My Corner of the Web
Updated: 17 May 2008
Original Post: 12 April 2008
I bought the family an iMac computer about six months ago and for the most part have been very happy. In the last three weeks, the leopard operating system (Mac OS X 10.5.2), has crashed three or four times! Most of the times it has been when using Safari on a website with flash like SingSnap. So, I stopped using Safari. This morning, I again received the dreaded "Grey shade of death", which also goes by the name the "black screen of death" or the "black drape of death", which is the Apple equivalent to Microsoft's "blue screen of death". The crash occured while using Skype but doing nothing else and skype had been running for over 30 minutes fine. Before I posted this I went on both Apple's forums and performed several google searches to see if anyone was talking about this latest instability. Unfortunately, there is too much clutter relating to Mac crashes (as evidenced by the multiple names for a crash) that you cannot find a clear answer. Ok, so whether it is based on the latest Apple patch or some other weird interaction - as of right now, Mac OS X 10.5.2 is unstable and not trust worthy for day to day use! That being said - it brings up a stark contrast between's Apple's advertising (in its many very public advertisements mocking Windows Vista) and the current reality.
So, I ask Apple: WHERE IS THE APOLOGY TO MICROSOFT? I currently use both operating systems and now I am absolutely going to also go to Linux ... I rely on my computers every day and I have to have a working, stable computer I can rely on. That is my number two priority because it enables my number one priority which is to be able to get access to the world wide web whenever I need it! I have everything I user regularly on the web (banking, websites, blogs, google searches, news, etc.) and it is not a luxury but a necessity.
So, I hope that Apple's hubris does not prevent them from making an apology to Microsoft. They are being hypocritical and most everybody knows it. I am sure the linux folks know it. Lastly, I hope Apple quickly fixes these bugs and makes their OS stable again!! One good thing is the automated crash reporting that pops up after a crash guarantees that Apple knows about (if you choose to report it, which I did). So, Apple - the ball is in your court! Please show us your true colors. Ok, rant mode off... - Mike
Update1: 18 May 2008
Mac crashed two times this morning when using Mozilla at a banking website I have used for years. Ridiculous. I switched to Mozilla from Safari because many of the crashes had always occured on Safari. I noticed that Safari was updated to version 3.1.1 so I downloaded that and will now switch back from Mozilla to Safari and see what happens. Every time I see one of those Mac versus PC commercials now I just laugh and shake my head at the huge gulf between hype and reality... you would figure, if Apple was honest, they would be careful monitory how many crashes their customers are experiencing and make that priority #1. I have reported every crash using their feedback tool but no OS update has occured yet.