to it and most recognized its weaknesses unless they were in the pay of the Emperor.

Macs, on the other hand, represents Christianity: it had a small, but devoted, band of followers who recognized the high cost of following Christ, but sought to convert others to their faith nonetheless. They saw it as a beautiful faith with a rock-solid intellectual core underlying it.

(And I guess Linux fans are the Gnostics: an esoteric faith with few followers that is difficult to follow and no one really understands anyway. )

Oh, and I’ll give you one guess as to my own favorite OS.