Mac the Knife was the pen name (inspired by the homophonous well-known song "Mack the Knife") of an anonymousgossip columnist for the (now defunct) Apple Macintosh-focused trade publication MacWEEK.[1][2] Mac the Knife was always written by a single writer, but the identity of that writer changed more than once over the long publishing history of MacWEEK.[3] The column was known not only for its wide-ranging and often accurate Macintosh-related rumors, but for its gonzo, Hunter S. Thompson-like style.
Tipsters who provided juicy gossip were provided with coffee mugs emblazoned with the Knife's logo. During the column's heyday, the trophy mugs were occasionally sent randomly to Apple employees in order to obscure the true leakers.[4]
MacWEEK's party at Macworld Conference & Expo was named for this fictional character. The party was often more secretive than Apple's own parties, to protect the identity of the Knife.
During the latter part of the Knife's career, his or her columns appeared on a website called The Electric Knife, which was published by Mac Publishing at mactheknife.com, but after the Knife's retirement, the domain expired. For some time, it was not associated with the Knife. Recently, it has been pointed at the defunct MacEdition homepage.
Today, none of the former Mac the Knife columnists write using this name. The columnist himself moved to MacEdition in 2000, penning a column called the "Naked Mole Rat Report" (an allusion to a phrase used in one of the Knife's last columns). The column seems to have ceased publication in 2003.
Many of the later Mac the Knife columns are still available from the Internet Archive's copy of the Electric Knife site.[5]
^Williams, Robin (1993). Jargon : an informal dictionary of computer terms. Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press. p. 326. ISBN0938151843.
^Farace, Joe (1997). The photographer's internet handbook. New York: Allworth Press. p. 126. ISBN1880559625.
^"Over the years, the column was penned by a number of anonymous writers, whose identities were closely guarded and frequently speculated on." Leander Kahney, "Microsoft Gets Some MacLove," Wired News, 11 January 2001.
^"Raines Cohen, who worked as a reporter at the MacWeek trade paper, recalled how the staff of the paper would occasionally send "Mac-the-Knife" coffee mugs to random Apple executives. The rationale was that having so many mugs spread throughout the office would make it harder for Apple to figure out which employees were actually talking to the publication." John Markoff, "To Cut Online Chatter, Apple Goes to Court," New York Times March 21, 2005.
knife, other, uses, mack, knife, disambiguation, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, these, template, messages, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help. For other uses see Mack the Knife disambiguation This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Mac the Knife news newspapers books scholar JSTOR July 2011 Learn how and when to remove this message The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia s general notability guideline Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention If notability cannot be shown the article is likely to be merged redirected or deleted Find sources Mac the Knife news newspapers books scholar JSTOR January 2024 Learn how and when to remove this message Learn how and when to remove this message Mac the Knife was the pen name inspired by the homophonous well known song Mack the Knife of an anonymous gossip columnist for the now defunct Apple Macintosh focused trade publication MacWEEK 1 2 Mac the Knife was always written by a single writer but the identity of that writer changed more than once over the long publishing history of MacWEEK 3 The column was known not only for its wide ranging and often accurate Macintosh related rumors but for its gonzo Hunter S Thompson like style Tipsters who provided juicy gossip were provided with coffee mugs emblazoned with the Knife s logo During the column s heyday the trophy mugs were occasionally sent randomly to Apple employees in order to obscure the true leakers 4 MacWEEK s party at Macworld Conference amp Expo was named for this fictional character The party was often more secretive than Apple s own parties to protect the identity of the Knife During the latter part of the Knife s career his or her columns appeared on a website called The Electric Knife which was published by Mac Publishing at mactheknife com but after the Knife s retirement the domain expired For some time it was not associated with the Knife Recently it has been pointed at the defunct MacEdition homepage Today none of the former Mac the Knife columnists write using this name The columnist himself moved to MacEdition in 2000 penning a column called the Naked Mole Rat Report an allusion to a phrase used in one of the Knife s last columns The column seems to have ceased publication in 2003 Many of the later Mac the Knife columns are still available from the Internet Archive s copy of the Electric Knife site 5 See also editApple rumors communityReferences edit Williams Robin 1993 Jargon an informal dictionary of computer terms Berkeley CA Peachpit Press p 326 ISBN 0938151843 Farace Joe 1997 The photographer s internet handbook New York Allworth Press p 126 ISBN 1880559625 Over the years the column was penned by a number of anonymous writers whose identities were closely guarded and frequently speculated on Leander Kahney Microsoft Gets Some MacLove Wired News 11 January 2001 Raines Cohen who worked as a reporter at the MacWeek trade paper recalled how the staff of the paper would occasionally send Mac the Knife coffee mugs to random Apple executives The rationale was that having so many mugs spread throughout the office would make it harder for Apple to figure out which employees were actually talking to the publication John Markoff To Cut Online Chatter Apple Goes to Court New York Times March 21 2005 The former Mac the Knife site on archive orgExternal links editHistory of Mac the Knife and Not the Knife Macworld Expo parties Photo of a Mac the Knife coffee mug Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Mac the Knife amp oldid 1216113823, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
