Oh, goody! It's been a while since the customers took matters into their own hands and protested an Apple decision/policy/boneheaded move-- we mean actually protested, in the grand old flower-power sense of the word, with signs and marches and catchy slogans and all that fun stuff. Why, the last Apple protest we can recall would be when the Newton user community assembled outside Apple HQ to condemn the deep-sixing of its PDA of choice, back in March of 1998. Those viewers at home who were hoping to satiate their bloodlust by watching Apple security guards in riot gear spray the crowd with rubber bullets as foaming Newton fanatics hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at One Infinite Loop were sorely disappointed; long-time viewers will recall that the Newton protest was an almost disturbingly laid-back affair, with Apple actually providing space in the parking lot for the seventy Newton vets, and supplying them with refreshments. Suppose the Democratic or Republican Parties gave their protesters donuts and coffee? Yeah, right.

Anyway, now there's a new Apple protest brewing, but this one has more potential for fireworks. Faithful viewer Jens Baumeister pointed us squarely in the direction of a Mac Observer article which outlines a scheme by some activist group calling itself "The Expo Protest Team." (Okay, so it doesn't have the same pizzazz as "The Black Panthers" or "Silhouette." Take it up with them; we just work here.) Apparently the plan is to interrupt Steve's keynote with another speech-- one that aims to make Apple aware of its "growing arrogance and its failure to recognise the loyalty of its most loyal users who stuck by the company through the dark years."

Disrupting the Stevenote? Hey, we're all for freedom of expression and civil disobedience and all that, but you have to draw the line somewhere. As far as methods of protest go, we rank "depriving thousands of Mac fans of the uninterrupted Glory of Steve" just slightly less drastic than setting oneself on fire in the street. What horrible crimes has Apple committed that could justify such terrifying tactics? According to The Expo Protest Team, the main issues are these: "legal strong arm tactics against various web sites and individuals"; "Apple's treatment of its European customers and in specific its UK customers"; and Apple's aforementioned "growing arrogance" and "failure to recognise the loyalty" yadda yadda yadda.

Now, maybe it's just us, but personally, with only a very few exceptions, we find Apple's legal actions generally okay-- the lawyers themselves could perhaps stand a few weeks in charm school, but most of their demands and actions seem appropriate nonetheless. (Then again, we haven't received a cease-and-desist letter yet.) And on the last point, that stuff about Apple not appreciating the users who stuck by the company through the "dark years," well, shucks-- we're some of those users (we started this soap opera, didn't we?), and we feel that, for the most part, Apple's treated us just fine. What was the middle thing? Oh yeah, Apple's treatment of the UK Mac community. Well, that we can't defend, because the UK users have really taken it on the chin in recent years. But still, disrupting a Stevenote? Say it ain't so. Perhaps the effort will fizzle like Power Computing's attempted "We Demand Choice" protest at the Stevenote in Boston in 1997. RDF on stun!