By now I'm guessing a lot of you have seen the Open
Letter to Apple by Ward W.
Vuillemot. According to one copy posted on the Web, Mr.
Vuillemot emailed his tirade to MacCentral and MacInTouch, as well as
posting to the DealMac Forum, Apple Support Forum, MacNN Forum, and
MacDebate Forum.
I guess >Low End Mac's message boards just don't cut it for Mr.
V. ;-)
Anyhow, Mr. V. is all pissed that the "Apple G3 (gossamer)
desktop" (I have to assume he means the Blue & White Power Macintosh G3
[Yosemite], since it was the only desktop "Apple G3" to offer DVD
drives) he bought in 1999 doesn't work as he wants it to under Mac
OS X version 10.1 (which he refers to as Mac OX 10.1,
sigh).
Thanks to feedback from several readers, I've learned
that Gossamer was the code name for the beige Power Mac G3, which
was introduced in November 1997, upgraded to 300 MHz and a DVD-ROM
option added in March 1998, and discontinued in January 1999. I hadn't
been aware DVD-ROM drives, let alone a hardware decoder card, had been
available for this model. I'll have to contact Dan and have him update
the LEM profile for this model (done - dk). Updates to this article are
enclosed in square brackets. AO, 11/16
I don't usually deal with events in the real world - making up
rumors is much more fun - but the sheer stupidity of this
complaint boggles the mind.
Mr. V. notes, "When I purchased the computer, Apple sold the DVD
drive without a decoder," then made it an optional
build-to-order (BTO) feature in a revision of the Power Mac G3 released
one day before he received his computer (but 14 weeks after he ordered
it). After two [or possibly three] years of badgering Apple, Mr.
V. convinced them to install the DVD decoder in his computer.
Although this card was not a standard feature on the version
of the Power Mac G3 he purchased, Mr. V. now complains that the
Personality Card he insisted Apple provide cannot be used with "Mac OS
10.1." Duh!
Thanks to his insistence that Apple provide a nonstandard
component to his computer, that component doesn't work with an OS
released two [or possibly three] years later. So sad.
The Power Mac G3 apparently worked perfectly before the
modification Mr. V. insisted on, but now he's all in a tizzy
because his computer has no sound or DVD support - at least under
OS X 10.1. Curiously, Mr. V. doesn't note whether he has sound
with Mac OS 9.2.1. His failure to state this leads me to believe that
there is no problem under Mac OS 9.x. (More on that below!)
Yes Mr. V. makes the ridiculous claim that Apple broke
his computer! Remember, Apple never offered him the Personality Card;
Mr. V. fought them for two [or three] years until Apple agreed to put
it in - probably just to get him off their back.
Mr. V. goes further to claim that running under Mac OS 9.x is not
an option for him, although he doesn't explain why. This is
especially bizarre since the Yosemite G3 shipped with Mac OS 8.5 and
clearly supports Mac OS 9.x.
Based on everything Mr. V. has posted, he believes his computer was
broken from the day he bought it - first, because it didn't
include the DVD decoder card that wasn't even an option when he ordered
it, and second, because now that Apple has installed the card (after he
badgered them for two [or three] years), he finds the card doesn't work
under Mac OS X 10.1.
Mr. V. goes out of his way to avoid telling us that the card works
under Mac OS 9.x or why the classic Mac OS is no longer an option for
him. Instead, he wants Apple to drop everything and provide
OS X drivers for his nonstandard configuration, replace the card
with a card compatible with OS X, or provide him with a whole
new computer that "equals or exceeds the current system while
returning the lost functionality."
Oops, he just admitted that he had that functionality before
installing Mac OS X 10.1, an operating system that remains
incomplete. With patience (either waiting for a future OS X
revision or living with the classic Mac OS), Apple may eventually
support his configuration, but that's not good enough for him. Instead,
he hopes to cobble together a class action suit against Apple
for not supporting the modification to his hardware that Apple resisted
providing for two [or three] years.
You'd think an engineer would understand these things, but
rather than go back and use what worked (Mac OS 9.x), Mr. V. has
coerced Apple into giving him enough rope to hang himself. His
online rants indicate he's already tied a noose and put it around his
neck.
- Anne Onymus
Further thoughts on 11/16: Andrew W. Hill took a close look at the
specs of Mr. V's machine. The Gestalt ID definitely points to a beige
G3, not the blue & white one. It also notes a clock speed of 315
MHz, which means Mr. V. has overclocked his CPU (see Clocking the Power Mac G3 for details) or
OS X misreports clock speed, since there was no 315 MHz model from
Apple. Interesting....
