I know that I am reading WAY to much into this but here are the rules:
"For a space that is 'populated':
Each cell with one or no neighbors dies, as if by loneliness.
Each cell with four or more neighbors dies, as if by overpopulation.
Each cell with two or three neighbors survives.
For a space that is 'empty' or 'unpopulated'
Each cell with three neighbors becomes populated." [1]
The classic glider is the hacker icon:
OXO
OOX
XXX
Apple's icon:
OXOOX
OOXOO
XXXOO
or
"Hacker"
OXO
OOX
XXX
plus
"Death"
OX
OO
OO
But, if we look at the rules and this icon, it is saying, "Hacker + Death", as if they are saying death to the hacker. They are using the first rule of fight club, "Each cell with one or no neighbors dies, as if by loneliness" with the added populated space. As if they are pushing out hackers if by loneliness and through that loneliness they will die.
EDIT: Or they are trying to be like Gandalf and say, "You Shall Not Pass!"
To me this is sad, because the roots of apple were in the hacker culture when Woz build the blue box. I would love to get Woz's take on this...
The point is not a concatenation of two symbols -- the point is that this one little point will kill the glider beside it, where by "kill" I mean it becomes the static sequence:
. o o
o . o
. o .
So if they are saying "death to the hacker" they are saying it much more dramatically than you can hope to get by your analysis. The point is, "there is the symbol for a hacker, flying freely diagonally across the grid, but we've added a point which will get her stuck in one form."
"For a space that is 'populated': Each cell with one or no neighbors dies, as if by loneliness. Each cell with four or more neighbors dies, as if by overpopulation. Each cell with two or three neighbors survives.
For a space that is 'empty' or 'unpopulated' Each cell with three neighbors becomes populated." [1]
The classic glider is the hacker icon:
Apple's icon: or"Hacker"
plus"Death"
But, if we look at the rules and this icon, it is saying, "Hacker + Death", as if they are saying death to the hacker. They are using the first rule of fight club, "Each cell with one or no neighbors dies, as if by loneliness" with the added populated space. As if they are pushing out hackers if by loneliness and through that loneliness they will die.EDIT: Or they are trying to be like Gandalf and say, "You Shall Not Pass!"
To me this is sad, because the roots of apple were in the hacker culture when Woz build the blue box. I would love to get Woz's take on this...
[1] http://www.bitstorm.org/gameoflife/