Andrew’s Mac Tips Weblog

Hands-on with Samsung’s slick, sliding glory, the F700 - Engadget

Call it a silly quirk, but I get really bothered when I have to press a modifier key when typing: as in pressing the Shift key to start a new sentence. Back in my Windows-User days, I had a little utility running in the background that was smart enough to handle this small chore for me.

I know that there are many people who hate this feature (I think that Microsoft Word for the Mac has this as a part of Auto Correct, and lots of folks turn it off), but I’m not one of them.

There is another application for the Mac, that is free, with Auto-Capitalization as an option; it’s the gold pre-release version of Scrivener: a shareware writer’s tool that is part word processor — part project management.

Don’t get me wrong — full blown Scrivener is a wonderful app, and great value, but if all you’re looking for at present is a quick note taker, with Auto-Capitalization, and a really nice full screen mode, then give Scrivener Gold a try.

Literature and Latte - Scrivener Gold

This story from Rob Griffiths (Link Below) describes the Catch-22 situation that he got into when attempting to have his MacBook Pro repaired under warranty.

“…I then called Apple’s support hotline to get a shipment box to return my injured MacBook Pro. It was then that I discovered I had entered into the “you’re kind isn’t welcome here” zone in Apple’s revised support system. You see, it turns out that after 90 days as a Mac owner, your status changes. I wasn’t aware of this, but it does. Without my even knowing it, on my 91st day of ownership, I became one of them…”

He goes on to describe how he was stuck in a no-mans-land between being treated well — as a new customer, and being treated well — as an Apple Care subscriber.

My issue is this: Why does Apple have these differing levels of “Quality of Service” at all? There’s a big premium that people happily pay to own Apple products; a premium that contributes to the billions and billions of dollars in cash that Apple has at its disposal.

Apples theoretically “Just Work.” When they don’t, I believe that the after-sales side of the organization should “Just Fix It.” Simple as that.

• It would do wonders for their PR
• They can easily afford it
• Apple owners are decent folk, and wouldn’t abuse the system
• The payback in goodwill would be enourmous

What do you think? Is such a leap of faith viable?

Macworld: Editors’ Notes: The limits of Apple’s warranty