Apple promotes their software and hardware as products that just work. I guess it worked on me because I bought Mac mini thinking it would solve many of my computer problems. And while it did get rid of some, it created others… others that I haven’t even overcome yet (and don’t know if I will).
The first thing is that Flash player doesn’t seem to work correctly in Google Analytics. The bottom two windows – the Geo Map Overlay and the Visits by Source – show up just fine. The top two – Visits and Pageviews and Visits by New and Returning – do not. The only way I can get that information is if I change the size of the browser window. Now I’ll admit that this is in Firefox 2.0 and under Safari, it looks just fine. I’m not saying its a fault of Apple but it is an example of things not working – even if it isn’t their product that’s not. But the next and biggest problem I have is their fault.
Hello! I’m an Mac. And I’m a iPod. We should be able to talk to one another but we can’t. It must be because my iPod also talks PC because it was working perfectly with my PC and, for my Mac, it barely works at all. The problem is the iPod will not stay mounted and synchronizing ends after a few seconds. I know its not complete despite what the GUI tells me; I have changed playlists and downloaded music that never get propagated to the iPod after it says its done. Futhermore, my iTunes library has 8699 songs in it; during the initial loading (after restoring it 5 times) it says coping songs x of 8670. Where did the other 19 songs go? In an attempt to fix this problem, I’ve restored the iPod to the Mac format (several times) and changed what port (First, USB then Firewire) that the iPod was connected to. So far, I’m on my 6th reloading and I’m not confident it will work this time around either.
Another iTunes problem, it will NEVER remember my password for the iTunes store. I’ve asked that it remember it three times now… and I’m sure I’ll have to enter it again. I know I’ve told it to remember it; I did check that box. But every time I buy a song, I’ve got to fire up the keyboard just to get my music. I don’t buy a lot of music but I don’t want to waste my time typing in a password just to get what I want. That’s like signing the credit card slip every time for a 99 cent purchase. I might as well not buy the songs if the software isn’t going to work properly.
Those seem to be the big things right now. I’m sure more will follow as I go deeper into the OS. I know that much of what I face is a learning curve. It took me a few days to get used to the Debian Linux kernel for Ubuntu; the Darwin kernel might take as long too; the command lines are different and the keyboard shortcuts aren’t like those in Windows.
Like I said, those aren’t big deals. But the Flash Player and the iTunes/iPod combo was one of the main reasons for me wanting to spend the $$$ on the Mini. Without it working properly, I’m right back to where I was with Ubuntu.