2580 A neighbor told me any other day that she has canceled her dial-up Internet service account (the only Internet option available where we live) because she is so frustrated and fed up with the slow throughput and the onslaught of malware on her PC laptop. She has recently relocated here from a large city, and is used to broadband. It's hard to keep them down on the farm after they've seen Par-eee.

Not much can be done about that in the short-term. However, there is progress. There actually is a government sponsored and partially-subsidized Broadband for Rural Nova Scotia Initiative, and this month the Nova Scotia government assigned territory to two private-sector firms to set up an infrastructure for delivering wireless broadband Internet throughout the entire province, with the deadline set for the end of 2009. Consequently, there is now reason to hope that we will get broadband here within the next two years, and hopefully it won't be quite that long. The news from the provider that now has this territory is that they first have to obtain regulatory approval from the municipality in this area to erect wireless towers, and once that is achieved they must apply for permits from Industry Canada to operate a broadcast tower, so the wheels of bureaucracy have to turn a bit yet.

In the meantime, one of the local (so to speak, fifty miles away) satellite Internet service sales outlets last week was advertising the necessary hardware package for $99.00, which sounded like an attractive deal, but when I phoned to inquire further, I was informed that it would be necessary to sign up for a three-year contract in order to get that price. With a one-year contract it would be $399.00 for the dish and modem, and in either case the monthly service fee would be $59.95, plus approximately $220.00 for installation and a $100.00 annual system access fee. Too expensive for me, notwithstanding my increasing frustration with working on dial-up, and there's no way I want to commit to a major hardware purchase and lock into a multiyear contract with wireless on the way. I digress.

Anyway, there is of course a simple workaround to my friend's malware woes. I explained to learn that she could at least say goodbye to viruses and worms and the necessity of constantly downloading and updating anti-virus software simply by switching to the Mac. The malware threat is such a constant blight on the lives of Windows-users, that it is really difficult for them to cognate that it is virtually a non-issue for Mac-users (especially if they're on a dial-up Internet connection).

I don't as a rule subject my social and casual acquaintances to Mac sales pitches, but in this case it seemed like a Mac would be they perfect solution to at least part of my neighbor's problem.

"But wouldn't a Mac laptop cost me about three thousand dollars?" my friend asked. Unfortunately, here in Canada, she actually could spend more than that for a 17-inch MacBook Pro - Can$3,099.00 to be precise, but I informed her that she could get a MacBook for $1,249.00, or even less if she went with an Apple Certified Refurbished unit. She said she would definitely consider it.

I don't know if I've convinced her to get a Mac, but this vignette illustrates that Apple still has work to do and convincing non-geek consumers that Macs are not necessarily astronomically expensive, and informing them that there is an alternative to living with the malware plague on Windows boxes.

Charles W. Moore

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