10-17-2008, 10:13 PM
> Were Mac users outraged when the floppy drive was
> omitted from the original iMac?
At that point, it had been several months since the last time I needed a floppy disk.
I use FireWire every day.
My office has turned away MacBook Air customers because the lack of FireWire makes it too costly a proposition to support them. It's presently done on a case-by-case basis, but we've discussed refusing all MacBook Airs as a firm policy. Nobody wants to go out on a service call that involves a sick Air. Nobody wants to work on them when they come into the shop.
We use FireWire not just for making (fast) bootable backups, but for target mode (diagnostics/data-recovery/installations) and yeah, even FireWire networking. It gets around problems with bad optical drives and fussy installer disks. It is absolutely necessary in my work.
The cost of the extra time needed and the extra work necessary to get around the lack of target disk mode (as well as the extra risk from handling the bare drive, which is a necessary consequence) must now be absorbed by my employer or passed on to customers.
This was a stupid decision and it will come back to haunt Apple.
> omitted from the original iMac?
At that point, it had been several months since the last time I needed a floppy disk.
I use FireWire every day.
My office has turned away MacBook Air customers because the lack of FireWire makes it too costly a proposition to support them. It's presently done on a case-by-case basis, but we've discussed refusing all MacBook Airs as a firm policy. Nobody wants to go out on a service call that involves a sick Air. Nobody wants to work on them when they come into the shop.
We use FireWire not just for making (fast) bootable backups, but for target mode (diagnostics/data-recovery/installations) and yeah, even FireWire networking. It gets around problems with bad optical drives and fussy installer disks. It is absolutely necessary in my work.
The cost of the extra time needed and the extra work necessary to get around the lack of target disk mode (as well as the extra risk from handling the bare drive, which is a necessary consequence) must now be absorbed by my employer or passed on to customers.
This was a stupid decision and it will come back to haunt Apple.