“After a computer failure stuffed up Seattle’s New Year fireworks show, bloggers have been quick to blame Microsoft,” Nick Farrell reports for The Register.
“The show at the Seattle Center was supposed to ring in the New Year but the computer running the display did not work,” Farrell reports.
According to reports, workers had to run the show manually.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Linux Guy And Mac Prodigal Son” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: Par for the course or, as “Linux Guy And Mac Prodigal Son” wrote in his email, “home field disadvantage.” Maybe this year, Microsoft will start making a vacuum cleaner, so they can finally brag about making something that doesn’t suck.
Maybe it was a HARDWARE problem. Although the vacuum cleaner joke was pretty good!
It’s an old joke, even MDN has used it before… I’ll forgive them, they are still hung over!
Micro$oft have made a vacuum cleaner. It is called a leaf blower, guaranteed to give your garden that autumn vista look.
Same old Microsoft bashing at MDN, but then again the self checkout lanes at the local supermarket running Windows hasn’t worked for several months either.
I don’t know wether to feel like I should bash Microsoft too, or just feel sorry for them.
My new MacBook Pro’s optical drive simply won’t function at all. Stick a disk in and nothing happens, no sucking of the disk either.
This will require a 300 mile drive just to fix it under AppleCare, meanwhile I’m out of a computer until it does.
The problem is technology, it’s just too dam complicated and not reliable enough, too much work for the little gain it gives.
Apple is less headache than Wintel machines, but then again I can’t get the hardware selection like I can with Windows, namely a non-glossy mid-range consumer box for my family who have old eyes and screen reflections cause eyestrain.
Screw them both for not listening to peoples needs I say.
A hardware problem! You’re funny.
Oh, I’ve got one: Maybe it was evil spirits.
I would love news reports to start naming the systems that fail.
You read so much about computer glitches but they never say what systems were running. Good to see this one specified.
To be fair, you also have to ask why they didn’t use their backup computer. I would assume that they didn’t have one. Even using OS X or Linux, something as time critical as this should always have a backup.
“This will require a 300 mile drive just to fix it under AppleCare, meanwhile I’m out of a computer until it does.”
Im calling bullsh!t.
You can get Applecare to send you a shipper box and you can send it directly to their repair depot.
The vacuum cleaner joke is all wrong!
MS should make vacuum cleaners so that there’s an excuse for why the thing sucks.
Or something like that…
Microsoft: Starting the year off with a bang. Eventually.
@ Tired Mac User
Have them overnight you a box. They will repair it and overnight it back to you. Your computer will be fixed in 3-4 business days.
Microsoft will stop making anything within seven years… Yet, consumers need some time to switch…
Tired Mac User = Microsoft Astroturfer
@ Tired Mac User
The last time I had to help someone with a PowerBook problem, I called Apple support, they overnighted a box, it then overnighted to their support center, fixed it in one day and shipped it back out in one day.
Total time without PowerBook, 3 days.
That is an example of when things are running smoothly.
“”This will require a 300 mile drive just to fix it under AppleCare, meanwhile I’m out of a computer until it does.”
“Im calling bullsh!t.
You can get Applecare to send you a shipper box and you can send it directly to their repair depot.”
Or there’s someone/something else that’s the true motivation for driving 300 miles. Remember Lisa Nowak?
Mr. Reese, you are missing the joke.
Everything that m$ makes doesn’t work therefore we say it sucks.
If they made a vacuum cleaner it also would not work therefore it would NOT suck.
@Mr. Reee
The idea is that they would screw up the vacuum and it wouldn’t work right. Thus, it literally wouldn’t suck.
@Tired Mac User
The others are right. Get a mailer.
If MS made a vacuum cleaner, not only would it fail to suck but its air filter would constantly generate viruses as well.
Of course, this has never happened before. But I’ll bet Bill Gates wishes he had been in charge:
/sarcasm
@ Tired Mac User:
In 20+ years of Macs I’ve never had a laptop that had a problem that Apple Care covered that I didn’t immediately get a shipping box in the mail, and set it to Cupertino and got it back in less than a week with everything fixed free. And I’m clear on the other shore of the country.
I will tell you a little known fact of Apple, there are often Apple Repair shops closer to you, but Apple doesn’t list them in places to go because they do not SELL Apple computers. (The shop told me that was the reason they were not on the list AppleCare gave me of places to go). We have a company here in town who fixes them free under AppleCare but they are never in the list if you call Apple and ask or get a recommendation for the nearest “fixerupper.” That, in my opinion, is something that should change. If there is a local repair place. I want them to tell me there is.
If there is a university near you, ask them where they take them, there often isn’t an in house repair at the school, but they know where one is because they use it.
As for the fireworks–Microsoft wanted credit for a “first” of some kind in 2008, and could only come up with the first screw up of the year.
Another one for @Tired Mac User
I’m an AASP. Apple will ship you a box. That box includes a prepaid label for overnight shipping.
As a matter of fact, if you called Apple, Apple probably suggested that they send you a box, because it’ll result in a faster repair.
Now… you may have disagreed with them… but if that’s the case, and if that’s what you did… you’ve went out of your way to make yourself miserable, so don’t blame the manufacturer.
@TMU. Windows, namely a non-glossy mid-range consumer box for my family who have old eyes and screen reflections cause eyestrain.
How is it that I can see NO reflections on my glossy screen? That is, unless it’s turned off. Seriously, I’ve tried to see the problems. I have a window(excuse the word) behind my 24” iMac.
One more on the matter of the 300-mile drive:
In general, Apple will often do even better than shipping a pre-paid box for overnight computer shipment. Here’s my experience.
Bought a refurb MacBook (Core Duo – previous generation). It had bad airport card/connection. I called Apple Support. We go through a few things on the phone; they diagnose flaky Airport and suggest me sending it back for repair/replacement. I tell them that the computer is my lively hood and I can’t afford a day without it. The guy takes a minute, comes back, then suggests I order the same one online again; once it arrives, I can send the old one back using a pre-paid label they’d e-mail me. I say there aren’t any more Core Duo MacBooks online; instead, only Core2Duo ($1,150 vs. $900). He takes another minute, comes back and says: order the Core2Duo, we’ll reduce its price to $900. My newly refurbished, latest-generation MacBook arrives in two days; I move my data from my 2-week old CoreDuo MB and send it back to Apple at their expense.
Bottom line: due to a deffective Airport, I now have the (then) latest model MacBook with Core2Duo chip and 120GB HD (as opposed to original 80GB), without a single minute of interruption, all for $900.
Apple is famous for bending over backwards when trying to satisfy their customers. You can always drive 300 miles to the nearest Apple Genius Bar if you wish, but you never have to. And they will never leave you without a computer if you ask nicely.
Here’s a link to the video of it happening:
http://www.king5.com/video/index.html?nvid=204972
The fireworks stop right as the Star Wars theme starts to play.
Darth Ballmer?
I’ll bet the real problem was a security screening and a Vista prompt:
Continue Fireworks.exe?
Cancel or Allow?
Cancel or Allow?
Cancel or Allow?
Cancel or Allow?
Cancel or Allow?