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This has been a tumultuous week for the world, and a fairly eventful one even within the limited context of the Mac orbit. I’m not going to discuss the war in this column -- there’s plenty of that going on -- and I’m already getting sick of “war as entertainment” on TV. If I hear another “shock and awe,” or “ what’s the word in the Arab street?” one more time I think I’ll lose my lunch. Why does broadcast journalism have to be so fatuous?

Instead, I’m going to muse a bit about recent Mac/Apple developments in particular, and some more general issues.

First off this week was the quiet discontinuation of the venerable CRT iMac, first introduced in May, 1998, that played a major role in putting Apple back on the road to profitability. In the end, the classic iMac went with neither a bang nor a whimper, but just sort of faded away. The remaining stock will be sold through the education channels.

I have to admit that I was never a tremendous fan of the CRT iMac form factor, which, to my eyes, lacked the charm of the original, compact, Macs. Also the original iMac keyboard was ugly and tacky-looking (although I like its action) and the “hockey puck” mouse was a bad idea whose time hadn’t come. The color gimmick ranged from attractive (Snow; Sage; Graphite) through cloying (the “fruit” colors); to hideous (“Flower Power” and “Blue Dalmatian”). However, I acknowledge the original iMacs significance to Apple, and on that basis it is one of the great Mac computers.

The concept isn’t exactly dead yet, and lives on in the eMac, which is essentially a 17 in. classic iMac by any other name. However, the eMac is rumored to be on the way out as well, partly due to video reliability problems that have plagued this model, which is perhaps just a bit too attractively priced. More on that general topic in a bit.

The 17” PowerBook also began shipping the in volume this week. I haven’t formed a really clearly defined opinion of the Big Al ‘Book yet. In theory, the concept of a desktop laptop strongly appeals, and I’m glad Apple built this computer. I’ve long advocated Apple portables as “the logical Mac” for most users, and this one will broaden that concept to folks who need or just prefer a large screen.

On the other hand, I really think that any laptop this big should have a removable module expansion day, more than two RAM slots, and perhaps even some sort of PCI slot support. The 17 in. big Al is a nice piece of work though. I sure wouldn’t mind having one!

The third Big Apple news item this week was former Vice President Al Gore’s appointment to the Apple board of directors. I don’t share a lot of Mr. Gore’s politics, but I do appreciate his commitment to environmentalism, and my well wishes on his appointment in my edit of the Apple press release on Wednesday were sincere. I hope that Mr. Gore’s interest in environmental matters might help focus Apple’s attention to developing innovative solutions to computer recycling, and perhaps to the issue of chemical emissions from Mac computers, which seem to be getting smellier and smellier of late -- a major problem for chemically sensitive individuals (like me). http://www.macintouch.com/pbg4reader19.html#mar19 Reportedly that 17” PowerBook is pretty stinky, sad to relate.

As I said, I’m not going to discuss the war in this piece, but I do find it at least a noteworthy coincidence that Apple chose to announce Al Gore’s directorship on the day that they did. That aside, having someone of Al Gore’s prominence on Apple’s board is a good thing for the company, and should help elevate the profile of Mac computers.

Apple makes great computers, and the nicest-to-use computer operating systems in the world. That’s what keeps me and the rest of the Mac community coming back, not the politics of Steve Jobs.

Nevertheless, I’ve always found it difficult to warm to Apple Computer, the company, and it’s been a root of ongoing frustration imagining how much more advantageously Apple could tap into, and build on, the extraordinary phenomenon of good will and enthusiasm that the Macintosh enjoys in its user base.

Instead, Apple sometimes seems to be going out of its way to antagonize and alienate its customers, not least by maintaining paranoiac levels of secrecy and inscrutability, and its tendency to stonewall and deny legitimate user concerns. The recent and ongoing fiasco with Mac OS X 10.2.4 breaking iBook batteries, date and time integrity on a variety of models, and modem dial up support on some recent Macs, is a case in point.

Long after the forums were chock-a-block with user reports of these glitches after installing the 10.2.4 upgrade, Apple maintained its Sphinx-like silence on these issues, while many unsuspecting owners of the affected models continued downloading and installing the OS X 10.2.4 updater.

For the record, OS 10.2 .4 works just great on my Pismo PowerBook, the best OS X version I’ve used on that machine, I’m thankful, however, that did not rush to install 10.2 0.4 on my 700 MHz iBook, which is still running the 10.2.1 build of Jaguar that came with it and will continue to do so until I’m convinced that 10.2.5 or whatever subsequent upgrade isn’t going to break my computer.

If Apple wasn’t so obtusely oblivious to maintenance of customer relations, they might have seen fit, after it became evident that these issues with 10.2.4 were not just isolated and relatively anomalous complaints, to post a warning on the 10.2 .4 download page informing prospective upgraders with the affected models that it would be wise to skip this particular update. There was no such warning there when I checked Thursday evening.

If your iPod or Walkman or Game Boy goes out of commission, it’s annoying, but a relatively trivial inconvenience. However, for a lot of people, their computer is not a frivolous toy or a consumer electronics luxury commodity, but a tool that they use to make their living, and having it crippled or out of service and can cost serious money, not just for repairs, but in terms of lost revenues. Apple’s apparent indifference to these issues is hardly conducive to enhancing and nurturing customer loyalty.

I’m not saying that Apple necessarily *is* indifferent to such matters. I hope and suspect that they’re not. Problem is optics. The lack of communication creates a perception of indifference.

However, the manufacturer/consumer relationship is a two-way street, and Mac users might well consider the proverb about being careful what you hope for, because you may get it. I’m thinking here in particular about the perennial gripe that Macs are overpriced and that Apple needs to compete more aggressively with low-cost PCs.

And so they have done, with sub-$1,000 eMacs and iBooks, and the just discontinued holdover CRT iMac, but it seems that to some degree, moving toward cheap-o PC price points has required cutting corners on quality and ruggedness, resulting in cheap-o PC reliability. Some Mac resellers have reportedly stopped selling eMacs because of a horrific failure rates as high as 60%, and this week MacFixIt ran a thread about an extraordinarily high incidence of a motherboard and video problems with recent iBooks.

There have also been complaints about problems with the cheaper, software modems Apple is a using on some models not supporting certain FAX functions. I’m not sure whether the OS 10.2.4 for dial-up problem is related to software modems particularly, but it seems plausible.

For more discussion of software modems see:
http://www.motorola.com/softmodem/softmodem.htm
and
http://www.56k.com/reports/winmodem.shtml

Apple has done a nice job of building a lot of value in to their low-priced models. I’m very impressed with the standard of finish and (so far) performance of my new 700 MHz iBook, but I would have been glad to pay a bit more to have a real, hardware modem and rugged, long-lasting motherboard and video circuitry.

One of the things you used to be able to count on when you bought a Mac was quality and reliability those old Macs were built like tanks and lasted like anvils. My old LC 520 is in its 10th year of regular use. The floppy drive is sluggish at ejecting disks and requires a bit of help from a straightened paper clip, but other than that, the old LC still works like a charm.

Even my 1996 PowerBook 5300, now in my daughter’s possession, one of the most maligned Mac models in history, has been a rock of dependability, and still works great even though it has a gazillion hours on it. Our two PowerBook 1400’s likewise.

On the other hand, my 233 MHz WallStreet PowerBook expired after just three and one-half years of use. Makes you wonder a bit. I hope I’m mistaken, but I’ll be very surprised if the iBook is still humming along like the 5300 and the LC when it is seven or 10 years old.

Today’s Macs offer an astonishing amount of performance and features at prices we wouldn’t have dared dream of half a decade ago, but I miss that sense of rock-solid toughness and reliability you had with the old Macs. As I said, be careful what you hope for.

Part of the problem, I suppose, is that because of the ongoing rapid pace of computer technology advance, computers, absurdly -- considering what they cost, are now quasi-disposable items for many users. It would be outrageous if an $800 refrigerator or a $500 TV only had a useful service life of two or three years before becoming obsolete, but lots of us replace our computers at that frequency, and at two or three or four times the price, without batting an eye.

Not only is this expensive, it is also environmentally irresponsible. The disposal of obsolete computers is becoming a massive environmental headache worldwide.

Unfortunately, the economics of the computer industry are structured on the basis of frequent hardware replacements, and building machines that could have a six or eight year primary service life, say through facilitation of component upgrades, would be hard on bottom-line for Apple and the other computer makers.

Be that as it may, that’s the direction I would like to see in the industry headed, and perhaps Al Gore is a guy who might help turn it toward that orientation. Apple has not, for example, gone out of its way to accommodate processor upgrading, and indeed in the Jobs era they have done the opposite, but processor upgrades can extend the useful life of a computer by a year or two or more at a fraction of the capital outlay and environmental cost of replacing the entire machine. A company that prides itself on being an environmentally responsible should encourage and promote the concept of hardware component upgrades rather than impeding and discouraging them.

A computer as cool, and as expensive, as the new 17” AlBook shouldn’t become obsolete inside two or three years, but unlike the G3 series PowerBooks, it is not processor upgradeable. It’s no mystery why the more recent and powerful 400 MHz and 500 MHz Titanium PowerBooks have fallen into the same price range is the older 500 MHz G3 series Pismo “Books. The latter are processor upgradable, and have expansion bays, enabling them to both retain their value and their useful service life for a longer period -- a concept that Apple ought to revisit.

And before I go, I just want to express my appreciation for what American and British and Aussie (and even a few Canadian exchange officers) troops are doing in the Gulf. My fervent best wishes for a brief campaign with minimal casualties on both sides, and better days ahead for the Iraqi people as well as a diminishment of the terror threat.

Charles W. Moore

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