IP: Dan Gillmor:`Get a Mac' advice no easy answer

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Dan Gillmor:`Get a Mac' advice no easy answer

By Dan Gillmor
Mercury News Technology Columnist

A column earlier this week, in which I described the trials and 
tribulations of today's personal technology, brought the kind of responses 
that I expected. People in the software industry said I should understand 
that bugs are part of the system. People outside the tech business screamed 
their frustration with the gear they can't understand or keep running reliably.

Several folks, noting my IBM ThinkPad problems, gave the typical advice in 
such situations: Get a Mac. Well, I have a Mac -- a PowerBook G4 Titanium 
model. It's great. But this road warrior isn't ready to replace his 
ThinkPad yet.

The first problem is being able to use my data. I haven't found a way to 
solve this one.

My company uses Microsoft Exchange for its e-mail and calendaring and 
contacts, which means that I'm pretty much forced to use Outlook, the 
software that connects to Exchange. There's a Mac OS 9 version of Outlook, 
but my company's Virtual Private Network (VPN), which gives me access 
inside the firewall from outside, doesn't run with OS 9. Besides, I'm 
running Mac OS X. There's OS X VPN software, but OS 9 applications running 
in OS X's ``Classic'' mode won't run under that VPN.

I can get into the Exchange server using another connection protocol called 
LDAP, using different e-mail software on the Mac. Microsoft's Entourage is 
excellent, but its calendar and contacts won't work with Exchange or even 
import data from Outlook. Think about this. Of course, Microsoft won't make 
it easy to export from its proprietary file formats to other companies' 
products. But it won't even let you export to its own software -- 
apparently, that is, if those other products are running on a non-Windows 
platform.

I'm getting strong hints from Microsoft that an OS X version of Outlook is 
on the way. Good idea, but I'd be happiest if Entourage worked seamlessly 
with Exchange.

I haven't found a way to get my contacts and/or calendar into other 
software, either. So I am stuck on the data front. (If you have an answer 
to this, let me know and I'll publish it.)

The other hassle is Apple's lame warranty. The ThinkPad came with a 
three-year warranty that is good all over the world. Apple has a one-year 
hardware warranty but charges for phone support and help with software 
problems after just 90 days. Is there any computer problem that isn't a 
software issue these days?

OK, I thought, I'll just buy the extended warranty, good for three years 
for hardware, software and phone support. It's about $350, which is 
expensive but pretty much a necessity if you rely on computers to the 
extent I do. This is how to charge higher prices without seeming to charge 
higher prices.

Aha, there's another catch. Apple's extended warranty is good only inside 
the United States after the first year. If I want coverage outside the 
country, I have to buy a completely new extended warranty for every country 
where I want coverage. Do you think it's likely I'll take the Titanium on 
any trip outside the United States after the year is up?

I asked Apple about this and got the usual blah-blah you get from companies 
that can't explain why they offer significantly poorer service and/or 
products than another company in the same business. There's no good excuse, 
and Apple surely knows it. The product manager I talked with suggested that 
Apple would ``take care of'' users who had problems in another country 
after a year was up. That promise is worth the paper it's written on.

Get a Mac? Got one. But even assuming I don't have the kind of trouble I 
have with Windows computers, it's not the ultimate answer.

Dan Gillmor's column appears each Sunday, Wednesday and Saturday. Visit 
Dan's online column, eJournal (http://www .siliconvalley.com/ mld/ 
siliconvalley/business/columnists/ dan_gillmor/ ejournal/). E-mail 
<mailto:dgillmor () sjmercury com>dgillmor () sjmercury com; phone (408) 
920-5016; fax (408) 920-5917.




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