I really like my Apple products. I like their computers, I like their software, and I like their gadgets (e.g. iPod, iPhone, AppleTV). I loathe their support. Apple, and many companies like Apple (in the tech industry), simply don't know how to let their tech support personnel make sensible decisions. Here is my example for the day:
I purchased the Leopard Family Pack installation DVD about a week after Leopard came out. I really had no intention of using it on my main machine (right now a 17" MacBook Pro - still running 10.4/Tiger), but I wanted a chance to try out some of the "improvements" on one of my workstations that I use as a backup to the MBP. A few weeks later, I got around to installing it on a Mac Pro and it worked like a charm. (I'm not overly enthused with the performance of Leopard on any of the machines I have had a chance to install it on, but I like certain software features, like Time Machine and the improvements in Apple Mail, that it has made sense to install it on a few coworker's machines. I have had nothing but problems, however, installing it on PowerPC based machines. We have three identical 17" iMac G5's that were purchased at the same time. The installer crashed every single time in every imaginable way on all three machines. The only way I eventually got Leopard installed on the machines is by installing using Target Disk Mode on a PowerMac that we use as a backup and test server. I read somewhere in the Apple Support Discussions that others had experienced similar problems with Leopard 10.5.0 install media and that they had been able to get Apple to swap their install discs. In my case, I didn't want to waste the time dealing with AppleCare on the phone, so I put up with the problem. That was until this weekend, when I tried to do a fresh install on a PowerBook G4 (1 GHz), the installer crashed (again) in every single imaginable fashion - i.e. I tried a dozen times in a dozen different ways to get it to work, and it didn't. Write me if you want the details. It would take far too much time to explain it here. Suffice it to say, I really did try everything - except installing via Target Disk Mode.
Yesterday, I bit the bullet and called AppleCare/Apple Support and went through the process with a tech. An hour later, we ended the conversation with, "Steve... please take the PowerBook and install media to the Apple Store and get them to replace the media..." Nice. 60 miles (one way) and over $20 in gas and 3 hours of my time (which on the low end, equates to a total trip cost of $160 plus the waste of me driving a vehicle because somehow my problem - which we all agree is with the media - cannot be solved by them sending me another copy of the software). What a friggin' waste. Today, however, I had the chance to make it to the Apple Store in Milwaukee (Mayfair) because I had to go to Milwaukee for business anyway and the 20 min. extra drive would be worth it. I made an appointment and went through the motions with the Apple Genius dude - who was extremely helpful and pleasant, by the way - to get the media replaced. After explaining my experiences, showing anyone who would listen an example of said experiences, everyone we have talked to agreed that the install media was the problem and it needed to be replaced.
Read that last sentence again.
Instead of shipping me a package in a very efficient manner - via UPS/FedEx/DHL - I drove 120 mi. and wasted 3 hours to replace a 8 oz. package that has a DVD that was defective. 120 miles... round-trip. for a dvd.
This is the type of waste that companies promote because people don't use their brains - or aren't allowed to. Now... I don't think I had one tiny minute impact on the environment, etc. Sorry, I don't play that game or buy into that religion. But, I do believe that the over-all impact to me and society was negative. It was a waste of time and energy; time and energy that could have been applied to something productive. Shame on Apple and shame on businesses that promote waste and laziness because their policies and systems don't let people make decisions that simply make sense.
