Macintosh Pride & The Apple Store at Tysons Corner, VA

A

Adonsa

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Fellow Mackers,
Last month I was in the Apple store, employee asked if he/she could help me, so I inquired about an iPod cover for my original 5 gig iPod. Employee kind of looked down his/her nose at me and scoffed that anyone would have a 5 gig iPod. I was told no products, no support for the 5 gig iPod.

Well getting a cover for it is not the issue, I have one anyway.

The point I would like to submit is that every (or almost every) Mac, and every iPod is a source of pride. I'm extremely proud of my original single-drive 128k Mac (now a fat Mac) which I used to kick IBMs ass with back in the 80s. We stand way above the Pee Cee community which has a history of a lot of crap, beginning with the PC Junior.

Certainly Apple (Apple Store) should show pride in all Apple products, old and new. Even the Mac Portable is a source of pride - it was carried aboard a space shuttle mission. Granted we have some anomolies, like the performas and the cube, but, unlike the PC community, nothing to be ashamed of.

Apple Store Employees - be proud of every Apple product, all the way back to the original Apple I.

Thanks for allowing me to post this.
Adonsa
 
Allowing you to post it? Nah, thats OK, I agree with you and I think a lot of people out there feel the same. So you own an original 5GB iPod? Thats something to be proud of. It's like owning an original Sony Walkman or Kodak Brownie... a design classic.

I sometimes wonder if a lot of the newer, younger Apple store staff have any appreciation for the roots of Apple. How many of them have just switched in the last year, I wonder?

Apple's history of innovation is fantastic... First ever personal computer, first ever GUI, first use of a mouse in a mainstream environment, first consumer digital camera (the QuickShot, released 10 years before its time), first webcam (the QuickTime web conferencing camera), first laptop (the powerbook), first PDA (the Newton), first free and usable MP3 library program (I'm not going to count WinAmp, Real or XMMS as neither had any way to get music into the computer). First consumer digital video editing software. Only competitive all-in-one desktop on the market for the last 20 years.

Not to mention the things that Apple and their legendary designers have been doing on the sidelines ... from the HipTop to the Segway to Pixar.
 
I also agree Adonsa, I've been out in the PC (UNIX not Windows) wilderness for a good many years now due to circumstances beyond my control, but I am now coming back. I owned a PowerMac 5500 and PowerBook 520 with great pride. One thing I was always proud of was as a Mac user, it didn't matter what one you had. Even in 1997 I visited an estate agent who still used his original Mac (the first one) with great pride and had no need to upgrade. The immature -must upgrade constantly- thing is something I only experienced in the PC world.

I'm a little disappointed to read some posts here which bash older models or non-G5s, I think some people are either caught-up in that PC mentality or are from younger age ranges and cannot appreciate anything unless it's bleeding edge. I feel some elitism in some posts regarding the eMac and Mac mini, shame on you who engage in this. Shame on anyone who tries to make another Apple user feel inferior.

Bottom line: Any Apple product no matter how old, is something to take a little pride in, if it serves you and enables you to do what you want, never feel ashamed for it. I'm ashamed of the attitude you received, this isn't what being an Apple user should be like.

In 2000 I worked for a while helping a friend in his PC shop in a small village, a Mac user brought their Mac in for a repair, I told him it was a pleasure and an honour to fix his Mac. In fact, I didn't charge.
 
Last summer I went to an elderly (90+ y.o.) neighbour's house to fix her Mac. She had the original 1984 model too, and was still happily using it for all her letters, accounts, planning holidays and even playing games. Even after 20 years, all it really needed was a new printer cartridge (thankfully not hard to find), the floppy drive cleaned and a bit of dust vacuumed out. It still looked smart, clean, and savvy and was quite pleasant to use.

padishahemperor is right. The "upgrade urge" is a very childish thing.
 
Mildly related, I bought a 550 Mhz G4 powerbook a couple of years ago. Put simply, it is the best computer I have ever owned; reliable, fast enough for my needs and fits into any bag. I understand the need to move products on but I was dismayed when I attempted to order a replacement battery last month. It is an old-ish laptop but certainly not ancient. I paid a fortune for it and expect some level of support beyond being bounced around from tech support to tech support. I gave up after three phone calls where I was on hold and transferred for about 25-30 minutes. I'm Irish but speak English. The people I was talking to could not understand what I was saying. I just wish that Apple support was more comprehensive. All that I wanted to do was give Apple money for a new battery!! Pride in a product is great but quality support is a must, even if it is a couple of years old!!!
 
Having had to ask Apple UK/Eire (you should have called them lilbandit) some technical questions about CoreImage on the Mac mini I was really disgusted by their attitude, they were rude, terse and condescending. I almost cancelled my Mac order. Apple really need to get that attitude in check.
 
That's exactly my point! I did call Apple UK/Eire. I'm not sure how Apple handle their customer support but lots of companies sub-contract their customer support to call centres in the far east. I had to repeat myself and use alternative words to explain my situation. Each rep wanted my Apple id but then kept saying that they had no profile on me so they couldn't/wouldn't let me order the battery. I would then get bounced to another rep who was not aware of my situation and therefore I had to explain all over again. It was a ridiculous experience.
 
Ah.. I refuse to speak to call centers and demand, usually furiously, to speak to someone in this country, or at least to someone who can understand me. It is not really acceptable, perhaps if the site owners/mods here could start an online petition and get/force everyone to add their name to it, there are a good number of users here, maybe we could get Apple to re-address the service issue.

My experiences today are making me think again about getting a Mac to be honest.
 
Padisha; I think that service problems are affecting the entire computer industry, and Apple's service woes are merely another expression of that fact. Granted, we are used to holding Apple up to a different, higher standard and they have lived up to that for the most part. They are attempting to hold prices down, and one of the ways to cut costs is to outsource where possible. I'm not saying that this is acceptable, but rather, the norm.
 
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