Re: [WinMac] Re: Film Bureau and Platforms

mark.maytum@pompy.com
Thu, 23 Sep 1999 10:59:47 -0400

Oh, I didn't know. You're a consultant, yes?

OK, I know that you feel let down by Apple and I have been in the past too.
I've been let down at times by *many* of my vendors. But I've never taken
it personally - these people just make tools. And I buy them, put them to
use running our company. When I enter into a vendor relationship, I treat
it as a marriage, not as a date. There are ups and downs. I'm pretty
careful when I recommend equipment to others to make sure I'm looking at
the big picture - and even then, I'm *still careful*. I rarely give advice
in lists. IMHO, you are taking your vendor relationship (such that it is)
with Apple personally and letting it cloud your judgement here. This poor
guy wants to serve 6 macs and 2 win computers for chrissake - this is
nearly a no brainer.

Reputation has been hurt? Can't get your billable hours because you gotta
go fix a vendor induced screw up? Suck it up man! There are plenty of
other ways you can hurt your reputation. Everyone on this list is a
potential customer of yours (and maybe a future potential employer of me).
Why, maybe I'm hurting mine right now continuing this thread - see the
irony?

With respect to Forrest Gump and because I'm sure you'll probably want to
have the last word: That's all I have to say about that right now.

Mark Maytum
Pompanoosuc Mills Corporation

                                                                                                   
                    "Daniel L. Schwartz"
                    <expresso@snip.net> To: "The Windows-MacOS cooperation list"
                    Sent by: <winmac@xerxes.frit.utexas.edu>
                    <winmac@xerxes.frit.u cc:
                    texas.edu> Subject: [WinMac] Re: Film Bureau and
                                                 Platforms
                                                                                                   
                    09/23/99 09:20 AM
                    Please respond to
                    "The Windows-MacOS
                    cooperation list"
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   

           Dear Brian:

           First off, I don't view the world through five different pairs
of
fruit-colored glasses: I'll lay it on the line because unlike many people
on this list, I make my living supporting MacOS-based and Windows NT-based
computers for customers who depend on their computers to earn a living.
Most of these people are not interested in - Or can't grasp - the
technical details... They just want the machines to work, so they depend on
me to come in at the first call to keep them running. In fact, some of them
don't even *know* they are having serious troubles.

           Think of your auto mechanic in this same light: There are some
of you on
this list who wouldn't want to tear down an antilock brake system or an
automatic transmission - Or wouldn't want to know. They choose to drive
their cars to get to work to make a living. I'm a fairly decent mechanic,
yet when I bought my Taurus SHO ten years ago, I opened up the hood, took
one look at the complex 24 valve 4 OHC Yamaha engine... And I promptly
bought a six year, 100,000 mile bumper-to-bumper warranty for $900. [BTW,
it paid off nicely: Before the warranty expired, my SHO had racked up over
$12,000 in covered warranty repairs!]

           Now, I'm *not* bashing my customers - Quite the contrary. In
fact: Most of
them are very talented artists and typographers. They use their computers
as a tool to make money, and if their tools break down they starve... And
here is where I step in. And my own reputation is "on the line" every time
I set foot in their studio or office... Or even answer their phone calls or
eMails... Or in the case of one network with 40 devices log into their LAN.

           WHY I NO LONGER LIKE APPLE - THE CORPORATION AND PRODUCTS:

           My reputation suffered immensely 3 years ago. I recommended
Power
Computing and UMax clones to my customers because they delivered a nice
"bang for the buck." Unfortunately, we all know what happened to the
clones. But what about driving Power Computing and APS into bankruptcy? And
what about the 400 employees in Austin who got axed at Motorola, along with
a $95 million corporate writeoff?

           And what about the declining quality of the MacOS itself,
becoming ever
more unstable with each successive release? MacOS 8.6 on the G4 is an
unmitigated disaster - I have to drive 50 miles to that customer to try to
stabilize their 6 day old machine... And this is AFTER I stripped out a lot
of extensions not needed for DTP, such as Internet access, QD3D, QuickTime,
yada yada yada... And this is a day wasted because I can't bill for it.

           Ziff-Davis Editor Jesse Berst summed it up succinctly when he
said Tuesday
<http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_3882.html> "Jesse's take:
'It's par for the course with Apple. Make a huge deal over an upcoming
product and work out production kinks as an afterthought.'" And, this goes
back to before Jobs: Can you say "PowerBook 5300?"

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