To enter the Apple store in Manhattan is to enter a temple. Beneath its high vault, swish thin young men and women dressed from head to foot in black. They hold objects in their hands, strange white and silver objects, objects of devotion which they present to lay visitors, to the uninitiated who wander in from Prince Street seeking retail solace.

At the top of a set of broad stairs in the sun-lit store is an auditorium, a circle of seats much like those in a chapel, where one of the black-clad priests stands and delivers an encomium to the objects. There is reverence and a sense of being part of a movement.

We suspect that Stephen may have got a little over-excited about all this stuff. He probably suffered some sort of epiphany in the Macintosh Cathedral of Manhattan. But Umberto Eco definitely had a good point. Macs, he opined, were "cheerful, friendly, conciliatory," and would "tell the faithful how they must proceed step by step to reach - if not the Kingdom of Heaven - the moment in which their document is printed".

Whereas Windows PCs would "allow free interpretation of scripture, demand difficult personal decisions... And take for granted that not all can reach salvation. To make the system work you need to interpret the program yourself".