The Mac Lounge forum: Decline & Fall of the iMac?

The fact is that these iMacs shipped WITHOUT a word processor. Here I had all these Appleworks and ClarisWorks files from years of being a faithful customer?and 30 days to find an alternative or cough up another $70 to make a machine that already cost twice as much as the competition. That's a fact.

Later machines may have shipped with iWorks '06 included, but they've never shipped me a copy. To this day, if I click on an old .cwk file without dragging it to the Microsoft Office icon, I'll get a "friendly" reminder that my 30-day trial period for iWorks is through??and fork over the dough. This machine also shipped with an MS Works trial, but that was also 30-days expiration. Like I said, but for a generous boss who'd paid for MS-Office home licenses, I would have had to kowtow to Apple and hand over the money.

Appleworks was a great program?for the 1990s. I had the version that ran on the unstable 9.0 OS. The Unix platform is undoubtedly better, but pre OS X stuff is useless on this machine. So, with no backwards compatibility, and no permanent WP program, Apple KNEW every customer would be out an additional $70 from the start. It was dishonest. Like re-marking the price tags while ringing up the customer's sale and hoping he won't notice.

And yet.... I still wanted to go on believing Apple was the same old Apple. My experience hasn't born that out. Yours may differ.

If I were you, I would put that machine up on eBay and sell it for whatever you can get for it.

No need for you to be annoyed all the time when the most simple solution would be for you to remove the source of your annoyance.

Appleworks was good in its time but its time ran out.

MS Works was never on your machine as a 30 day trial package.
MS Office may have been but then again, MS Office is usually installed as a 30 day trial on a bunch of PC's too.

Not sure what your problem with Audion. iTunes does not rule the roost here with my MP3's. It lets me play them in Audion without a problem.

Same with my old .cwk files. Double clicking on one does not bring up any friendly warning, it brings up the application that I has designated as the default app to open them. Know what that app is? It's Appleworks. Yes, there was an OS X version and it was free. I just installed it on my iMac and away we went.

So, I disagree with your rant, but we each have our own opinions.

P

Let's start with the basics.

1) hardware problem in less than three years but "just off warranty". That's a non-starter. AppleCare lasts three years if you bought it. IF it's under warranty, your repair is free. OR you never bought an extended warranty and you're outa luck after almost three years. That happens. Plenty of people have 3-year old iMacs that are fine; the others bought new computers to keep up with tech. But if your computer breaks, you have to live with it. I don't complain (much) when my 8-year old Ford has a mechanical problem that would have been covered by its six-year warranty; I still own it, it's parts have a limited lifespan, and if I want to save money by not buying a newer one, I'll have to get it repaired. Owning stuff is a crap-shoot, if you don't want the risk, don't buy anything. But as far as it goes, Apple equipment (as a whole) is at least as reliable, if not more so, than anything else in the market. That is why, despite their low numbers, Apple has the highest customer satisfaction rating of any computer maker in the world.

2) Major computer companies ship without "expected" software. You know, the world is a lot more cut-throat these days than in the innocent '90s, when you got free stuff to encourage you to buy. Now, your ice cream 1/2 gallon tub is down to 1-1/2 quarts for the same price, you get 350 sheets of paper towel instead of 500 in the same package, and Apple doesn't serve up free AppleWorks anymore. That's life in the new Century. On the other hand, your current-issue Mac is 25% less expensive than one you may have bought three years ago and twice as fast to boot. And the final nail in this coffin, Apples only real competitor in the bundled app department, Microsoft, does not and has never included a "real" word processor in their offerings, much less an entire suite of apps to make your purchase seem valuable.

3) iTunes "fixes" files so they don't play in Audion? If you can't play a music file in another player after ripping it in iTunes, you did not create an MP3. Maybe you didn't notice that you created an AAC file, whose merits can be be debated elsewhere, but it's plain that if you create an MP3 from a CD in iTunes, it will play on any device or software product on the planet. If you re-rip a track in Audion and play it only in Audion, where's the improvement from using iTunes? You're still locking yourself into one app for no reason. And nothing has changed in iTunes as far as converting YOUR OWN music since iTunes was released all these years ago, so no "mother obsession" has been fixed. You are confusing locked PURCHASED tracks from un-lockable homemade tracks. If not all players can digest AAC files YOU make, it's not their fault. You want to be universal, it's up to you to do so.

So I believe you're a good Apple fan who doesn't read the manuals and has blind trust in the creator, and you've been burned by your own mistakes in the last few years because you're getting older and perhaps paying less attention to details than you used to. Hey, I sympathize, I'm going there too. But that's no excuse for a rant, and you need to have facts behind you to rant in a forum where there are people who can rebut you. Apple has not caused you to become disillusioned, your inaction (for warranty periods and iTunes management) and inattention to details (lack of free software in an industry increasingly reluctant to give product away) has caused you to dray inaccurate conclusions from the facts at hand.

I hope you feel better about your Macs at some point and begin to relate to them again, because, believe me, you won't be particularly happy to trade in your comfortable Mac habits and start to use Windows as your daily beast. Aside from having to unlearn 10 years worth of mac operations, you'll have to lock up your computer in reality because of viruses, phishing and spam attacks. The amount of work it takes to keep a PC operational is substantial compared to the ease of Mac maintenance.

Good luck!

It happens I have Vista Ultimate running in my Mac Pro, which I sometimes use up to six hours a day. I also built and maintain a PC at home with XP Pro, that's used to help run my partner's tech support consulting business (mostly Windows tech support, I may add). I personally get tired of Vista's daily mandatory security downloads, virus update announcements and game crashes back to the desktop, but, hey, it's Windows.

In fact, OS 9 was not so famously unstable, that would be Windows 98 and ME. But the first two versions of OS-X, 10.0 and 10.1, were famously prone to blowups. Your PC guru was mistaken, however, as many I.T. people were and still are. If your company's Macs were having problems as a whole, then the tech staff were just not figuring out how to resolve them. Historically, though, Mac offices have such low problem rates that there's no need for dedicated support staff. There's plenty of documentation online to support this.

I did not state anywhere in my post what you may or may not have received on your Mac, that was from other posters. I merely said that if you use a program like iTunes you should set your preferences for conversions before ripping your CDs, and that you don't get any free word processors better than a basic text editor with most other computers either, unless you pay for them as an upgrade. Dell doesn't include anything free, nor does HP, Sony, or the others.

And of course as an informed consumer you should be aware of what you're buying. How do you think the U.S. economy got flushed into the toilet? Consumers not knowing what they were buying (result: foreclosures) and big business cutting back on consumer benefits to reward their senior management (result: bank bailouts). But that's neither here nor there, is it? Specs and included features for any Mac model are available everywhere, from the corporate web site to ads to the outside of the box you bring home.

Nothing is built the way it was ten years ago, and that extends to computers. With shortened product testing cycles and intensified marketing programs, electronics are pushed out the door half-baked (Microsoft Vista, anyone?). And perhaps you're aware that buying expensive is no assurance of long-lasting quality. Think Viking stoves (terrible reputation for reliability), Jaguar cars (famous for sucking money from owner wallets in the shop), Sony's exploding laptop batteries (speaks for itself), etc. These are all premium products as well. Why do you think there is an industry selling "refurbished", i.e. broken, fixed, and resold, products today? Because so much is not made that well anymore. It is expected, taken for granted, in fact, by the entire industry.

You're buying a feature set and promise of performance, not a guarantee of life. It IS a shame that things don't last as long today and a higher percentage of defective products get through quality control uncaught. I send back electronic components regularly, from automatic watches to GPS units, because they are buggy or fail. In a way, it's my fault for being a sucker and buying stuff, but it's also the fault of the corporate world we live in, where it's more important to show profit in the next quarter than it is to build a product that works properly and lasts a long time.

But I can't take YOUR individual tech experience and decide that's the norm rather than the exception. Apple sells around a million Macs a year. You think 10% of iMac owners have your issue? How about 1%? .001%, perhaps? I don't hear of 1,000s of iMac buyers having these problems. That's no consolation for you, rare sufferer, but it happens. And THAT'S why you buy extended warranties, because it could happen to you!

While you may have spent double what your PC friends spent (did they really spend half what you did, all of them?), did they get all the computer you did? Probably not. And is the industry NOT geared towards annual (if possible) purchases to keep manufacturing humming? Of course it is. Look at the iPhone/iPhone 3g/iPhone 3G-S...talk about induced madness and instant obsolescence!

For me, it's lame to spend $500 or more every year to buy new CPUs, motherboards, faster RAM, bigger drives, etc., and keep rebuilding a PC when my Macs can stay viable for 3-4 years. That's why I will pay more, UP FRONT, for a faster, full-featured machine that I don't need to upgrade to keep going. People who buy a $600 PC get a low-end, obsolete on the showroom floor, can't do anything much except word processing and web-surfing $600 PC. THAT'S what you want to compare your iMac to? Have you been watching those ludicrous Windows TV ads from Microsoft? A mid-level PC that will last three years without replacing all its parts will cost over $1,000 and probably more like $1,500. A fast machine with high-end video...over $5,000. So don't get started on the value of a PC that costs half of your iMac.

Not a peep from you about the warranty period issue, or why you couldn't get MP3s from iTunes, so I guess I was correct about those things. Fact is, I'm not a zealot, exactly, but I don't have a lot of sympathy for people who don't think for themselves or make assumptions based on faulty logic. Sometimes I just have to speak my mind to correct, so other readers who don't know better can at least get their facts straight before making their own decisions. I'm not down on you, just your conclusions.

OK< I obviously went overboard here. I apologize for rubbing your nose in my rhetoric. I hope you can see some of the overarching points I am making about the state of the consumer and manufacturing world today and how we sometimes get abused by it. If any of this makes you think about your next computer purchase or how you go about relating to the equipment you use, then I won't have completely wasted your time.

Um, I never say ANYTHING about TextEdit. This is the second time you mentioned it. Get your posts straight when you respond. And if you want a third-party solution, try another (non-Apple) store. There are dozens in my area. They fix Macs too. If Apple has an extended period lemon replacement plan, call them (1-800-APPL) to get it done. They aren't gonna call you first and say "Hi, how's your iMac screen which we seem to be having a lot of problems with?"

The fact that you know Office but don't know TextEdit (or MacWrite, from your example) is not much of an excuse to complain that you can't use your existing data. Even if Apple DID give you their iWork Suite word processor, Pages, for free, you'd STILL have to learn its all-new command structure, because it isn't MS Office. So? Text edit is a word processor, albeit a minimal one, and the fact that you don't know how to make it work doesn't mean you haven't been given software to work with.

As for Googling "Mac Screen," there were no links to screen problems you describe in the first 4 pages of listings, so it's not a highly ranked problem according to Google. I did find a few links in these 100 listings for hardware repair companies that fix defective screens. I guess you ignored those.

And for iTunes, it's pretty well-known that Apple rips to AAC as a default, since they have proclaimed it's superior sound since it came out. If you can't read the manual (I don't either), you could at least have the curiosity to look at iTunes' settings in case you could change it after the first time you saw the problem. Or hey, there's a Help menu item on all Apple software menu bars which can be very informative. Apple's help, while still skimpy at times, is far easier to get to than help in Windows. Simply put, playing a song in iTunes won't "grab its file type" and make it iTunes-only.

You're just whining, "aww, poor me, I have been abused." You clearly hold some rather old-fashioned views about how the computer market works and what manufacturers owe you for your loyalty. But reading your posts, it's more likely that you just aren't proactive enough to help yourself. Unfortunately in this self-service age we live in, you gotta grow a pair and fix your own problems, just like everybody else. That's why these forums exist. But next time, ask questions here (and on the Apple or MacFixIt boards, for example) and get some answers first, rather than rant about how wronged you are and wait for the rebuttals.

I sincerely hope you call Apple tech support and don't let them go until they agree to fix your problem, at least if they are offering this service for your model. Ask for the support team leader if your initial customer service rep can't help you, until they clearly explain all your options. Good luck.

"We were going all PC because OS 9.0 was so unstable that the machines kept crashing at far higher rate than the PCs"

HAHA. Your precious Macs "just working!" I love it!

Dude, I'm over 50, so shut yer yap, you young whippersnapper!

and so my Windows computer with a sick disk has been going unused for long periods of time. So far I find my mac to work smoothly. I do see glitches but they haven't gotten to the point of chronic system shutdowns. I hope reading your warning doesn't jinx my experience.

I find TextEdit to work great as a word processor, as I can put rich text in it. I can open pdf's in preview and even more quickly in quicklook (mac's equivalent of quickview). I can also "print" any document to a PDF file for printing later.

The only practical problem I have now is finding a trueblue MIDI sequencer that is made for the mac. Previously I was having a problem finding a mac equivalent for Paint. But I found a host of freeware graphic programs that have let me port my graphic projects over to my mac. Among them are Pixen and Seashore which support alpha transparency, something I haven't found in a Windows version.

Other complaints I have are largely minute technicalities such as being able to save gif images in a specified color depth. But that hasn't been much of a bother now that I'm working more with png files.

Yes I had to recode some webpages to work with Safari, but this has forced me to stick more closely with the W3 specifications for good HTML and javascript.

For the time being, let me basque in my ignorance. By the time apple runs around and bites me on the butt I'll probably have my WinXP computer debugged.

Billy

"....It never dawned on me for instance that any major computer company, let alone Apple, would ship a machine without a word processor..." Why'd you think that? Most of the Windoz PC people I know have had to buy Office after their trial period. The ones that didn't had to pay for it up front; on more expensive PC's. Any PC costing half as much as your iMac will come only with a trial period Office. You can just download the free OpenOffice or NeoOffice if TextEdit isn't up to par for you. I know several Windoz users who use OpenOffice. Point is, for the most part, Macs do come bundled with some pretty nifty software; the software is integrated, EG "built for Mac"; and generally trouble-free. Buying a computer and complaining that one has to pay for software seems naive at best.

However, it IS disconcerting that your monitor has crapped out. I know of a couple other iMac people who've had power supply problems after 3-4 years. And, I've seen posts at Apple Discussions about those problems also. On the other hand, I have no idea what percentage have problems with their iMac hardware. Hopefully a low percentage. So, I do feel for you there; yes it sucks. Of course, Apple doesn't manufacture monitors and it could be that LCD's don't last as long as the old CRT's. But, that's a discussion relevant to any computer maker.

I currently am doing things in Garageband, but also note that this is not a MIDI sequencer.

You can import a MIDI file into Garageband, but once it is inside, you aren't dealing with MIDI anymore. It walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, but it's really a goose. Garageband uses its own format that resembles MIDI in its operation. And there is no provision for exporting it back out to MIDI format.

Also MIDI is really taylored for the techrock artist. If you try to inport a General MIDI file with an orchestra score into GB, expect a rude surprise. Most of the GM instruments aren't included. No clarinets, oboe, single violin, or marimba, all of which are standard in GM.

Billy

I may have seen some of those, but I'll look again in case I missed something. I've been looking at some commercial things already like Intuem and Metro SE. But I may check for some more free ones to make sure I don't buy something only to find myself marinated in free ones the very next day. Too many of the ones I do find turn out to be really bizarre things like "pattern" sequencers (whatever that is), or software specialized for drum sets or guitar. I won't be surprised if by the time I can find the perfect program I figure out how to program in Java and write my own MIDI sequencer for Mac. If a MIDI topic appears soon on CNET, it will probably be mine.

This will be one of the biggest humps to get over in making my Mac function like a good Windows.

Thanks.

How do you feel about FIVE years?

For example a few key components in today's common TV's, displays and almost every PC and Apple made has a five year "rated life." I see that the site I used to share this bit of trivia is now gone so I'll just say that the complaints are only going to get worse.

Apple has no exclusive on this issue.
Bob

I had a refurbished eMac for 9 years.( I think it was manufactured around 1999/2000.) I still have it. It's still working fine but I needed a new machine to do everything I'm doing with the Mac now such as movies, burning DVD's, photo apps, etc. Six weeks ago I bought a refurbished iMac from the Apple store. (They even threw in a wireless printer/scanner.) I had a problem with the screen right out of the box. I took it to the Apple store at the Florida Mall in Orlando and two days later I had a new screen. I purchased two additional years of Applecare. I had all my old software backed up on an external HD so I moved Appleworks6 over to the new machine. No problem with a word processor and no additional costs. I also use Text Edit and Text Wrangler also at no cost. All I can say is the new iMac is awesome especially in the speed department. I recently bought a 350GB ext hard drive for $40.00 and use it with Time Machine. (Another awesome app.) All I know is that my experience with Apple since 1994 (68040 processor) has been A+. I like to think of all the money I saved over the years on service, virus protection, malware apps, registry cleaners and all the other apps needed to keep a PC running. Never had a problem with iTunes either. Over 6000 songs in the MP3 format. I have friends with PC's who swear by them and others who curse them. Most cannot do what I do with my Mac and its contained software. If I'm still around in nine years I might need to upgrade to another refurbished Mac. I wish you good luck or better luck next time.

Hey Dan, I'm happy for you! Sounds like you've had great experiences. Customers should always stick where they're happy. That's the way the system works. Some would suggest that it's my duty as the customer to be happy with whatever Apple makes, but rather the reverse, Apple should be making the customers happy.

I also appreciate the hospitable way that you can disagree unlike some self-styled "superior intellects" who hide behind screens to talk tougher on the web than they'd ever dare in real life. That's never impressed me much.

My experience has been different with this machine. At the time, I bought it, my PC friends could get machines with at least a Works versions of MS, and did. Apple's decision not to bundle any real word processor actually propelled me into full-fledged Office because, as I said, the good boss provides!

However, I think even Apple realized that was a HUGE marketing blunder because I keep hearing from all the happy Apple customers later got iWorks bundled. Do you think I wouldn't have paid another $70 for this machine at the point-of-purchase? In for a penny, in for a pound. What galled me to was the sneaky way that they promoted a machine as bundling all the basics?then leaving me with just a rich-text-file editor as a "word processor." I've made maybe a handful of movies with this machine, and I'm no musician, BUT I've composed many many reams of copy. It shouldn't have taken a "superior intellect" to foresee the results.

Apple actually prepped me to go out the door! Every time I've pulled up an old Claris or Apple file, I've saved it as a .doc, which is instantly more compatible with 90 percent of the people with whom I correspond. I no longer get e-mails saying, "could you send that in some other format?" Even after Apple began bundling iWorks with later machines at no extra cost, it never went back and retrieved those early-adopter customers it chose to orphan or double-charge, by giving only "30-day" versions. I'm not complaining about that, per se, I just see it as a marketing error. I suspect MOST Apple customers don't become Steven Spielberg or Kurt Cobain on buying an iMac. I suspect MOST actually use their machine mostly for web browsing and word processing. So marketing a machine without real wp was definitely their choice, but not a very good one, or they would have stuck with it.

In fact, some above have criticized me by saying it's a cold-cruel-competitive world now, and I should have known what I was buying, blah, blah, and that I would have gotten no better bundling with a PC. They actually made my point. I never said PCs are always better for everybody. Far from it. I said don't trust Apple will give you what you want. Check it out. Compare. Look up reliability ratings that sort of thing. Maybe a PC with a really good Samsung monitor, and an aftermarket back-up drive, would really suit some people's needs best. I realize that's heresy for some of the Apple fanatics, but there it is.

That said, my problem now is with an acknowledged manufacturing defect not some random unpredictable event. When I called Apple and later went to my Apple dealer?I was told I was on my own. They knew they'd made a lemon. But I was off warranty and would have to eat it. How's that for a corporate value? As I've since found out, they made good for other complainers. I guess they've realized not owning up to their mistakes isn't exactly a good marketing decision?or they would have stuck with that one too. A proper recall doesn't just take care of just the squeakiest wheels?it takes care of all the affected customers.

Also, to the young man who suggested I should have put this machine on e-Bay, I suppose you're rich? Or maybe your parents buy all your stuff? My situation is somewhat different. When I save to buy a quality product, I expect it to LAST. If it doesn't, I walk. Apple first showed me the door and I didn't walk through it because it made economic sense to make do?and the boss came through. But when it comes to replacing the machine? That's a WAY different story. Don't just trust, folks. Shop around.

Happy Trails to All!