Mac Update

Posted on July 26th, 2007 in Apple, Customary Drivel, Unsolicited Commentary by Deas

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So…you know how IT support is probably the single most frustrating experience ever? Well, second language IT support is just like that, only worse. It’s frustration on steroids. Whether it be in my second language (Japanese) or in the agent’s second language (English), we all want to strangle someone when we’re done. Sigh. The problem is that tech support requires a specialized vocabulary that I’ve simply not picked up. I have it in English, as well as the knowledge, but not the Japanese to correspond with it. I wind up getting asked the newbie questions like “did you turn the computer on?” and “is the keyboard connected?” and I feel…well, down about it. Then, the reverse situation on the English language line, where my comprehension is sooo far above the agent helping me that I can literally hear him sweat. Poor guy. Many of you get the unnecessary “I see” or “OK” or similar soundbyte in a conversation where it’s clear that the opposite is true. Do that over the phone about a technical problem. Bring your own weapons. Sheesh.

Anyway, the update today is that my lovely 24-inch, 2.33 GHz Core 2 Duo, 256 MB nVidia VRAM, 3 GB Memory, 750 GB HDD iMac is going to be doing some traveling without me. Due to monetary concerns and scheduling problems, I opted to have the thing shipped. Because I live in “the pretty sticks,” dubbed so by Seth because it’s the middle of nowhere - but gorgeous, it will take them until Saturday to get a guy out to me. That fellow will not speak English, but I’m not really worried about that. He’ll collect the computer itself - not the keyboard, mouse, power cord, or any peripherals. Cool by me. He’ll box it and ship it back to Apple somewhere. They’ll tinker with it and most likely swap out the hard drive for a new one. Then they’ll ship it back after freshly installing OS X again - whether they’ll take it all the way to 10.4.10 again, or merely restore it to its original 10.4.7 state remains to be seen. They say it normally takes about one week. Adjusting for life on my island, who knows what that means. I hope it’s a legitimate estimate - Japan’s not a huge country geographically speaking, after all.

This talk brings me to one of my pet peeves with computer stuff. I could care less about the physical drive that they’re collecting. I care about the data on that drive. I am concerned, like most knowledgeable consumers are, about the possibility of identity theft. I use my computer as an international financial institution of sorts - making transfers, paying loans, buying things from the other side of the world, etc. Therefore, it contains credit information, account information, and loads more about my digital monetary life. I want that protected. Most people in internet forums seem to think that people get angry when a company replaces their hard drive because they lose data. That’s probably true with some - who haven’t properly backed up - a lesson I learned last time. But with folks like me, I am more concerned with what happens after my hard drive is erased. Is the old one destroyed? It better be. I WANT MY OLD DRIVE DESTROYED. If I had my way, it’d be zeroed out, wiped magnetically 10 times, and then dismantled so the platters could be shattered. I’d feel comfortable with that. But at this time, it seems like that’s not really a concern on most of the companies’ parts. Uncool. I guess I just have to trust Apple…a feat that is becoming increasingly difficult for me… :-( Oh well, here’s hoping all turns out well.