Ed NOTE: I just received this email from Andy:
"I have been feeling a little guilty about causing so many people out there to have nightmares, depression and sickness from my little joke. The reaction of people word wide has blown me away. I never intended for such a thing to happen.
My in box went from 1% to 100% in 2 days (1300 messages). So many people were pointing out what a stupid thing to do, so many people were telling me of feeling sick, some even said they cried. I felt bad for those people. It was amusing to read things like "I should be hung by my testicles and lit on fire" or the constant reference to "Taking a Porsche and replacing the engine with a KIAs". Most people cried out in horror and carefully pointed out the error of doing such a silly thing.
I am sure you are wondering why this all took place.
Are the pictures real? Yes.
Is it my own G5 case that has been cut and hacked? Yes.
Did I give away two G5 2GHz processors (IBM PC 970)? No!
So what happened?
I got a free G5 shell from a buddy of mine and pulled a prank on a Mac loving friend. He got so upset. I wrote up a little story, my imagination and warped sense of humor kicked in. I sent it to OC.com just to see the reaction. I honestly didn't think it was going to be posted. I cannot believe how fast or how far it has spread on the internet. There are an amazing number of people who are emotionally attached to inanimate objects such as computers. Mac fans seem to be much worse that I ever expected. The G5 is amazing, I would never dream of really doing that
Andy - G5 Killer"
ED NOTE: I posted this because I thought this was about the craziest thing I had ever seen; well, it turns out it was a little too crazy.
What fascinates me is the overwhelming reaction among the Apple community. I have read about the zeal among Mac users, but the reaction to this story is a real eye-opener. I hope Andy's confession soothes those who felt so strongly about gutting a perfectly good G5.
I find it pretty funny that the editor is surprised at the reaction to the story - I can imagine the wailing from the PC community if someone took apart an Alienware
and stuck the innards from a G3 B&W into it! I've met some pretty hardcore (and often deluded about Apple) PC-users in my day. Ignorance of Apple is far more rampant in the PC-using community than ignorance of PC's in the Apple community, in my experience.