Disclaimers: I enjoy Anil Dash’s writing. I’m using his company’s software to post this very blog entry. There are many reasons to admire the man.

Having said all that, I respectfully submit that a little lightening-up might be in order.

You might be aware that, when browsing network resources, OS X Leopard uses an old monitor showing the Blue Screen Of Death to represent Windows boxes.

This bugs Anil. Quite a bit:

The disdain here isn’t for the unfortunate unwashed who have to suffer through Windows because they’re so clueless — it’s a snide shot at the other computers you own, or of your family’s other machines around the house, or of the computers of the peers you work with.

My $0.02?

  1. It’s a shot at Windows. Your family members didn’t make the thing crash-prone. Unless you’re Dave Cutler, there’s not much here to take personally.
  2. As Anil notes, it’s a joke. I’d like more humor and personality in my environment, thanks.
  3. It works. If you want to clearly distinguish Windows machines, and you wish to avoid using copyrighted logos… c’mon, it works. You know damn well what you’re looking at.

I’m far from a Mac snob. Mac-envious? Probably. But still, in our house, when everything’s plugged in at once, the tally is: 5 Windows, 1 Ubuntu, 1 Mac OS. And the Mac’s not mine. So if we upgrade Christy’s MacBook to Leopard, my desktop, my laptops, and the kid’s machine will show up this way. You evil bastards, you have defiled the very machine on which my offspring play Arthur’s First Grade!

Or, you know, not.

Update: Ed suggests taking things a step further.