Hello Leopard, Goodbye G4, Been Nice to Know Ya

Karen: It dances like a madman and does hand flips, too. It's incredible. You know, I was planning on buying new interior doors for my house because none of them are paneled. I thought white six-paneled doors with brushed nickel hardware would look beautiful. I called 5 door companies. Three returned my calls. One flat-out said he couldn't help me. Two gave me a quote and came out to measure, when it was discovered that my existing doors are 1 5/8ths. They don't make that size door. Just 1 3/8ths or 1 3/4.

Door guy number two promised to check into planing down the larger doors or reinstalling new door stops. I called him 7 times. He never called me back. Door guy number one said he could order the larger doors and indent the hinges 1/8th of a inch, which, for the life of me, I can't figure out how that would make the door sit flush, plus he wanted an extra $500.

My husband said, "You've been talking about a new computer; why don't you buy one?"

So to hell with the doors.

My new computer is sitting on the floor, whispering to me. Gotta go.

Hi Patricia: In the days of Yore, we had a nasty, irritating and awful program called Virtual PC. It was bad enough that it made me buy a Sony laptop, just so I'd never have to look at Windows again on the face of my lovely Mac. However, there is a new program out called Passages. It requires a new copy, though, of Windows XP. I will probably buy it. It then works side by side on my Mac without hogging all the memory or requiring a reboot. It's pretty cool. Through that, I will be able to access MLS. When that happens, I might throw my PC on the floor and stomp on it. But to answer your question, no, the programmers' loyalty lies with Internet Explorer -- whether it's misguided or paid-for loyalty, I don't know.

Hi Mike: That's what I've been doing, using my Mac for other things and my PC solely for MLS. But as you can read above, all that is likely to change.

Hi Michael: Actually, the Mac these days is very similar to a PC -- except much more user friendly, less likely to take on a virus, rarely freezes, and the proprietary programs are 1,000 times better than Microsoft's. If I should encounter a difficulty with a third-party software, most vendors divide their help lines into two categories: Mac and PC. If I choose PC, I sit online for an hour waiting. If I choose Mac, I zip right through. Few people think about this little benefit, heh, heh. Sure, fewer people have Macs, but Macs also have fewer problems.

Hi Debbie: Well, for a bit of eye candy, take the Leopard guided tour. If this won't work on your present computer, you just might need a new one, heh, heh.

But I know what you mean about cars. I have a 2000 Mercedes SLK, and I love this little car. I've also got about 35,000 miles on it, so it's not worth trading in yet. But it's so old! I've considered buying a new car just for business and keeping this as a second car, but I have no place to store it. Besides, I just bought my husband a Prius, so I borrow his if I need a larger, newer vehicle.

Thanks, Jesse & Kathy: Yes, I am ecstatic. It's so much faster. And if I squeeze my mouse, every page that is open on my monitor is displayed. It's so cool. I don't know why I resisted for so long. But if something works well, and it's not broken, it's hard to rationalize replacing it. However, as the year nears its end, I'm always looking for more tax write-offers, and a new computer qualifies. In fact, the entire purchase can be written off this year.

Not to mention, Leopard wouldn't work on my old G4. :)

Hi Stephen & Chris: Yes, you can make a private appointment. If your Apple store is anything like mine, it's nuts. Always crowded, and I'm always standing in line at check-out. Hard to find anybody to talk to, it's awful. By making a private appointment, you are allowed into the store before it opens, before the rush of customers and noise.

Hi Dale: I put an additional hard drive in my old computer just to drag it out a few more years. But I noticed that some Web sites worked inadequately because my processor was too slow. And, of course, with Leopard, it wouldn't work on my older G4. I put off buying a new computer because I didn't have time to mess with transferring files, but with a firewire connection, they can automatically download. I spent one afternoon setting it up, so I didn't lose a lot of time. I can't believe I waited this long.

Perhaps one of the nicest features is the Time Machine. You just plug in an external hard drive, and it automatically uploads everything on your computer, plus it continually updates in the background, giving you a back-up. You can pull not only your original documents from it but every version of a document you ever created.