The Lord of the 500 Apple-shirts.

He was more Mac than Steve Jobs Shows: Raines Cohen, a quarter of a century almost every Apple meeting in the United States attended and suit makers scared. His collection of Apple-shirts, he has given away - the home computer revolution is over, says Cohen.
  San Francisco - It's cold and rainy in San Francisco in early January, so has Raines Cohen for his 24th Apple Fair in this city inevitably attracted subtle: Spilled sneakers, neon yellow rain jacket, sweater and thick hides such an Apple-shirt from Cohen's collection: white, long and over the heart of a small colorful apple logo.
Cohen, who has been around since the 1985 Macworld Expo Apple Fair every visit, the visit to San Francisco was, remembers exactly when he bought the shirt: "That was the beginning of 1998, before Steve Jobs is the old logo has changed." The hippie buntgestreifte apple, which from 1976 for the counter-culture image Apple, it was at that time by the monochrome logo replaced with the company back to success has been consolidated.
25 years Apple disciples
Raines Cohen, 42, and now consultant for nonprofit housing, in 1984 in Berkeley, California at the University one of the largest Apple user groups ever created. "We wanted to show ourselves how to get the best of the opportunities the new technology makes," he says. For the "Berkeley Mac Users Group (BMUG) Cohen has passed quarter-century in almost all Apple-fairs in the United States experienced hundreds of user group meetings attended while he was alongside his geography degree. And Cohen has nearly every event T-shirts and shirts with them, more than 500 have it.
T-shirts are an interesting part of geek culture: The organizers of trade fairs and user meetings, but also companies that introduce new products, or developers who participate in a new project, devote this occasion selbstgestaltete T-shirts, which Participants will be given away or sold. And there for almost every small and big IT event in the history of their own T-shirt.
T-Shirt donation to Stanford Collection
Cohen has a big part of his collection of 2002, the Library of Stanford University that form a collection of devotional Apple care. The donation is enriched by one important aspect: The unofficial, not Apple's self-written history of the Mac culture.
Stanford librarian Alex Soojung-Kim Pang told the U.S. magazine "Wired", T-shirts were "the crocks of the digital age," Cohen was one of the few people who "from the beginning part of the Mac history, with no part of the Apple influence around the Mac growing, vibrant culture. "
Therefore it can be estimated from T-shirts stories about the distance between Apple and the Mac disciples tell: the red-white-BMUG batik shirt, for example, which the user group in 1989 to the Macworld Expo in Washington by the suit makers from authorities , ministries and military abhob, which dominated the show.
The unwritten history Mac
Or, as Apple employees Cohen at Macworld 1992 by the state, because he wore a shirt that covers the new Mac OS 7.1. amused that the memory hunger and the inertia of the predecessor 7 should stop. On the front of Cohen's T-shirt stood System 7.1 sucks less "(mutatis mutandis:" System 7.1. Is no longer quite so large dung "), on the back" We've upped Our standards - up yours "(mutatis mutandis" We have raised our standard - you can we get ").
Designed had this T-shirt, according to Cohen Apple programmers. They had obviously more humor than the marketing managers in the company. Cohen is even the name of one of the participating programmer. If anyone knows how the Mac community is ticking and how it has changed, then Cohen. To retreat from the tradition of Apple's Macworld trade show, he has a surprising opinion: "The show had anyway reinvention is necessary."
A bit of 1985 would be good
The smaller companies would still receive little attention, which could deal with a smaller, which in the sense of community interested fans oriented Macworld Expo change. If it is a bit like 1985, would have the Mac fair perhaps even without Apple a chance.
At that time, Cohen says, "People just wanted to try it together, what you all with such a home computer can do." The visitors thrilled to have long forgotten the wonders of technology. 1985 was the Thunder scanner crowds - two engineers had Apple ImageWriter dot matrix printer to a relatively cheap scanner converted by the print head against a sensor exchanged. The device inserted digitalized prints line by line? and needed one hour per sheet.
No nostalgia, only anecdotes
Cohen transfigured the past complains not about the present, he is too busy, too active in the here and now. He folded his arms behind the head, then on his knees, his eyes scurry back and forth, he tells drauflos. About the big things, whether Apple is really the world has changed, as the advertising and many fans say he does not like to speculate. Apple has revolutionized the marketing, very easy to use computer built and in advertisements shown that it is cool, computer use.
So much for revolution.
True, he is excited by low-cost laptop OLPC initiative "One Laptop Per Child" - which was a "revolutionary device as the home computer and then Macs. Because: The OLPC is the first computer, the people are in their hands, which would otherwise probably never would use a calculator.
Mac Help Earthquake
Unlike many Apple preacher Cohen has big dreams of technology utopians, with the computers to change society, very concrete reality. For example in 1989, when an earthquake the bay from San Francisco and shook more than 60 people killed.
Cohen helped the Red Cross with a few Macs and network cables, which he made the fundus of BMUG-giving, within 24 hours to build a database. At ten in a closed network Macs tippten human details of more than a thousand volunteers On - language skills, training, how long they have been on his feet.
As computers have been the subject of everyday life, Cohen is looking for a new task. Today, he consults with his wife, a city planner, people called Cohousing settlement wishing - communities with private homes and jointly designed and operated facilities such as daycare or libraries. Cohen: "What I said in the user groups have learned about themselves, helps people find a way together and the best of the opportunities to make."
Just like back then from the Mac.