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Maybe it was a HARDWARE problem. Although the vacuum cleaner joke was pretty good!

Jan 02, 08 - 09:57 am Comment from: tmsruge

It's an old joke, even MDN has used it before... I'll forgive them, they are still hung over!

Micro$oft have made a vacuum cleaner. It is called a leaf blower, guaranteed to give your garden that autumn vista look.

Same old Microsoft bashing at MDN, but then again the self checkout lanes at the local supermarket running Windows hasn't worked for several months either.

I don't know wether to feel like I should bash Microsoft too, or just feel sorry for them.

My new MacBook Pro's optical drive simply won't function at all. Stick a disk in and nothing happens, no sucking of the disk either.

This will require a 300 mile drive just to fix it under AppleCare, meanwhile I'm out of a computer until it does.

The problem is technology, it's just too dam complicated and not reliable enough, too much work for the little gain it gives.

Apple is less headache than Wintel machines, but then again I can't get the hardware selection like I can with Windows, namely a non-glossy mid-range consumer box for my family who have old eyes and screen reflections cause eyestrain.

Screw them both for not listening to peoples needs I say.

A hardware problem! You're funny.

Oh, I've got one: Maybe it was evil spirits.

Jan 02, 08 - 10:08 am Comment from: MaLvado

I would love news reports to start naming the systems that fail.

You read so much about computer glitches but they never say what systems were running. Good to see this one specified.

To be fair, you also have to ask why they didn't use their backup computer. I would assume that they didn't have one. Even using OS X or Linux, something as time critical as this should always have a backup.

Jan 02, 08 - 10:16 am Comment from: Macromancer

"This will require a 300 mile drive just to fix it under AppleCare, meanwhile I'm out of a computer until it does."

Im calling bullsh!t.
You can get Applecare to send you a shipper box and you can send it directly to their repair depot.

Jan 02, 08 - 10:20 am Comment from: Mr. Reeee

The vacuum cleaner joke is all wrong!

MS should make vacuum cleaners so that there's an excuse for why the thing sucks.

Or something like that...

Jan 02, 08 - 10:22 am Comment from: PowerPhone

Microsoft: Starting the year off with a bang. Eventually.

Jan 02, 08 - 10:27 am Comment from: Jay-Z

@ Tired Mac User

Have them overnight you a box. They will repair it and overnight it back to you. Your computer will be fixed in 3-4 business days.

Microsoft will stop making anything within seven years... Yet, consumers need some time to switch...

Jan 02, 08 - 10:29 am Comment from: Big Al

Tired Mac User = Microsoft Astroturfer

Jan 02, 08 - 10:33 am Comment from: Think

@ Tired Mac User

The last time I had to help someone with a PowerBook problem, I called Apple support, they overnighted a box, it then overnighted to their support center, fixed it in one day and shipped it back out in one day.
Total time without PowerBook, 3 days.
That is an example of when things are running smoothly.

Jan 02, 08 - 10:33 am Comment from: Ampar

""This will require a 300 mile drive just to fix it under AppleCare, meanwhile I'm out of a computer until it does."

"Im calling bullsh!t.
You can get Applecare to send you a shipper box and you can send it directly to their repair depot."

Or there's someone/something else that's the true motivation for driving 300 miles. Remember Lisa Nowak?

Mr. Reese, you are missing the joke.

Everything that m$ makes doesn't work therefore we say it sucks.

If they made a vacuum cleaner it also would not work therefore it would NOT suck.

@Mr. Reee

The idea is that they would screw up the vacuum and it wouldn't work right. Thus, it literally wouldn't suck.

@Tired Mac User
The others are right. Get a mailer.

Jan 02, 08 - 10:42 am Comment from: Ampar

If MS made a vacuum cleaner, not only would it fail to suck but its air filter would constantly generate viruses as well.

Jan 02, 08 - 10:45 am Comment from: Ampar

Of course, this has never happened before. But I'll bet Bill Gates wishes he had been in charge:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMFYOzg_VWY


/sarcasm

Jan 02, 08 - 10:51 am Comment from: MacRaven

@ Tired Mac User:

In 20+ years of Macs I've never had a laptop that had a problem that Apple Care covered that I didn't immediately get a shipping box in the mail, and set it to Cupertino and got it back in less than a week with everything fixed free. And I'm clear on the other shore of the country.

I will tell you a little known fact of Apple, there are often Apple Repair shops closer to you, but Apple doesn't list them in places to go because they do not SELL Apple computers. (The shop told me that was the reason they were not on the list AppleCare gave me of places to go). We have a company here in town who fixes them free under AppleCare but they are never in the list if you call Apple and ask or get a recommendation for the nearest "fixerupper." That, in my opinion, is something that should change. If there is a local repair place. I want them to tell me there is.

If there is a university near you, ask them where they take them, there often isn't an in house repair at the school, but they know where one is because they use it.

As for the fireworks--Microsoft wanted credit for a "first" of some kind in 2008, and could only come up with the first screw up of the year.

Jan 02, 08 - 10:59 am Comment from: Sixvodkas

Another one for @Tired Mac User

I'm an AASP. Apple will ship you a box. That box includes a prepaid label for overnight shipping.
As a matter of fact, if you called Apple, Apple probably suggested that they send you a box, because it'll result in a faster repair.
Now... you may have disagreed with them... but if that's the case, and if that's what you did... you've went out of your way to make yourself miserable, so don't blame the manufacturer.

Jan 02, 08 - 11:09 am Comment from: ron

@TMU. Windows, namely a non-glossy mid-range consumer box for my family who have old eyes and screen reflections cause eyestrain.

How is it that I can see NO reflections on my glossy screen? That is, unless it's turned off. Seriously, I've tried to see the problems. I have a window(excuse the word) behind my 24'' iMac.

Jan 02, 08 - 11:26 am Comment from: Predrag

One more on the matter of the 300-mile drive:

In general, Apple will often do even better than shipping a pre-paid box for overnight computer shipment. Here's my experience.

Bought a refurb MacBook (Core Duo - previous generation). It had bad airport card/connection. I called Apple Support. We go through a few things on the phone; they diagnose flaky Airport and suggest me sending it back for repair/replacement. I tell them that the computer is my lively hood and I can't afford a day without it. The guy takes a minute, comes back, then suggests I order the same one online again; once it arrives, I can send the old one back using a pre-paid label they'd e-mail me. I say there aren't any more Core Duo MacBooks online; instead, only Core2Duo ($1,150 vs. $900). He takes another minute, comes back and says: order the Core2Duo, we'll reduce its price to $900. My newly refurbished, latest-generation MacBook arrives in two days; I move my data from my 2-week old CoreDuo MB and send it back to Apple at their expense.

Bottom line: due to a deffective Airport, I now have the (then) latest model MacBook with Core2Duo chip and 120GB HD (as opposed to original 80GB), without a single minute of interruption, all for $900.

Apple is famous for bending over backwards when trying to satisfy their customers. You can always drive 300 miles to the nearest Apple Genius Bar if you wish, but you never have to. And they will never leave you without a computer if you ask nicely.

Jan 02, 08 - 11:26 am Comment from: Ampar

Here's a link to the video of it happening:
http://www.king5.com/video/index.html?nvid=204972

The fireworks stop right as the Star Wars theme starts to play.

Darth Ballmer?

Jan 02, 08 - 11:33 am Comment from: Ampar

I'll bet the real problem was a security screening and a Vista prompt:

Continue Fireworks.exe?
Cancel or Allow?
Cancel or Allow?
Cancel or Allow?
Cancel or Allow?
Cancel or Allow?

Microsoft

Your fireworks. Our fizzle.

Jan 02, 08 - 11:52 am Comment from: Petey

rofl!

Microsoft cant even get a bang done right.

Jesus - to think that 90% of the world's companies depend on Microsoft fills me with dread.

Their software is a mess, the company is a mess... god help any business relying on their software!

They should have used XP.

Jan 02, 08 - 11:58 am Comment from: macaholic

The Gang that couldn't Shoot Straight

Jan 02, 08 - 12:19 pm Comment from: ChrissyOne

I'm glad I stayed in and didn't bother going to town to see it. We watched Baraka and The House of Yes with friends instead. (Clockwork Orange was vetoed)
Good times and no Microsoft.

Jan 02, 08 - 12:31 pm Comment from: Ampar

I suppose a frickin' photo montage of a Democratic candidate's campaign could be titled, "Baraka Obama".

Jan 02, 08 - 12:32 pm Comment from: MacRaven

@ Petey

Wanna hear something even more frightening? The FBI staff uses PC's!! I know a worker there. Husband suggested she get a Mac laptop when her PC died, and she refused saying everyone there uses PC's.

FBI, Government, Military (thought that is changing), banking industry, ALL PC based. And we wonder why things are screwed up and stolen. DUH!

It's an odd comfort to know my lame ass e-mail to friends on my Mac is more more hack proof than government secrets on PC's.

When I used to travel a lot, I'd see the airline flight schedule monitors displaying a BSOD quite often. Pretty scary that people out there use MS for mission critical applications.

Jan 02, 08 - 01:59 pm Comment from: dogfriend

Just for fun, or if you believe this might be an isolated incident:

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=BSOD&w=all&s=int

Jan 02, 08 - 02:29 pm Comment from: cuz i'm the taxman

I watched it on the toob. The talking heads were dumbfounded by the fiasco because they all of a sudden had nothing to blab about. This town thinks the sun rises from Msoft's rectum. The end of the year business page in the Seattle Times was crowing about how Msoft's stock price had soared to $35/share or somesuch. Pathetic.

"Even using OS X or Linux, something as time critical as this should always have a backup."

Yup. Remember, even Steve Jobs has a backup Mac on stage with him for keynote demos, that he can flip over to with a KVM switch, if something like this happens.

Jan 02, 08 - 04:48 pm Comment from: GranitW

lol it was so pathetic, they tried rebooting twice and it still crashed.

Tired Mac User,

Everyone who mentioned that AppleCare will send you a shipping box at no charge to you, except the amount of time it'll take to speak to an AppleCare rep are right.

Stop your childish bitching, call AppleCare, and have them take care of it.

If you want a reason to drive 300 miles to an Apple Store, then just go to the Apple Store.

mw "issue" as in you have a few.

I don't know wether to feel like I should bash Microsoft too, or just feel sorry for them.

Bash them. They deserve every last bit of misery they can inflict upon themselves.

On topic, I am sorry to say that windows was not to blame. The firing computer is a proprietary system that is designed only for pyrotechnics, and is based on some version of Dos (not MS Dos). More than likely there was a short in the cable network that causes the system to stop firing. The short has to be isolated and then removed from the system in order to continue with the show. The only windows component to the system is the show design software. I just use VM Fusion to run it on my Macbook instead of a windows machine. I would love to blame MS for the problem with the show, but just isn't the case.