News and commentary from the cross-platform scripting community.
	Mail Starting 7/24/97

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From: beno@xs4all.nl (Michel Benevento);
Sent at 7/25/97; 11:27:41 AM;
Floppy story

Not defending Apple's inability to come up with the right part for a reasonable price, you realize of course that if your friend *had* indeed bought a PC back in february '93 (when the LC III was introduced), he would today be looking for much more than just a new floppy drive.The LC III, however runs MacOS 7.6.1 and has a built-in SCSI port (e.g. to connect external floppy drives to!).

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From: gnu@toad.com (John Gilmore);
Sent at 7/24/97; 5:32:39 PM;
Apple drives users away when they need spare parts

I have a friend in Indonesia who's not very computer-savvy. He's a playwright and he word-processes his plays on a Mac LC-III which lives a precarious existence via a non-grounded 220V-110V converter. When I visited him, his floppy drive wasn't working (an insect had crawled into it, and it jammed when he inserted a floppy; then it wouldn't read or write floppies any more). I guessed that the head slider had gotten bent. I couldn't repair it, so I offered to send him a floppy drive from the States. I showed him how to pop the case open, unhook the cables, and remove and insert the drive assembly. It's designed really well, so that non-technical people without tools can replace it. He had some trepidation, but thought he could probably handle it.

I thought, what could this part cost -- $50? I see brand-new floppy drives in stacks all over the Valley for less than that. Shipping to Indonesia might double that. OK, I'm willing to do that for my friend.

Got back to the States.

Couldn't find anything about spare parts in Apple's web pages.

I tried a few local places that advertised Apple parts in the Yellow Pages. Computer and Printer Repair in SF wouldn't sell me a floppy drive unless I brought the broken one in. Explained to the front-desk secretary, who was relaying over the phone to a technician, that the broken drive is in Indonesia. No dice, they just can't help me.

I then drove over to MacAdam. Explained the situation. They said they have floppy drives there, but their contract with Apple prohibits them from selling them to me. Apple Authorized Repair places can't sell parts, they can only repair. He gave me the number of an "Apple UNAUTHORIZED" repair place that would probably sell me a floppy drive. I went home and called it. They did, but they wanted $179 for the drive. I declined. Isn't the resale value of an entire LC-III about $179?

Couldn't find Apple's phone number from their web pages. Called directory assistance in Cupertino, which picked up the phone quickly and answered my question very quickly. Called the Apple main number. It was answered on the first ring -- by a recording. It told me I'd be waiting 1 minute 40 seconds for a human. It was more like three minutes. When I explained to the operator that I wanted to buy spare parts -- a floppy drive for an LC-III -- they were puzzled but referred me to customer service (on a different number). I called that number, was answered by a machine, was given a pile of choices I didn't want, pressed 0 in the hope of getting an operator, and got a prompt for "the 4-digit number that your representative told you". I tried more zeroes but it hung up on me. Tried again, waited through the whole long recording, didn't press any keys, eventually got an actual human.

This Apple representative confirmed that Apple does not sell parts to the public (!!!). They referred me first to a "Sun Remarketing" which Apple sells parts to when they stop stocking them themselves. I said, how can I tell if a floppy drive for an LC-III is still being stocked by Apple or not? He tried to refer me to an Apple Authorized Repair shop, but I told him I'd already been to two and they told me they were prohibited by their contract with Apple from selling me a drive. He gave me a second "remarketer", Shreve Systems.

Shreve Systems' 800-number does not answer at 4:49PM.

The people at Sun Remarketing were very helpful (after fifteen rings). They identified that my part number was for an assembly, but they had the two parts (the drive itself and the bracket) and could assemble them. But they wanted $209 for a floppy drive. I declined.

I guess my friend will just be unable to read or write floppies any more on his Mac. Or will have to find a capable computer repair place somewhere on Bali. I've cc'd him on this message. Bob, I apologize for offering to help you with your Mac -- I should have known better. Buy a PC clone next time -- there are tens of thousands of shops that are ``authorized'' to sell you a brand new floppy drive for $40.

John

PS: Having a corporate policy that makes life hard on customers isn't unique to Apple. Sun has also been driving their customers away like this for years, though they have this particular problem fixed (you can buy Sun spare parts conveniently, and relatively cheaply, via Sun Express). It's just that Apple's survival now depends on making life pleasant for their customers, and they're blowing that.

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From: tstroli@p3.thestar.ca (Strolight, Tomer);
Sent at 7/24/97; 3:03:00 PM;
Re: The Sure Road to Bankruptcy

I enjoyed reading your article about the iminent and unavoidable death of Apple very much.

It's quite hard to believe how much has changed so quickly, but when I think about how special computers and how incredibly special a Macintosh felt only 3 years ago I'm amazed at how much of the magic has been lost.

Computers are now ubiquitous and therefore invisible. I imagine that forty years ago the site of a telephone still stirred excitement, and just as nobody looks at a phone today as anything more than a tool, so too the computer becoming a common desktop accessory.

This was really the vision that Apple lacked. That computers would become good enough to be ho-hum, like sliced bread, receiving a newspaper daily or owning a car - all amazing achievements, but so proliferated that they are in no way exclusive. So Apple imagined that theirs would be the magical computer forever, appealing to that user who wanted more than a tool, but an experience.

Unfortunately, application software, not operating system now provides the experience, and there is nothing exclusive to the Apple OS. A real shame, but a sign of changing times - the passing of the computer from a novelty to an appliance. Bill Gates' dream of a computer of every desktop has nearly been achieved, and now that we've reached the destination, it's somewhat blander and less exciting than the journey was.

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From: shmerls@earthlink.net (Steven Shmerler);
Sent at 7/24/97; 10:24:12 AM;
Trellix - MAJOR PROBLEMS

After reading your review of Trellix, I hoped over to their site. I sent and email requesting info on when/if their would be a Mac version.

Then I started getting tonnage of email to Trellix directed to me and find that many others are in the same boat. Seems that Trellix doesn't know how to set up a listserv and has inadvertantly put anyone that emails in - into the list serv. This morning I got 55 more emails, and plenty of angry bounce backs.

Please advise your readers not to email Trellix until they work this out, thanks

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From: beno@euro.apple.com (Michel Benevento);
Sent at 7/24/97; 6:20:43 PM;
Alexa

In general, web pages don't disappear accidentally. When a webmaster takes a page down, it means the information on that page is no longer valid.

Seems to me that Alexa is (among other, probably more useful things) one giant collection of outdated information...

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From: dtod@vt.edu (David Carter-Tod);
Sent at 7/24/97; 12:14:44 PM;
Re:Trellix

From your description, Trellix sounds like it has a lot in common with Storyspace from Eastgate Systems (the same people who make WebSquirrel): http://www.eastgate.com/Storyspace.html

I was looking for a screenshot on their website, but couldn't find one. Storyspace doesn't have templates, but the map, linking lines, and single file characteristics are all there. It does output HTML, but while that is a selling point, I don't think it's the key feature.

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From: tobeth@lava.net (Beech Family);
Sent at 7/24/97; 5:14:20 AM;
Re:Trellix

Dave - the trellix thing has turned into a nightmare. I went to the site and signed up for a demo - then discovered I couldn't download it because they don't have a version for the mac.

But signing up got me on a mailing list...result..24 junk mail messages in my mailbox this am including one from "Bang 66@aol.com" from a "Miss Kim" -

Uh - Dave - this is a "G" rated computer with two users (and their little friends) under the age of 10. I'd say your friend at Trellix has made a major boo-boo. Word about this is definitely gonna get around.