I used to work for Apple, as an Apple Genius in a retail store; I know the ins and outs of AppleCare very well. I'm admittedly weaker on international AppleCare, however.
Standard warranty, both desktops and laptops, is 90 days phone support and 1 year parts and labor. You may purchase AppleCare, for a varying price dep. on the model, anytime during that first year. Doing so reactivates the phone support (which otherwise expired at the 90 day mark) and continues the hardware+labor to 3 years from the purchase date. Purchasing AppleCare on year+1 day after the purchase of the unit is likely to do you no good; year+1 month almost certainly no good.
AppleCare travels with the unit, not the owner, so it persists through a resale. It expires 3 years from date of original purchase, naturally.
If out of warranty, desktops can be very expensive to repair, depending on the failed part. MLBs + processors are very expensive ($800-$1K); HDs are usually cheaper to replace yourself. Optical drives depend. However: iBooks and PowerBooks, out of warranty, are treated differently. All non-abuse repairs to iBooks cost $280, flat rate. All non-abuse repairs to PowerBooks cost $310, flat rate. That includes any and all parts; MLB, optical drive, HD, etc. Even LCDs--for instance, the horizontal bright line, dim backlights, etc. Now, abuse, or at least determination of abuse by an Apple agent, will change that amount very drastically--Powerbook LCDs are worth closer to $1300, abuse (either in or out of warranty, actually). The abuse qualification naturally gave me lots of argument--but I know it when I see it. A cracked LCD always is. A failed HD wouldn't qualify. A line across an LCD wouldn't qualify, and funky MLB stuff wouldn't usually qualify (as abuse). A drop or a liquid spill is abuse by definition.
Powerbook and iBook owners should be given this same price whenever talking to an Apple employee, be it over the phone or in person at an Apple store. Resellers are free to mark up those costs, and many do. However, for "bright horizontal line" guy in a previous post: either he talked to a misinformed Apple employee, and should talk to another one, or, more likely, talked to a misinformed or overcharging VAR.
As I said, international AppleCare has a number of wrinkles which I never learned very well. And I understood that selling AppleCare into FL was indeed illegal.
I'm afraid that this won't answer the original question: is AppleCare worth it? For that, one would need to know fail rates, which I don't think anyone knows, or has stated publicly. I sure never knew it, and no one that I worked with ever knew it. But those costs of repair should give you a good idea.
If it was out of warranty, and the owner wanted to have those processors replaced, I have no doubt that would have been the cost. I worked for Apple, once, and charged those kinds of prices for that kind of repair (exact $s depend on exact model, but yeah, I can believe $800).
I'm not going to argue if that was Apple's cost of parts, or if the processors are worth that much. But that would have been the price for an out-of-warranty repair to the owner.
I have a post in this thread about the different costs between laptops and desktops, though, as Apple does a funny price thing. Read it, if you care.
fwiw, yes, Virginia, AppleCare travels with the PowerBook, not the owner. So the parent poster is correct: a new purchaser would acquire the remaining benefit of the AppleCare. A call to Apple is all that it takes to change the registration, if you care to change the names on the paperwork, also.
When I worked at Apple, I understood there to be laws that prevented all extended warranties to be sold to Florida residents. I would suppose this also applied to Circuit City; it may be that either a) that's not true; b) it's a new law and they haven't gotten the message yet (or you haven't shopped there since the law was made); or c) Circuit City knows and doesn't care, until they get taken to court.
You can get around it, by buying it as a business or registering the computer out of state. However, if any AppleCare agent learns that the computer is now in FL, they will try to refund your money and cancel your AppleCare.
I would suggest that Apple simply give all purchases in FL a three-year warranty and include AppleCare in the purchase price by default, but maybe there're reasons they don't.
I don't recall blaming the Republicans for the Ozone hole depletion. I think everybody worked together to help reduce this problem.
However, I think you have mistaken O3 depletion for global warming; and yes, I do blame the Republicans for failing to take corrective action on that. If it appears that we have minimized our warming threat, I'll give credit where credit is due. That is unlikely to be to the GOP, however, as they fail to recognize that it's a problem, yet.
I would have bothered to find links to support my position if you hadn't of posted as an AC, and weren't already at -1. As it is, I wasted enough of my employer's time. That I blame myself for.
since phone calls still don't need to be recorded.
Ah, I see. I assumed that they were also being recorded, and maybe transcribed by an auto-thingy. The analog hole, again. I'm curious--are there plans to require logged phone calls then, too? This seems a rather obvious omission.
What we REALLY need is a platform agnostic networking solution that works well, is fast, is reliable and works the same everywhere.
Sure. But the problem is that Gates knows that too, so every time we get close he'll flip a bit and break it all, so we'll be back to 70% functionality. Either he's forced to play fair by law, which we already tried and failed to accomplish, or he's forced to play fair by market demand. Since he owns the market, it's (obviously) a chicken-egg issue, which Gates well knows.
I don't know what the solution is. Massive acceptance by geeks, I guess; maybe from a killer app that's available only on Linux (or Mac OS X). But we'll have to be pretty damned crafty to find a killer app that his $40 Billions can't see first, or co-opt later.
Currently, fwiw, I have some faith in the Anglophobia across the pond--think France (or China) is keen to depend on software that they can't audit for security? One backdoor and their State Secrets are 0wn3d by the NSA. So maybe we'll find in 10 years that enough of the rest of the world uses Linux for security, and global telco will have become so interdependant, that M$ will have to play fair. But that's a long time off, brother.
I spent much of my Uni years on cajun-nights. But the last time I logged in was a few years ago, and I don't know how many MU*s are still around at all, any more. But try "cajun nights mush" google to see what you get.
I was never huge into these games. But, it sure influenced a whole genre of RPG, impacted the themes of a whole lot of MUSHes, and was certainly the chief theme of LARPs, if not the originator of the style.
So much for being immortal. Now I feel really old--I've seen a class of gaming come and go.
Imagine the bullshit that could've been avoided if this was out when grunge was getting big. Check that: imagine the bullshit that will be avoided for the next fan inspired music revolution that happens. Hopefully Apple lets more in than not--and the way I read all the press, it sounded like anything with any one of the "invited" labels was in, but maybe I was being too optimistic.
btw--I don't really care what you think about "the grunge music scene". That ain't the point.
However, they will miss out on the promotion that the dollars of a big label can provide--and, like it or not, that's how music gets heard. You'll still have the indies with their websites and live venues; presumably both will direct you to their stuff on the iTunes Music Store, cool. But you're not likely to hear them on the radio, nor are you going to see any print ads. Probably not interviews, either.
So you'll still have to know where to look on the iTMS, or you'll have to browse really deeply.
I think this is a great opportunity--don't get me wrong. But Britney isn't going anywhere.
Apple's cut is closer to 20-30%. It's not clear to me if CD Baby will take 9% of the retail price, or 9% of the cost to them; not a bad deal either way.
As to Apple only allowing selected bands: I haven't gotten that impression from anything that I have read. Indies might be hard to find in the store, as they won't get promoted, but I think that they'll be there come one come all. It's just that the labels are invite only.
just take the switch from netscape's "Alt-C" for copy to Moz's "Ctrl-C" for copy, and you'll have your proof of what I'm saying.
How does this have anything to do with consistent metaphor in the operating system/GUI? That is clearly an application defined behavior.
Wrong! While this function is controlled by those applications, no doubt, the question is: what should define these behaviors: individual applications, or the OS? Is it better to have similar functions defined differently by different applications, or to have similiar functions useable the same way across applications?
While functions that are unique to the application are, indeed, best defined by that application, why should I have to learn a new set of keystrokes for every different application that I install? What's the advantage to that? How many users do you know that want to read a manual for every application that they install? Only if they are attempting to access higher-level functions are they willing to put up with it--and they wouldn't define something that they were able to do in another application as a higher level function.
Now, you might decry the fact that end-users don't read manuals. Fact is, they won't: and linux developers can either ignore that and be contented with their current penetration on the desktop, or accept it and move towards adoption. Many will feel that the former is preferable; that's the desginer's prerogative, but I don't want to be stuck in a Windows world forever, so I hope more think otherwise.
Look at it like this: do you use two different shells interchangeably, or do you prefer to stick with one? Why is that?
Now having "generic" white box 970's designed to run Linux is a different story.
Hmm...or IBM branded, consumer or corp grade desktops, with 970s, running Red Hat, Yellow Dog Linux, or IBMnix? I think the big advantages would be IBM QA and warranty on the hardware, and a linux optimized for the 970. Commodity parts, no M$ tax, the processor at cost since it's being sold by the fabber=cheap cheap and powerful. Say, $4-500 for a very competent office/workstation machine.
I can see these on a lot of desktops moving from Windows to Linux...I wonder if IBM knows any?
Does anybody who knows, know if they will be using Yellow Dog Linux as the distro for these machines, or will they roll their own? I presume IBM, when they say linux-on-intel, mean "Red Hat", and I've heard that YDL is pretty much RH but on PPC. So does it stand to reason that that'll be their choice, or are they going to reinvent the wheel?
I won't dispute the figures--I believe I recall a similar statement during the Campaign Finance debate; the Democrat's dirty secret was that they stood more to lose from it. IIRC. However, I have contributed $100 to the Democrats--and I sure as hell wouldn't want my name posted on a public site, just as I don't want any other commercial organization to make my spending habits with them public. Every ideologue with a grudge--both on the Right and on the Left--now have a list of individuals to pursue that grudge with.
Could be as innocuous as looking for donations; could be as extreme as blacklisting me or aggression directed towards me. I sure don't want potential employers, or loan officers, or police officers checking such a list, either pro or con.
Now you mention it, I think I'll run all my neighbors through www.georgebush.com. I'll know whose lawn doesn't get scooped when I walk my dog. [Just kidding. But you see the point?]
With battle lines drawn, Microsoft turned to a freshly hired recruit, Jurgen Gallman, steeped in Linux. Until last November, Gallman had been IBM's top Linux executive in Germany.
Nobody else (at +5) has commented on it, but this guy must sure feel like a tool...
In case the editors are reading this, I concur. This was one of the worst "Ask Slashdot's" in recent memory. I mean, what's next? "I lost my dog. Does anyone on/. know where he is?"
FWIW, two Mac OS X browsers do this: Camino (was Chimera) and Safari, Apple's own browser. Enabling a menu item allows all entered text to be spellchecked in either browser; mis-spelled words in this post were underlined for me in red by Safari.
Why didn't you just say: I prefer to use vi, but my employer insists I use emacs? What should I do?
Well, let me get in early on in the flamefest by suggesting: code for the Mac. We'll love to have you. If you can't find the tool for the job, maybe you need to change the job to use the tool you prefer?
Or, code in Java. Which I know nothing about, but understand that it codes well on the Mac, yet the results can either be used on Mac or PC, natch.
Slashdot Mirror
I used to work for Apple, as an Apple Genius in a retail store; I know the ins and outs of AppleCare very well. I'm admittedly weaker on international AppleCare, however.
Standard warranty, both desktops and laptops, is 90 days phone support and 1 year parts and labor. You may purchase AppleCare, for a varying price dep. on the model, anytime during that first year. Doing so reactivates the phone support (which otherwise expired at the 90 day mark) and continues the hardware+labor to 3 years from the purchase date. Purchasing AppleCare on year+1 day after the purchase of the unit is likely to do you no good; year+1 month almost certainly no good.
AppleCare travels with the unit, not the owner, so it persists through a resale. It expires 3 years from date of original purchase, naturally.
If out of warranty, desktops can be very expensive to repair, depending on the failed part. MLBs + processors are very expensive ($800-$1K); HDs are usually cheaper to replace yourself. Optical drives depend. However: iBooks and PowerBooks, out of warranty, are treated differently. All non-abuse repairs to iBooks cost $280, flat rate. All non-abuse repairs to PowerBooks cost $310, flat rate. That includes any and all parts; MLB, optical drive, HD, etc. Even LCDs--for instance, the horizontal bright line, dim backlights, etc. Now, abuse, or at least determination of abuse by an Apple agent, will change that amount very drastically--Powerbook LCDs are worth closer to $1300, abuse (either in or out of warranty, actually). The abuse qualification naturally gave me lots of argument--but I know it when I see it. A cracked LCD always is. A failed HD wouldn't qualify. A line across an LCD wouldn't qualify, and funky MLB stuff wouldn't usually qualify (as abuse). A drop or a liquid spill is abuse by definition.
Powerbook and iBook owners should be given this same price whenever talking to an Apple employee, be it over the phone or in person at an Apple store. Resellers are free to mark up those costs, and many do. However, for "bright horizontal line" guy in a previous post: either he talked to a misinformed Apple employee, and should talk to another one, or, more likely, talked to a misinformed or overcharging VAR.
As I said, international AppleCare has a number of wrinkles which I never learned very well. And I understood that selling AppleCare into FL was indeed illegal.
I'm afraid that this won't answer the original question: is AppleCare worth it? For that, one would need to know fail rates, which I don't think anyone knows, or has stated publicly. I sure never knew it, and no one that I worked with ever knew it. But those costs of repair should give you a good idea.
If it was out of warranty, and the owner wanted to have those processors replaced, I have no doubt that would have been the cost. I worked for Apple, once, and charged those kinds of prices for that kind of repair (exact $s depend on exact model, but yeah, I can believe $800).
I'm not going to argue if that was Apple's cost of parts, or if the processors are worth that much. But that would have been the price for an out-of-warranty repair to the owner.
I have a post in this thread about the different costs between laptops and desktops, though, as Apple does a funny price thing. Read it, if you care.
fwiw, yes, Virginia, AppleCare travels with the PowerBook, not the owner. So the parent poster is correct: a new purchaser would acquire the remaining benefit of the AppleCare. A call to Apple is all that it takes to change the registration, if you care to change the names on the paperwork, also.
When I worked at Apple, I understood there to be laws that prevented all extended warranties to be sold to Florida residents. I would suppose this also applied to Circuit City; it may be that either a) that's not true; b) it's a new law and they haven't gotten the message yet (or you haven't shopped there since the law was made); or c) Circuit City knows and doesn't care, until they get taken to court.
You can get around it, by buying it as a business or registering the computer out of state. However, if any AppleCare agent learns that the computer is now in FL, they will try to refund your money and cancel your AppleCare.
I would suggest that Apple simply give all purchases in FL a three-year warranty and include AppleCare in the purchase price by default, but maybe there're reasons they don't.
I don't recall blaming the Republicans for the Ozone hole depletion. I think everybody worked together to help reduce this problem.
However, I think you have mistaken O3 depletion for global warming; and yes, I do blame the Republicans for failing to take corrective action on that. If it appears that we have minimized our warming threat, I'll give credit where credit is due. That is unlikely to be to the GOP, however, as they fail to recognize that it's a problem, yet.
I would have bothered to find links to support my position if you hadn't of posted as an AC, and weren't already at -1. As it is, I wasted enough of my employer's time. That I blame myself for.
since phone calls still don't need to be recorded.
Ah, I see. I assumed that they were also being recorded, and maybe transcribed by an auto-thingy. The analog hole, again. I'm curious--are there plans to require logged phone calls then, too? This seems a rather obvious omission.
Man, where do you work? My users--if the app isn't in the dock, it may as well not exist. But yours are installing their own http redirectors?
Doesn't MSN provide for logging? Even iChat does, so I'm kinda surprised that it's not there for MSN.
Or is it that logging is an option, without an easy way to force it and set it [true] by default?
What we REALLY need is a platform agnostic networking solution that works well, is fast, is reliable and works the same everywhere.
Sure. But the problem is that Gates knows that too, so every time we get close he'll flip a bit and break it all, so we'll be back to 70% functionality. Either he's forced to play fair by law, which we already tried and failed to accomplish, or he's forced to play fair by market demand. Since he owns the market, it's (obviously) a chicken-egg issue, which Gates well knows.
I don't know what the solution is. Massive acceptance by geeks, I guess; maybe from a killer app that's available only on Linux (or Mac OS X). But we'll have to be pretty damned crafty to find a killer app that his $40 Billions can't see first, or co-opt later.
Currently, fwiw, I have some faith in the Anglophobia across the pond--think France (or China) is keen to depend on software that they can't audit for security? One backdoor and their State Secrets are 0wn3d by the NSA. So maybe we'll find in 10 years that enough of the rest of the world uses Linux for security, and global telco will have become so interdependant, that M$ will have to play fair. But that's a long time off, brother.
Let me be the first of many to say: Jesus God, would you get a spelling checker?
I spent much of my Uni years on cajun-nights. But the last time I logged in was a few years ago, and I don't know how many MU*s are still around at all, any more. But try "cajun nights mush" google to see what you get.
I was never huge into these games. But, it sure influenced a whole genre of RPG, impacted the themes of a whole lot of MUSHes, and was certainly the chief theme of LARPs, if not the originator of the style.
So much for being immortal. Now I feel really old--I've seen a class of gaming come and go.
Imagine the bullshit that could've been avoided if this was out when grunge was getting big. Check that: imagine the bullshit that will be avoided for the next fan inspired music revolution that happens. Hopefully Apple lets more in than not--and the way I read all the press, it sounded like anything with any one of the "invited" labels was in, but maybe I was being too optimistic.
btw--I don't really care what you think about "the grunge music scene". That ain't the point.
However, they will miss out on the promotion that the dollars of a big label can provide--and, like it or not, that's how music gets heard. You'll still have the indies with their websites and live venues; presumably both will direct you to their stuff on the iTunes Music Store, cool. But you're not likely to hear them on the radio, nor are you going to see any print ads. Probably not interviews, either.
So you'll still have to know where to look on the iTMS, or you'll have to browse really deeply.
I think this is a great opportunity--don't get me wrong. But Britney isn't going anywhere.
Apple's cut is closer to 20-30%. It's not clear to me if CD Baby will take 9% of the retail price, or 9% of the cost to them; not a bad deal either way.
As to Apple only allowing selected bands: I haven't gotten that impression from anything that I have read. Indies might be hard to find in the store, as they won't get promoted, but I think that they'll be there come one come all. It's just that the labels are invite only.
How does this have anything to do with consistent metaphor in the operating system/GUI? That is clearly an application defined behavior.
Wrong! While this function is controlled by those applications, no doubt, the question is: what should define these behaviors: individual applications, or the OS? Is it better to have similar functions defined differently by different applications, or to have similiar functions useable the same way across applications?
While functions that are unique to the application are, indeed, best defined by that application, why should I have to learn a new set of keystrokes for every different application that I install? What's the advantage to that? How many users do you know that want to read a manual for every application that they install? Only if they are attempting to access higher-level functions are they willing to put up with it--and they wouldn't define something that they were able to do in another application as a higher level function.
Now, you might decry the fact that end-users don't read manuals. Fact is, they won't: and linux developers can either ignore that and be contented with their current penetration on the desktop, or accept it and move towards adoption. Many will feel that the former is preferable; that's the desginer's prerogative, but I don't want to be stuck in a Windows world forever, so I hope more think otherwise.
Look at it like this: do you use two different shells interchangeably, or do you prefer to stick with one? Why is that?
Now having "generic" white box 970's designed to run Linux is a different story.
Hmm...or IBM branded, consumer or corp grade desktops, with 970s, running Red Hat, Yellow Dog Linux, or IBMnix? I think the big advantages would be IBM QA and warranty on the hardware, and a linux optimized for the 970. Commodity parts, no M$ tax, the processor at cost since it's being sold by the fabber=cheap cheap and powerful. Say, $4-500 for a very competent office/workstation machine.
I can see these on a lot of desktops moving from Windows to Linux...I wonder if IBM knows any?
Does anybody who knows, know if they will be using Yellow Dog Linux as the distro for these machines, or will they roll their own? I presume IBM, when they say linux-on-intel, mean "Red Hat", and I've heard that YDL is pretty much RH but on PPC. So does it stand to reason that that'll be their choice, or are they going to reinvent the wheel?
Sure would be big boon to YDL if true, methinks.
This is all very ironic, because, of course, the real word for email is "elmay." Fnord.
I won't dispute the figures--I believe I recall a similar statement during the Campaign Finance debate; the Democrat's dirty secret was that they stood more to lose from it. IIRC. However, I have contributed $100 to the Democrats--and I sure as hell wouldn't want my name posted on a public site, just as I don't want any other commercial organization to make my spending habits with them public. Every ideologue with a grudge--both on the Right and on the Left--now have a list of individuals to pursue that grudge with.
Could be as innocuous as looking for donations; could be as extreme as blacklisting me or aggression directed towards me. I sure don't want potential employers, or loan officers, or police officers checking such a list, either pro or con.
Now you mention it, I think I'll run all my neighbors through www.georgebush.com. I'll know whose lawn doesn't get scooped when I walk my dog. [Just kidding. But you see the point?]
MacSoft is porting Halo to the Mac, with an expected FA03 release. More info from InsideMacGames.
From the article:
With battle lines drawn, Microsoft turned to a freshly hired recruit, Jurgen Gallman, steeped in Linux. Until last November, Gallman had been IBM's top Linux executive in Germany.
Nobody else (at +5) has commented on it, but this guy must sure feel like a tool...
In case the editors are reading this, I concur. This was one of the worst "Ask Slashdot's" in recent memory. I mean, what's next? "I lost my dog. Does anyone on
FWIW, two Mac OS X browsers do this: Camino (was Chimera) and Safari, Apple's own browser. Enabling a menu item allows all entered text to be spellchecked in either browser; mis-spelled words in this post were underlined for me in red by Safari.
So there you go.
Why didn't you just say: I prefer to use vi, but my employer insists I use emacs? What should I do?
Well, let me get in early on in the flamefest by suggesting: code for the Mac. We'll love to have you. If you can't find the tool for the job, maybe you need to change the job to use the tool you prefer?
Or, code in Java. Which I know nothing about, but understand that it codes well on the Mac, yet the results can either be used on Mac or PC, natch.