Blast from the Past II

 

Tech Support TalesEric Hausmann created Tech Support Tales. Released as a text document (with reprints showing up in MacSense) Rather than write anything, Eric left it to his readers to send in the funniest Tech Support Tales they had, and boy, were there some good ones! Here are some examples:

(I am the Service Manager for an Apple VAR here in Canada) Anyway, one of our clients ordered an Quadra 840AV, but they did not want the internal CD which comes standard in that box. No problem, I took the CD out before I delivered it to the customer. However I did not have the blank bezel with which to cover the opening. I set the system up for them, gave them a quick lesson on its ins and outs, and told them I would be back in a couple of days to replace the bezel.

I returned two days later, opened up the case of the 840 to install the new bezel, and found about a dozen slips of post-it note papers. Upon asking the operator about it I was told that she had put them in there because she thought that the original CD bezel, with its long slim opening, looked like one of those trash recepticles they have on the ATM machines. It was all that I could do not to laugh.

  • Exasperated caller said she couldn’t get her new computer to turn on.
    Customer: “I’ve pushed and pushed on this foot pedal and nothing happens.”
    Tech: “Foot pedal?”
    Customer: “Yes, this little white foot pedal with the on switch.”
    – The foot pedal turned out to be the mouse.
  • A user came into a service bureau with a file on a 5.25 inch disk. The proprietor apologized and explained that the user would have to get the job transferred to a 3.5 inch disk first. The user asked, “Couldn’t we just get a scissor and trim it?”
  • A customer complied with a tech’s request to send in a copy of a defective diskette. A few days later, the tech received a letter from the customer along with a Xerox copy of the floppy.Great stuff, no? I wish Tech Support Tales were still around today…

     

    OozeMatt Patterson’s Ooze is actually still around!(http://www.ooze.com) While not for kids, Ooze is a funny off-the-wall ezine that will offend many people. While I don’t enjoy everything (Ronald McDonald wielding a bloody ax and a dead cow at his feet is simply not my cup of tea) Ooze was created on a Mac, so it automatically gets my respect from that aspect. 🙂

     

    DT&GFred Showker’s DT&G, which stood for Design, Type and Graphics, attempted to help people get the most out of their computers, at least for those who were doing DT&G work. And they succeeded to a large degree. Unlike many other digital ezines, DT&G cost $49.99 a year. A little steep for a magazine which advertised itself as a design expert book, but yet who had really bad graphics and a horrible layout. Nevertheless, DT&G had some real pearls of wisdom supplied by its writers, and that made up for it. Is DT&G still around today? No idea…

     

    My Mac MagazineOkay, this is my turn. Hey, I wrote the preceding pages of the History of the Macintosh Digital Press, I can write about the magazine I created in it 🙂

    My Mac was created back in the spring on 1995, and the first issue was released in August of that year. Back then, all this magazine was meant to do was convey my thoughts on some shareware reviews, a few tips for Mac users, and the like. I uploaded it on both America Online and eWorld, and the rest, as they say, is history.

    Looking back, I can see I took my inspiration from a variety of other publications, such as MacUser, Macworld, and MacSense. What I really wanted to do was become a writer and have my words appear in one of those magazines. But I felt I needed to hone my writing skills first, as our editor Russ can attest to. 🙂 However, as time went on, and My Mac became more and more popular (and both MacUser and MacSense went away) I found myself right here, trying to make My Mac the very best it can be.

    What makes My Mac such a good magazine today, and why were have come this far in the first place, is because of our staff. Russ Walkowich has become much more than just an Editor, he has become My Mac. Adam, our webmaster, has taken My Mac to the next level online for the past few years with a talent and dedication I find inspiring. Without these people, and all the wonderful writers and artists, My Mac would have long ago been canceled.

     

    Today, Apple Computer is very successful. Apple is selling millions of iMacs, PowerBooks, and Blue and White tower Macs. Back when most of the preceding magazines were being published, Apple and the Mac were dying. No one, and I mean no one, thought Apple would ever return to profitability or that the Mac would be a viable computer platform by the year 2000. What kept Apple alive was us, the users, despite the bumbling incompetence of past CEO’s and stupid business decisions. (A problem rectified by the creator of Apple himself, Steve Jobs, and his love for the Mac and his vision of what Apple should and could be again)

    Before Steve returned, however, there were the users and fanatics and dedicated talented people who kept the Mac alive. People like Stan Flack of MacCentralJoe Ryan of ApplelinksShawn King of The Mac Radio ShowAdam C. Engst of TidBitsChris McVeigh of MacSense, Mac Home Journal, and Inside Mac GamesDavid Pogue of MacworldAndy Ihnatko of MacUser, Macworld, New Media, and MacCentralMike Dixon of Mac Gamers LedgeRic Ford of MacInTouchRyan Meader of MacOSRumorsDan Knight of Low End MacJohn Farr of ApplelinksJack Miller of As the Apple TurnsEric D. Belsley of The Mac Resource PageDavid K. Every of MackidoAdam Karneboge of My Mac MagazineJason Pierce of MacTimesGuy Kawasaki of Macworld and EvangeListAndrew Gore of MacworldLon Poole of MacworldMac The Knife of MacWeekJason D. O’Grady of O’Grady’s Power Page and No BeigeP. Pearson of MacSurferDoug Landry of The Power Book ZoneRuss Walkowich of My Mac Magazine and hundreds of others.

    It was these people who kept the reality of the Macintosh alive, the belief that Apple and the Mac was not only the best computing platform available, but went out of their way to keep the faithful in the fold, and bring in new Mac users. It was their passion that made possible for Apple to still be there, waiting for someone like Steve Jobs to rescue it.

    So when you read about the history of the Macintosh Digital Press, know you are reading a history of the Mac you are using. Thank these people for the new iMac’s everyone loves, and for the soon to be released P1 consumer Portable and the new slim PowerBooks. Because if these people had not been out there, doing what they were doing, there would be no Apple Computers today and no Macintosh.

    And most of all, for the people above as well as for myself, I want to thank all of you readers for sticking with the Mac, allowing me to do what I do much love to do–use my Mac to create this magazine for all of you to read. Without you, none of the above people could have kept the Mac alive.

    Thank you,
    Tim Robertson

     

    The History of the Macintosh Digital Press


    Tim Robertson
    publisher@mymac.com

    Websites mentioned:
    http://www.ooze.com

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