back to article Hacker defaces temples to OS X

A self-described Apple user, presumably fed up with the smug superiority of "Mac," the hipster mascot featured in the ubiquitous "Get a Mac" commercials, is targeting OS X enthusiast sites with defacements that accuse them of excessive fanboyism. Problem is, the stunts appear as forced and manufactured as the Apple campaign …

COMMENTS

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  1. Greg

    Are the Apple fanboys...

    ...that desperate for attention?

  2. Emj

    Feel sorry for the CMS provider!!

    Nuff said but quick way to floor a company... Poor old ExpressionEngine (CMS on Apple Matters) even had to release their own statement. A bit bollocks if you develop a system and then some deluded t~@t comes up with a stunt like this. He deserves humilation and a public flogging.

  3. LaeMi Qian

    haxed or not haxed, that is the question.

    "I was contacted by someone [and asked] to pretend it was a hack and it was a mistake."

    Ah, the old human-factor (bluff your way in) hack attack.

  4. Steve Tsuida

    It's a confirmed fraud.

    The hacking spree was nothing more than a very botched PR stunt by the sites allegedly hacked. A few hours ago now the story blew open and one of the "temple" (please) websites' editors confessed before things got out of hand.

    http://expressionengine.com/blog/entry/expressionengine_and_enginehosting_sites_were_not_hacked/

    http://expressionengine.com/forums/viewthread/65867/P18/

    http://www.applematters.com/index.php/section/comments/a-bad-pr-stunt/

  5. E
    Jobs Horns

    Heheheh

    On the weekend I installed rEFIt and Linux on my Powerbook Pro. It works fine, better than MacOS 10.

    Who at Apple cooked up the behaviour for Mac OS 10 list boxes and selection using Shift & the arrow keys in Mac Mail? Try it sometime - it'll be one of the weirdest things you've seen in a long time.

    If you want you want to strike a blow against the Mac OS 10 fanboies, Fedora 8 works well with rEFIt on a Macbook Pro. Just remember to use parted, not fdisk!

    Also, now I have a file manager again that can <sarcasm> show a tree view of folders</sarcasm> and an associated <heavy sarcasm>list of files for each folder</heavy sarcasm>. Imagine: copying/moving files anywhere in a file system, all in a single window! <brutal sarcasm> Why didn't Apple invent that?</brutal sarcasm>

  6. E

    @Feel sorry for the CMS provider!!

    Hah! The blogger is clearly hiding behind a child!

    http://expressionengine.com/blog/entry/expressionengine_and_enginehosting_sites_were_not_hacked/

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    I think it was

    PC.Bill wouldn't do this sort of thing would he?

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    What is this Apple you speak of?

    I don't take OSs named after fruit and vegetables seriously.

  9. Dana W
    Jobs Halo

    Trojan?

    So, when did downloading, running and giving your password to a program you got off a porn site become a sophisticated trojan? Sounds more like an intelligence test.

    Only Mac/PC difference is, go to a porn site with a PC and the site will install for you no passwords required! Proof of Microsoft Efficiency!

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    re: What is this Apple you speak of?

    I know of no fruit called OSX.

    Perhaps its the hardware naming after fruit you object to....

    Are you slighting the mighty Apricot? Beware the Apricot fanboys!

    mumble nostalgia mumble mumble

  11. Graham Human
    Stop

    Glenn Wolsey update

    I see Glenn Wolsey has now posted an apology of his own...

    http://www.glennwolsey.com/2007/11/28/what-really-happened-sincere-apologies/

    Not the brightest idea in the world eh?

  12. Matthew Glubb
    Paris Hilton

    Growing Pains

    Poor old Glenn. He's only 15 years old.

    http://www.glennwolsey.com/colophon/

    He'll learn with experience that cheap marketing tricks always blow up in your face.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    oh cripes

    El Reg is reporting on blog defacements now? Fer chrissakes guys, lift your game.

  14. Scott Mckenzie

    @E

    Wow a Powerbook Pro.... that must be a new/old model then is it?

    I'm glad you're happy with your new OS.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Horns

    Social Engineering...

    "The site was not hacked," a person who works for Apple Matters told us. "I was contacted by someone [and asked] to pretend it was a hack and it was a mistake."

    Either Apple Matters are just stupid, or ignorant, or both.

  16. Spleen

    @Greg

    Yes.

    We need to be completely fair here and put this in perspective: personally, this hasn't changed my opinion of Mac users at all. I already knew they were tossers.

  17. Adrian Waterworth
    Stop

    Hmmmm...

    "A - gives - toss - who!"

    Re-arrange the words to form a well-known English phrase.

    Don't get me wrong - I like Apple Macs a lot, we use them for various graphic design thingies around here and I'd love to get a huge iMac or kickass Mac Pro to use for music production at home. However, I'm mainly stuck with PCs for most of my work at the moment. I also happen to think that the iPhone is an over-hyped piece of plastic crap that, in all likelihood, is so full of interesting techno-trickery that it's probably a bit shit in the "actually being a decent phone" department. And I've never owned an iPod.

    So, basically, the meanderings and pointless witterings of the Mac-loving bits of the blogosphere are like Siberia to me. I know it's there and where to find it, but don't have any particular interest in going there. (Actually, if we're being honest, I'm probably more interested in visiting Siberia than I am in reading Mac fanboi crap...)

  18. Big_Boomer Silver badge
    Jobs Horns

    Ahhh, who cares....

    if your OS (or OS maker) is named after a fruit, a glass filled hole in a wall, or a Scandinavian developer. They are just tools. They are not an identifying badge of membership to an exclusive clique, they don't make you a better or more attractive person, they are just an OS.

    Jeez, next thing ya know people will start arguing over which text editor is the best. Are you a NotePaddy, an UltraEditor or a VIrgin?

    Sounds to me like an awful lot of people out there need to switch off their computers, leave their house/office, and get a frigging life.

  19. James

    The important thing to remember here

    Is that my personal preference for $OS makes it objectively the best OS in the world. Anyone who likes any other OS is therefore utterly wrong and their personal preference is entirely the product of a diseased mind, and I can prove it by mentioning $minor_niggle. Take THAT, fanboys!

  20. Lloyd
    Alien

    Oh come on

    This is Mac fanboyz we're talking about here, as long as it looks pretty they won't care.

  21. Aaron Harris
    Boffin

    Tools for the job

    Would a builder, slag of a spade because he was using a trowel? Computers are a tool, M$ is good for certain tasks, UBUNTU for others, even MAC has its place.

    How about keeping an open mind and using the tool that's appropriate for the job, instead of acting like a tool.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Horns

    He deserves humilation and a public flogging.'

    and the CMS provider doesn't for providing a crappy product?? get real, chump.

  23. Andy Worth

    Perhaps......

    .....he was just feeling lonely because no-one can be bothered to hack Macs in general?

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Oh please, just grow up!

    At home we have a Mac, Lin boxes and Win boxes. Each one has it's own good points, some are better at some things than others. Overall, I prefer Linux, but some things it does, it really should be put of it's misery for. Like the previous poster pointed out, they really are just tools to get things done, not lifestyle choices or "gang colours".

    I actually decided this the other day. When walking home through London I spotted a couple carrying their new Apple laptop home. The sad thing was, they looked just like the typical people you see in Apple promotional material, from the suede shoes to their docker trousers and black polo-neck's. Apple PR dept would have wet themselves with pride, had they seen them, then again they probably were from Apple PR dept!

    In future, please pass the Apple store and go straight to the iLife store and purchase one.

  25. mahoney

    I still hate...

    ...Macs & Mac people. Maybe even more-so than I did yesterday.

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Maybe he should check his own site for 'sploits'

    MySQL ERROR:

    Error Number: 1064

    Description: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near ''a-bad-pr-stunt/'' ORDER BY trackback_date desc' at line 4

    Query: SELECT exp_trackbacks.*, exp_weblog_titles.weblog_id, exp_weblog_titles.allow_trackbacks FROM exp_trackbacks LEFT JOIN exp_weblog_titles ON (exp_weblog_titles.entry_id = exp_trackbacks.entry_id) WHERE exp_weblog_titles.url_title = 'a-bad-pr-stunt/'' ORDER BY trackback_date desc

  27. Law
    Paris Hilton

    RE: Ahhh, who cares....

    "Jeez, next thing ya know people will start arguing over which text editor is the best. Are you a NotePaddy, an UltraEditor or a VIrgin?"

    Notepad++.... it's cool! :) Anybody who says otherwise should burn in hell, fanboys! :p

    Nah... seriously tho... macs suck... I almost fell foul of their marketing a few days ago, when I had the choice between a £250 mediapc, or a £400 macmini..... then I had a quick go on OSX in an Apple store.... so now I'm the proud owner of a mediapc running XP and Ubuntu. :)

  28. Hedley Phillips

    iBored

    still

  29. Rodrigo Rollan
    Stop

    G.A.L. Clinique

    Bog_Boomer I kind of tune in to your comment. I know lot´s of people have strong opinions on many things, Computer / OS brands are not the exeption. That being said...Come on people for crying out loud ! If you buy something (in the case of Widows, I am realistic, most people don´t even bother to buy it) and it does the job for you, well KUDOS, That´s all folks. You can have an opinion, you can even help someone out so they can make up their mind on waht to buy. But going to the extreme of arguing like 12 year olds on who´s got the biggest D*** is absolutely pointless. I find it more constructive to criticise your preffered brand....it keeps them on their toes, makes them work to improve theiir products even more. And yes, this is just my opinion...take it or leave it !

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    I still hate...

    Mac fanbois

    Windows fanbois

    Media sensationalism

    Tabloid journalism

    Not having a £... errr .... $ ... nope ... @ ... ahhha! Not having a # key

    My xxx is bigger than your xxx

    Webster Phreaky, mahoney, Ballmer

    Pointless comments on pointless articles

    A free ride when I've already paid

    Ring pulls

    Reading other peoples BS opinions

    Reading the opinions of people who think anyone else cares what their opinion is

    "Awesome" things

    Oh and greenpeace ... maybe even more-so than I did yesterday

  31. Anonymous Coward
    Dead Vulture

    'stunt'?

    Regarding applematters and their 'explanation' - bull**** - you aren't fooling anyone.

    If this IS a 'publicity stunt', can someone explain how this works? What is it publicising exactly..? Who gets what?

  32. Peter Gathercole Silver badge
    Coat

    Fruity

    Thinking back, there was once a (pre PC) company called Peach (I think their home computers ran Forth rather than BASIC), and of course, many people consider an acorn as a fruit (why not start the Archimedes threads again, many fanbois there), and if you consider flowers as well, there was Tulip (surprisingly, a Dutch computer company).

    And extending it to peripherals, there was a very popular (although I hated them, I'm an IBM Model M fan myself) soft-touch PC keyboard manufacturer called Cherry.

    But Apple must be a double-whammy, because is there not there a variety of said fruit named Macintosh?

  33. Gavin McMenemy
    Pirate

    FANBOI!???

    When did this piece of garbage become accepted spelling?

    When?

    What the **** is wrong with fanboy???

    I petition El Reg to have this removed from the approved lexicon...

  34. mahoney

    HERE HERE

    I'll sign said petition

  35. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Let the pissing contest begin.

    Okay, babies, Enough already.

    I own 2 Windows XP computers - one I built myself, and a laptop, and a Macbook. I will eventually get around to running Linux as a LiveCD on the Windows laptop (that's my experimental workhorse, but only because I'm still learning Leopard). A good tool to have, because Linux can read NTFS files if your hard drive happens to crash and you haven't backed up your data lately...

    I can only say that I find all this BS about "My OS is better than your OS" such total **** it reminds me of recess in gradeschool. "My daddy can beat up your daddy!" Who the hell gives a s**t?? The right tool for the right job, that's all an OS is. If it's reliable, and it does the job for you, wonderful. If it doesn't, then switch, for God's Sake! Or don't use it! But all of the bull I read in some of these posts makes me want to vomit sometimes. "I can't stand Mac users!" What makes you lump all of them into one category? I sure as hell don't lump all Linux/Unix/BSD/Vista lovers into their respective categories; I get the fact they have a preference. Maybe Fanbois (okay, agree on HATING that spelling!) take it too far - but fans of anything can take it too far. Go to any convention for a Science Fiction/Fantasy or some romance or paranormal lovers shindig, and you'll REALLY see some fans taking it to the limit. Makes Mac fans seem tame in comparison.

    My point is, people who make statements like this, ARE JUST AS BAD AS THE APPLE/MAC FANBOIS. Stop stereotyping! You don't know all Mac users - You don't know all Linux users - or Vista users - etc. etc. etc. So before you start tossing out comments like this, take a good, long look in the mirror. Maybe the person looking back will have a thing or two to say that will enlighten you. Or not, if you're as deaf, dumb and blind as you appear to be.

    Off soapbox, taxi please.

  36. E

    @Scott Mckenzie

    It is a 14 month old 15" Powerbook Pro. 2GHz dual core pentium, ATI X1660 graphics.

  37. Philip
    Thumb Down

    MAC user fanBOIS - WTF?

    The whole 'fanboy/i' range should be removed from authorised Reg Vocab forthwith. Anyone using either should also be banished. Especially when used in conjunction with 'all-caps MAC' to describe Apple machines.

    They are clearly getting the Macintosh confused with 'MAC Address' and therefore shouldn't be reading this publication until they're able to demonstrate having completed a full course of 'Computer Active'.

    And could we also table the tiresome 'WTF?' for 'lexicological cleansing' while we're at it?

    /coat

  38. AndyB
    Alert

    Tools!

    you obviously aint seen a bunch of mechanics having a punch-up over Stanley vs Snapon spanners. Gets very messy, blood and snot flying everywhere...

  39. Chief sub

    It's not the BBC, y'know

    Can you sad old platform warriors step outside the old schoolyard for a moment and please not write MAC; it's a Mac.

    It's not an abbreviation, like BBC, TUC or UN, where each letter stands for something and you enunciate each letter separately. Nor is it an acronym, such as Nato or Unicef, where each letter stands for something but the total is pronounced as one word. It's merely a shortening of "Macintosh", the desktop computers produced by Apple. The iPod, iPhone etc are not Macs - they use Apple's OSX, but they are not Macs.

    And it was Basic, not BASIC.

    I won't start on Anonymous Coward's appallingly cavalier attitude to apostrophes.

  40. mhewitson
    Coat

    @big_boomer

    "Jeez, next thing ya know people will start arguing over which text editor is the best. Are you a NotePaddy, an UltraEditor or a VIrgin?"

    You missed both emacs and vi off of that list....

  41. dennis Fischer
    Paris Hilton

    RE: Ahhh, who cares....

    Yah puds, edlin is the only text editor Paris and I use.

  42. A Non

    RE: Basic/BASIC

    When I was using it in the very early 70's on DEC PDP8e's it was BASIC!

  43. Chad

    what?

    By E

    Posted Wednesday 28th November 2007 19:17 GMT

    It is a 14 month old 15" Powerbook Pro. 2GHz dual core pentium, ATI X1660 graphics.

    ***********

    wow, you really don't know much about your computer do ya? No such thing as a Powerbook Pro, everything with the Powerbook name was PPC, no intels.. and the only Mac ever made with a Pentium chip in it was a developer model never sold to the general public.... also isnt an ATI X1660 around anywhere.

    I'm guessing you have a 15" Macbook Pro with a Core Duo (maybe a Core 2 Duo) 2ghz processor with a ATI X1600.

  44. Thaddeus Aid

    No it is BASIC

    Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code

  45. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    weak.

    Mac fan sites did it to make people think there might be a mac user capable of doing that.

  46. E

    @chad

    "I'm guessing you have a 15" Macbook Pro with a Core Duo (maybe a Core 2 Duo) 2ghz processor with a ATI X1600."

    You are guessing correctly. I used to have users with Powerbooks, and I keep making this slip.

    I *wondered* why Scott McKenzie asked!

  47. Ernest Cunningham
    Stop

    Time to unplug for a little people...

    What makes me laugh is are all the people on here being all protective over their chosen OS.

    M$ and Linux whores are just as bad as the Mac fanboys.

    People they are just computers.....

  48. Martin Benson

    Not that it's relevant....

    ..but when I first used BASIC back in 1970 on a PDP-10 on a timesharing 30bps modem on a Teletype, it was BASIC - but only because there were no lower-case letters. Hell, we only had five-bit paper tape, and had to use figure-shift and letter shift....

    But BASIC is just the name, because it was basic, and someone thought it was a good name. Anyone who tells you it's an acronym is talking out of their hat. Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code was retro-fitted later, probably in the late seventies.

    Oh - and vi, without a doubt. Actually, vim is even better.

    And what is this Apple thing of which you talk?

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