What We're Thankful For: Apple Edition

At this time of year, we here in the US like to sit back and reflect on what's important to us and what we're grateful for.  For the most part, everyone is generally happy about the same things; family health, family in general, and so on.  This year, I've asked the other contributing editors to put together what they're thankful for, but in the context of Apple.  In the following pages, I've reprinted their responses plus added my own.

We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with the joy and love of family and we also hope that it's a wonderful kickoff to another happy holiday season for all of you.

Thanks, Applecare

by Lita Kaufman, Contributing Editor

I am thankful for many things in my Appleverse - particularly great design and innovative products.  But today, I am particularly thankful for the Applecare extended warranty I purchased for my Mac Pro.  The accepted school of thought is "buy the extended warranty for portables, but not for desktops.  Most hardware failures will occur in the first year, anyway."  The problem with this advice is that it disregards one of the principle benefits of the Applecare Program - three years of unlimited technical support. 

I've been having serious problems with my 16 month-old Apple TV and Airport Extreme Draft-N Gigabit Ethernet router for a week.  Both items are out of their warranty period, and I neglected to purchase Applecare for the Apple TV.  Last night, after doing the last bit of troubleshooting that I could do, I called the Apple Technical Support Hotline, and was prepared to pay the $35 for the support call.  When I explained the problem to the CSR, the first thing she asked was if I had Applecare on a desktop or notebook computer.  Since I did have a contract on my Mac Pro, she was able to use that to cover the support call.  The problem still isn't solved - it needs to be escalated to a senior product specialist, and unfortunately one wasn't available at 10:20 p.m.  I'll call back on Saturday, after my houseguests leave and everyone else is doped up on leftovers.

Thanks, New Beginnings

by Michael Barrett, Contributing Editor

Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on all the things we are thankful for. This year, I am once again thankful for my family and friends who always bring out the best in me, but in addition to the people who are important to me, I am also thankful for all of the opportunities I have had over the course of the past year. Throughout the year I have met a lot of new people and with them many opportunities to forge new friendships and new working relationships. Thanksgiving is a great time to put it all into perspective.

Just months ago I was waiting with bated breath for the new iPhone to be released, only to discover that I wouldn't be able to get one, for a little while at least. As time dragged on and the economy produced a cloud of uncertainty over my head at the day job, I realized my wait for the iPhone would be much longer than I had anticipated. Before depression could sink fully, the opportunity to make my first foray into the Mac world presented itself and before long I was booting up my new MacBook for the first time.

They say when one door closes another one opens. That couldn't be more true in my case. Thanks to some great friends and family always pointing me towards those open doors I never get stuck behind the closed ones. If you asked me a year ago where I would be today, I don't think my answer would include where I actually am. In fact, who knew that the die-hard Windows nerd everyone knew in January would turn out to become a full-fledged Mac geek before the end of the year?

I look forward to the coming year and all of the new opportunities ahead of me.

Thanks, Leopard

by Joe Johaneman, Contributing Editor

I'm extremely thankful for Leopard. Since I switched to Leopard, I haven't had to install my Operating System every 3-6 months like I used to do with Windows XP. Guaranteed after a few months, the OS would get slow and would require a complete wipe and reinstall. I'm not sure that the problem was Windows. It was more likely due to installing and uninstalling programs. Since I switched to Leopard, I'm thankful that I've only had to reinstall the OS once, and that's only because I did things at the command line before I knew what I was doing. I had three python installs, none of which worked and it ended up being easier to start from scratch than to try to figure it all out.

I also thankful for the Apple Geniuses. My first experience with them wasn't good at all, but after switching to a different store, I have had nothing but great experiences with the Geniuses. They solved my partner's issue with a failing hard drive and did it all with a smile. That's the way tech support should be.

Thanks, iPhone

by Vincent Ferrari, Executive Editor

On June 29, 2007, my wife and I sat outside the Apple Store at The Westchester waiting to be next in line for the original iPhone.  There were about 85 people ahead of us and roughly 300 people behind us.  I bonded with some people on the line and had one of the best experiences I've ever had as an Apple customer.  They gave us bottled water, Starbucks coffee, and all kinds of other fun stuff.  When I got the phone home and started using it, I realized just how amazing it really was.

Oh sure it wasn't perfect, and even after a few software updates and a hardware revision later, it still isn't even close to perfect.  It is, however, perfect for my needs.  There are times now when I leave my laptop at home altogether, opting to travel light with my music, movies, contacts, e-mail, and web browser all in my pocket.  I've never in my life found one phone that was able to replace as many devices for me as efficiently as the iPhone does.  Are there things I'd like to see improved?  Sure.  Notes syncing, the push notification system, an actual To Do app, and better battery life would all be nice things to have, but none of those things are preventing me from getting a ton of solid usage out of my iPhone.  Now that there's an application store, I even have applications that let me SSH into servers at work and fix things or FTP in and clear files / logs.  In the end, despite its shortcomings, this is a phone whose features I use and rely on every single day.

I'm thankful that Apple thought outside the box and designed a user-friendly UI from the ground up made for touching (not stylus-tapping).  I'm thankful that Apple didn't go into this with the idea that they were going to make "another phone."  Most of all, I'm really happy that their design aesthetics have caught on with the masses and the iPhone is a gigantic success.

I couldn't get through my day without my iPhone, and as far as Apple goes, it's the thing that I'm most thankful for.