Apple suffers bloat - TOLLROADSnews hampered by a bug-infested Lion

We hate to knock Apple but after many hours over several days with their Technical Support and as many new problems introduced as old ones we sought to fix, there's only one conclusion to be drawn: Apple's got too big and too complicated and it's time for a new Steve Jobs and a new Wozniak.

I have a garage they can rent for $50 a week.

Two weeks ago we did a computer upgrade to a newer used 2011 iMac from our 2007 version - faster processors, more memory, bigger hard drive and a gorgeous sharper, brighter and much larger screen. And we upgraded to the latest operating system Lion. But unfortunately we got a bug-infested Lion.

Basic functions like the Calendar blocked us out claiming we didn't have Permission to get into it. The simple writing program TextEdit kept crashing. We'd lose the last sentence repeatedly.

Stuff slowed right down, taking for ages to get a cursor.

It has been one problem after another and as many new problems introduced by Apple Technical Support as old ones we called them to fix.

Currently we have no Mail (email) function, though Apple's Tech Support have set us up with a clunky work-around called MobileMe that we log into. But it doesn't work consistently.

Don't get us wrong. Apple's Tech Support people have been unfailingly courteous, patient, reasonable. Wait times to get through to them have not been bad. Their staff seem conscientious, hard working. They try very hard.

But - here's the bottom line - they can't get us fixed.

We've got a basement shelf that is a virtual Apple museum going right back to the original Macintosh Classic, the Plus, through the Cube, the Pro, now iMacs.

Thinking about them they've made great advances and huge new capabilities, but it comes at a price - not so much a $-price, as a hassle price. In the earlier versions of Macs, they just worked. You didn't need Tech Support. And a new OS every year.

For those two young guys in a garage here's an idea - keep it simple.

TOLLROADSnews 2012-01-24