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My Turn is Low End Mac's column for reader-submitted
articles. It's your turn to share your thoughts on all things
Mac (or iPhone, iPod, etc.) and write for the Mac web. Email your
submission to Dan Knight
.
I was doing a service call at a customer's house one day recently
when a tragedy occurred. My "GuruPhile" (name for my binder of
service CDs - operating systems, Internet installers, and Mac
utilities) was not to be found. In the rush to get to a client's
house (75 miles away) I left the "GuruPhile" on the roof of my car -
it ended up in the parking lot.
So here I was miles from home, and my safety net was gone. The
customer (a 75 year old widowed shutin who's time was spent reading
CNN and writing to his many grandkids) had an LC
575 in which the hard drive had died. Lucky for me he still had
his OS install CD (7.6.1) and System
CD (7.5), so after replacing the drive (and watching the horror on
his face as he saw the insides of his computer - "That's what's in
there," he exclaimed), I started to install his OS and programs.
That's when the clinch hit. I saw in his pile of boxes Internet
Connection Kit. I thought, "Great, I can get his Internet online, and
he can talk to all his grandkids." Only there was no CD, and I had a
75 year old gentleman who I didn't want to disappoint. My CD's were
who-knows-where.
I looked up and saw a superhero, a little dog from nowhere who
saved the day. There on that OS 7.6 disk was CyberDog, Apple's
attempt at a browser linked with the failed OpenDoc initiative.
CyberDog saved the day, saved sadness in an elderly man, and saved me
from a big embarrassment.
Using CyberDog, I was able to go onto Browsers.com
and download Netscape (customer request) and his freeware games, and
get his system up and running. A couple hours later, a $20 tip (in
Canadian Funds, so about US$9.94) and a huge smile from a happy
elderly man, I was off.
When I had returned home, I had found that my two-year-old
daughter Tiffany had found my "GuruPhile" in the parking lot. So I
earned my wings by flying without a net, and a little Dog, abandoned
by most, earned a place in my world.
Thank you CyberDog!
Phillip Blancher is a 25 year old Web designer and Macintosh
technician in Brockville, Ontario, the online editor of a daily
newspaper, and father of one daughter who is already playing with her
first Mac Classic at two years old.
Share your perspective on the Mac by emailing with "My Turn" as your subject.
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System
CD (7.5), so after replacing the drive (and watching the horror on
his face as he saw the insides of his computer - "That's what's in
there," he exclaimed), I started to install his OS and programs.
