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Apple Easter Eggs Blue Meanies By: David K. Every & Daniel Fanton (C) Copyright 1999 DKE - All Rights Reserved. Blue Meanies Of course everyone knows that the Blue Meanies are those mean furry blue guys that were killing the peace in the Beatles movie "Yellow Submarine". Or if you didn't know, you do now. At Apple, the Meanies first appeared as an easter egg hidden inside the System file. One of the meanies sent me this little tidbit on the origin of the name: Why Blue Meanies? Well, System 7 was "Blue". We were mean (we were also known as the "arrogant bastards"). Blue Meanies were actually characters in the Beatles movie "Yellow Submarine". There were also Apple Bonkers, which became the name of an important server which our team used. Why was System 7 blue? Because that's the color of the index cards that features, at a Pescadero off-site meeting, went onto for the "next release". "Future release" stuff went onto pink cards, hence the precursor to Taligent was called "Pink". There was also Green and Red, but that's for another time. We had a good time. We were on a mission. System 7 was a good system to work on. It was a bit much to do all at once, and it could have been planned better, but it was a big accomplishment, and an all-around excellent thing for Apple and its customers. Some Apple engineers made up a fictional story about the blue meanies which can be found at http://www.spies.com/greg/bluemeanies.html. The Egg When opening the System with a text program like BBEdit, you will see text about Blue Meanies hidden inside. There are also many other programs (MacSnoop, MacTools, MS Word, CanOpener) that will open any application or file, such as the System file. Here are the different flavors: System 7.0.1: Help! Help! We're being held prisoner in a system software factory! The Blue Meanies Darin Adler Scott Boyd Chris Derossi Cynthia Jasper Brian McGhie Greg Marriott Beatrice Sochor Dean Yu System 7.1: Help! Help! Weíre still being held prisoner in a system software factory! The Blue Meanies Lew Cirne David Collins Wayne Correia Chris Derossi Pete Helme Fred Huxham Don Louv Kevin MacDonell Brian McGhie Greg Marriott Jeff Miller Fred Monroe Dean Yu System 7.5: Help! Help! He's STILL being held prisoner in a system software factory! The Blue Meanie: Brian McGhie Also serving time: Giovanni Agnoli Eric3 Anderson Jeff Crawford Cameron Esfahani Dave Falkenburg Hoon Im Dave Lyons Mike Larson Darren Litzinger Rob lunatic Moore Jim Murphy Mike Puckett Anumele Raja Jim Reekes Alex Rosenberg Eric Slosser Randy theLen Steve Stevenson Roshi Yousefi and Tristan Farnon (because he paid us ten bucks) Fugitives: Lars Borresen Scott Boyd Jaime Cummins Brad Post Will the last person to leave please turn off the lights? System 7.5.2: Help! Help! He's STILL being held prisoner in a system software factory! The Blue Meanie: Brian McGhie Serving time for 7.5 crimes: Giovanni Agnoli Eric3 Anderson Clinton Bauder Jeff Crawford Cameron Esfahani Dave Falkenburg Ian Hendry Mike Larson Dave Lyons Rob lunatic Moore Jim Murphy Anumele Raja Jim Reekes Alex Rosenberg Eric Slosser Randy theLen Steve Stephenson Roshi Yousefi Serving time for 7.5.1 crimes: Eric Hewitt Darren Litzinger Eric Rapin Serving time for 7.5.2 crimes: William Berry Dave Evans Eric Hewitt Deric Horn Dave Lyons Jim Murphy Steve Stephenson Fugitives: Sam Barone Lars Borresen Scott Boyd Jaime Cummins Hoon Im Brad Post Mike Puckett Paul Wolf Mercenary: John Yen Will the last person to leave please turn off the lights? System 7.5.3: (7.5 Update 2.0) Code Name: System 7.5.3 Revision 2 Code Name: Buster (ex-CEO Gil Amelio's high school nickname) & Son of Buster, Thag (from Gary Larson's Cartoon) From: Steve Myers ([email protected]) Mercenaries hit the factory and freed the prisoners. On contract: Wendy Chiou Doug Clark Mike Crawford Michael Dautermann Dave Evans Nitin Ganatra Darren Litzinger Jim Luther Dave Lyons Jim Mensch Alex Rangel Steve Stephenson John Yen Freed, armed, and dangerous: Eric3 Anderson Clinton Bauder Derrick Carty Jeff Crawford Cameron Esfahani Ian Hendry Eric Hewitt Deric Horn Jim Murphy Craig Prouse Mike Puckett Jim Reekes Steve Swenson Harry Yee Released before the raid: Giovanni Agnoli William Berry Dave Falkenburg Brian McGhie Rob lunatic Moore Anumele Raja Alex Rosenberg Eric Slosser Randy theLen Roshi Yousefi Fugitives: Sam Barone Lars Borresen Scott Boyd Jaime Cummins Hoon Im Brad Post Paul Wolf Who dares wins. System 7.6: Mercenaries hit the software factory and freed the prisoners. On contract: Cameron Birse Steve Bollinger Don Brady Ray Chiang Wendy Chiou Steve Falkenburg Nitin Ganatra C.K. Haun Deric Horn Daniel Jalkut Darren Litzinger Jim Luther Dave Lyons Jim Mensch Alex Rangel Keith Stattenfield John Yen Freed, armed, and dangerous: Eric3 Anderson Clinton Bauder Derrick Carty Jeff Cobb Cameron Esfahani Ian Hendry Alan Lillich Dave Peterson Mike Puckett Jim Reekes Steve Swenson Karen Wenzel Harry Yee Who dares wins Created: 08/26/98 Updated: 11/09/02 Top of page Top of Section Home