[NTLK] Mad at Apple

[Andrei Chichak]

I'm not trolling for flames here, nor am I not sympathetic to your rant, but -

How much money would you expect Apple to use to support a device that 1) didn't sell very well 2) was killed off 3) got panned by the public? Even if the hinge spring did puncture the cable, the device wouldn't catch fire, have steel bolts spring out to pierce your cheeks, or kill babies. In Apple's parlance, "it sounds like a third party opportunity". 

As for 10.4 not supporting modems ... uh, you use a modem? - sure, why not. Call Apple support and ask them for an update. If there is enough demand  for that update they will put it on "the list", if it gets high enough on the list they will fix it. If they can't/won't fix it, perhaps you could roll back your OS to one that does support modems. Perhaps it's a third party opportunity.

Perhaps you could update to 10.6 and see if that helps. If your computer doesn't work with 10.6, I don't think that Apple will help. 

Apple is in the business of making money. They make money by producing consumer electronics. Apple has a responsibility to their shareholder to maximize profit and value (according to US law). They appear to be doing this by making products that people want and by killing off products that are "old" and unpopular. In the past, they have orphaned the Lisa, 68K based Macs, the Apple II line, the PowerPC Macs, and many others. The computer buying population is willing to replace their computers periodically, so these radical changes in the product seem to be acceptable. The buyers are willing to declare devices "old" and undesirable while making new features into requirements. They are willing to pay for features that they do not even need, and are unwilling to pay for features that they don't think they need.

Microsoft incorporates a lot of backwards compatibility into the operating system, but they don't drive the hardware, the third party companies do. Windows carries around an incredible amount of code to give compatibility to companies like Autodesk to support a hack that they did in the mid '90s, and we all have to carry around that bloat. And yet "edit" doesn't work properly in XPs "cmd", and I don't think fixing it will sell any more copies of windows 7.

Can you get an update to your 3Com 14.4kbps modem for windows 95 to support USB over ethernet? UH, no. 3Com has moved on. How about support for an HP Scanjet 5300 under OSX Tiger? Um, no, that won't help HP sell a scanner that isn't produced anymore.

Products go obsolete, functionally stable, or reach end of life. You can't buy a Mostek 6502 for your Apple II, since Mostek doesn't exist anymore (but perhaps ST could make you one but it wouldn't be cheap). I can't get a bumper cover for my '99 VW Golf, they don't make them anymore, but I might be able to get one from an OEM or a junk yard.

You are asking for some pretty radical changes to the consumer economy and western society. I believe that huge changes would be necessary to get what you want. I agree with you, but it isn't going to happen.

The military has enough money to keep vacuum tubes and core memory in production, but if you want a free update to an obsolete piece of consumer electronics - it's time to move on. Sorry.

A