Technology...

The management would like to apologise for the relative quietness of the site this afternoon. The editiorial iMac threw a wobbly and has been committed to a Mac asylum until such time as it starts behaving like a Mac again, viz, there is some evidence of life when you press the switch.

Normal service should resume by lap top quite soon.

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OutdoorsMagic Editor | jon@outdoorsmagic.com 

So, the tech team have been making changes after all?

Macs eh?? Is anyone suprised??

Hang on I thought Mac's were the choice of Pro's because they were reliable etc!
Jon all I can say is:
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
that has made my day as my PC is behaving its self for one!
;0)

Welll... considering the amount of use it gets, it's done pretty well being one of the original Bondi Blue Rev B iMacs and I reckon the redhead did something mean to it when I was out biking the other weekend... Should be back on Friday - nearest service dealer was in bloody Alfreton, around 90 minutes away with summer Peak tourist traffic, gawd rot 'em....

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OutdoorsMagic Editor | jon@outdoorsmagic.com 

Sympathies Jon: I had to change me hard drive last week. INT 24 all that. he blinking thing works (almost) perfectly now...

Has anyone heard / seen the comic skit "Welcome to the internet helpdesk"?

It has a great line about IMacs. Something along the lines of "If your daddy says that the PC isn't working, then tell him its broken and he should give it to you to play with. Then, tell him to go out and buy an IMac. They're a special sort of computer made especailly for idiots...er, Mummies and Daddies."

Si(C)

PS Without computers, I might actually have to work for a living!

Hmmmmm wish I'd have bought a Mac.

I hate PC's, and Microsoft (TM)and Intel (TM) (ping-pong-ping-pooong) (TM)!


(little tune added after the Intel thing upon advice from lawyers...)

Well, the Mac's back and not spluttering or expiring any more, at least not yet. Cost around 140 squid to replace some wretched board that controls the power and had gone to meet its maker (and now probably has).

Great thing about Mac owning is that you're condemned to dealing with imbeciles. It took them 40 minutes simply to give me back my computer and not sell me a CD burner. The latter was a stroke of genius on their part - I was about to give them 160 quid and asked for some free CDs to be thrown in as well. Fair enough. They curiously interpreted this as meaning I wanted to buy 12 CDs for the price of ten at a quid each. Nice. Somehow I didn't think so. Lots of whining about their profit margins and saying I hadn't spent enough. So I walked without CDs or CD burner. Idiots, if they'd done it I'd have considered going back to buy a new iMac at some time in the next 12 months, but somehow I don't think so. The only Apple dealer in Alfreton near Derby. Curious attitude and, I have to admit, after standing around for over half and hour while they took ages to do anything, I wasn't particularly polite about it.

Was I being unreasonable? As a Mac owner I'm fed up with being ripped off for peripherals and parts compared to PCs, the snail-like service was just the icing on the pudding...

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OutdoorsMagic Editor | jon@outdoorsmagic.com 

It's undeniable that adding and fixing stuff can work out more expensive for a Mac, but I guess that's the price we pay for the fact that the thing works better with much less fiddling around in the first place (what's an INT 24 then baga??) Should one expect freebies all the time? I dunno, perhaps I prefer to decide if the price on the sticker is fair and then pay it, or walk away. I'd be mildly sceptical if anyone told me PC dealers are never imbeciles ;-)

Fair point, but what pissed me off was that if I ask for some free CDs to be thrown in, I don't mean 12 for the price of ten. If they'd simply said no, I wouldn't have minded. It was the weazelly way they tried to sell me CDs when they'd ostensibly agreed to sell me some. That and the endless faffing about, it takes them about ten minutes just to take a credit card payment.

I wasn't necessarily expecting anything to be thrown in for free, but it's worth asking and if someone says yes, you expect them to stick to that, not simply sell you overpriced CDs. Don't get me wrong, I'd take a Mac every time, but this was just ridiculous. If they'd chucked in say, just five, CDs for free, I'd have been a satisfied if rather late customer, as it was, I'm unlikely to ever use them again.

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OutdoorsMagic Editor | jon@outdoorsmagic.com 

WAs it Micro Anvika by any chance?

Na, GHC in Alfreton. I got the feeling that if I'd been prepared to hang around for another 20 minutes, they might have come round, but really, life's too short and it was already almost 5 pm... Just seemed very short-sighted on their part, like I said, if they'd simply have said 'no, no free CDs' I wouldn't have been particularly worried, it was all the hand-wringing and gibbering that did my head in. They seem much better by mail order when you don't have to actually deal directly with people ;-)

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OutdoorsMagic Editor | jon@outdoorsmagic.com