What About Us?

HEY, Apple! What about us? I know that technology is constantly changing (hell, it changed right after I bought my first Mac, a Performa 430) but can’t you work with us a little bit? What I’m talking about is all of us Mac owners who have a “Power PC” ready unit that suddenly isn’t. All of us ‘030 and ‘040 Mac owners that are happy (thank you very much) with our setups, but maybe we would just like to increase our RAM because prices are so low or change our hard drives to increase our storage capabilities. What about us?

What happened to all of the promises that you wouldn’t forget us? What’s happening with Copland? Are we going to be able to use it like you’ve been hinting lately or is it going to fall by the wayside, like a lot of your other promises and programs? Is System upgrade 7.5.5 or 7.5.x going to be the last thing you do for us? There aren’t just a couple of hundred of us, there are several million of us loyal Mac users. What about us?

Third party providers, what about us? Are you going to continue to provide us with software, hardware, non PowerPC stuff and for how long? Just because I don’t have a Power Mac doesn’t mean that I can’t spend money to improve, upgrade, accelerate or expand the capabilities of my Mac. My money is the same color green as the Power Mac users, what about us?

So we can’t afford to run out and buy the latest version of Photoshop (or maybe we don’t need it for what we need to do) accelerated for the PowerPC, but maybe we can buy a limited version for $100 versus the $600 for the regular version. There are several million of us, tell me that’s not enough of a profit. The same thing applies to all the other items sitting out there on the store shelves or in the mail order catalogs. Too bad Apple and one of the cloners can’t take a hint from the (gasp) PC side and make their hardware more accessible to normal everyday Mac users (read those of us on a tight budget) and allow us to upgrade/expand/accelerate more cheaply but still with Apple quality.

How many of you out there reading this wouldn’t like the chance to have access to a motherboard upgrade for as low a price as a PC owner? Imagine being able to upgrade your system yourself (if so desired) in a logical, less financially straining fashion. Why does a motherboard upgrade for my Mac cost me what the PC people are paying for a full system? Or have your Mac custom built without having to take out a second mortgage on your house. I know, some of the clone makers will allow you to pick your hard drive size and what additional storage medium (Zip drive, etc.) that you want put in, but at what cost?

Hey, Apple! You started off advertising that you were “the computer for the rest of us!” What about the rest of us? Can’t you figure out a way to work with the rest of us so that “we” can design a computer, maybe a mini-tower, that could be a base computer that would be able to be upgraded without having to buy a new Mac every other year? Go to your Apple reseller, tell them what you want, and they, on the spot, insert your requested hard drive (with the Mac OS of course), RAM, CD-ROM, additional drives, etc. into the mini-tower, (include additional software if requested by the buyer) turn it on and test it for you on the scene. If you decide that you want to upgrade, you go back to the store and purchase what you need and install it yourself (or have the certified tech do it) And it would still be a Mac! Imagine that a computer designed by the rest of us for us, inexpensive (No, Dr. Amelio, not a PC as you have stated), yet ready to be upgraded and still be a Mac that you can be proud of without costing us $3,000. Imagine advertising (you do know what advertising is, don’t you?) a Mac “for the rest of us”, that would permit new owners or present users to continue to enjoy the Mac experience at a readily available price. Imagine keeping your present Mac owners happy, expanding your market base because the Mac would be more flexible in design and usage, and probably increase your profit margin due to increased sales! Hey, Apple, imagine that!

Talk to the rest of us, Apple!