My current (desktop) computer is mostly working fine, though it's a bit sluggish for some tasks (like editing WAV files or scanning/processing large images). It's a few years old, and so long as it doesn't have any hardware failures it should continue to serve for a while. (Its two predecessors failed suddenly, though one was aided by lightning.) I run XP on this machine, which was looking like a problem last year when they announced its end of life, but now Microsoft is going to support it until 2014. Whew. But soon you won't be able to buy it any more, and I think even now you have to pay extra (buy Vista, then buy XP and install that instead). So when this machine does go (or I decide it's time), it'll mean a forced change of OS.

If I have to change anyway, Mac OS isn't looking too shabby. Its UI definitely takes some getting used to (particularly the menu-bar placement), but the Unix foundation is comfortable and, hey, I could re-learn X-Windows after all these years. Getting a used iBook a couple years ago has helped me explore the OS a bit, though I haven't made full use of it by far.

Dani has a more pressing need for a new machine and he's already decided he's getting a Mac, so I will get the benefit of his explorations. (He's been waiting for the new machines to come out, which they did a few weeks ago.) It turns out we're looking for different things, though; while he's been trying to decide between a high-end iMac and a Mac Pro, I've been thinking about the Mini and considering the iMac. Dani's been staring at specs; I suggested that he go to an Apple store and actually try the kinds of operations he's most interested in, which he agreed was a good idea. He made an appointment today (armed with a thumb drive with large music and image files) and I followed along.

What I learned: the iMac is absolutely not going to be an option for me until they do something about that built-in monitor. In many ways it's lovely -- crisp and clear, probably beautiful for watching movies and stuff like that. Color, brightness, and contrast settings appeared adequate. But that glossy finish seems to actively attract every bit of potential glare in the room. That's an automatic failure for me. Apple makes monitors with a matte finish, which seemed fine, but if you want an iMac you're getting a glossy monitor. (The salesperson helpfully pointed out that I could hook up my own -- but the built-in one would still be there in the way, and I'd still be paying for it. Um, no.)

The Mac Pro is way more machine than I need or am interested in paying for (about four times what I paid for my current Windows box). With the iMac out of the running, that leaves the Mini. People have made fun of me for considering that machine, but it actually seems fine to me. A high-end Mini was about the same speed as a mid-range iMac for the operations I tried. It's faster than my current machine (though there's some comparison of apples and oranges due to the different software involved). If I turn out to be wrong, I won't be mourning exhorbitant sunk costs, feeling like I have to keep it for a decade to be "worth it". So I don't know when yet, but that'll probably be my next machine.

(Mind, compared to a PC it's still expensive; while it "starts" at $599, by the time you give it decent memory and disk and buy support (and let me say how frustrating it is to have only 90 days of support if you don't), it's nearly double that. Oh, note to self: I'll have to buy a (third-party) keyboard, because my current one isn't USB. Third-party because I disliked the keyboards in the store today.)

The Shadyside store was underwhelming, by the way. They did not have a current Mac Pro in any configuration (only last year's model), the iMac we looked at had a bunch of other stuff running on it (so not a good test), and the "genius" wasn't very knowledgable. After we came home Dani called the store in the South Hills, which did have current machines, so he paid them a visit and got much better information.

Dealing with Verizon has gotten less excruciating since I acquired the direct-dial number of someone in tier-3 tech support who seems to have a clue. We are definitely into the second-order problems now.

Muhammad (who I spoke with last week) did not approve of our modem, so he sent us a new combined modem/router (including wireless). It came today; if any paper it shipped with had included the modem's user name and password, I might not have needed to call for help in setting it up. The internet side of this is fine.

So far we have been unable to get the wireless to work with either Mac in the house (the only wireless devices we have). With WEP turned on, the password is simply not accepted. If we turn WEP off and go to MAC authentication instead, neither machine can see the network. If we turn off all security everything works fine, but we're not interested in doing that.

Right now our solution is to leave the wireless turned off unless we actively need it, but that's a short-term solution. To his credit, Muhammad said he would research this and call me back tomorrow. (I think he will; he also called earlier today to confirm the modem had arrived.) Muhammad isn't a Mac user (he called back to say "what OS?" and when I said "10.4" he asked if that was sufficient ID), so we'll see what happens. So far what Google is telling me is that other people with iBooks have had this problem.

Wireless is new to me (I've used other people's networks but never administered one). I thought it pretty much just worked out of the box these days, but I guess not.

Update in a comment:

Well here's a peculiar twist. We left the router with WEP off and MAC filtering on. Neither laptop could connect (yes, verified MAC addresses carefully). That's where we left it.

Tonight I fired up my iBook to check out my Airport driver as suggested by others -- and it was on the network. I asked Dani to check his, and it was too. We didn't do anything to the router. Is it possible that the Macs required a reboot to use the network? That feels very strange -- I mean, even Windows doesn't tend to require that, and I think of Mac OS as being more plug-and-play. Did the internet fairies come by and sprinkle pixie dust on our router? Are Thursdays special (despite Arthur Dent's protestations)? Beats me.

I haven't investigated WPA yet. That'll be a project for after Shabbat. Right now the iBook is getting software updates, since it hasn't been on the net in a while.

Our DSL was supposed to switch from Nidhog to Verizon today. Nidhog was reselling Verizon, so that should be a no-brainer, but this is Verizon we're talking about. Almost everything they told me in advance turned out to be wrong (some things were probably outright lies). We have no connection at home and now they're jerking me around.

"Maddy" claimed that we would have uninterrupted service (aside from the momentary blip of the switch). We lost our connection overnight and the support person I spoke with this morning told me I should expect it to take until 6PM for them to connect us. That's a pretty loose definition of "uninterrupted" -- and that's assuming the claim is correct. By 6PM the business office is closed, so there's no one to escalate to.

The claim that I could create a temporary account and thereby get my router settings last night was, near as I can tell, utter fabrication, though it is possible that "Manu", his supervisor (whose name I couldn't parse through the accent), "Rauel" (this morning), and "Linda" (escalation this morning) were all wrong about that. All of these people told me, last night or today, that I would have to connect a single machine to the modem and setup would be automatic from there, and after that I could put the router back and it would work.

Err, what? Are they claiming that somehow, once I put my password-protected router back on the net, their software is going to reconfigure it? I don't think so. Everyone has been utterly unwilling to just tell me the configuration information I'll need (e.g. DNS servers). I predict that what they are actually going to do is configure a single machine and leave me to fend for myself from there (examine what they did to that machine, use the info to configure the router, and undo what they did to the machine).

"Linda" was supposed to escalate this and said someone would call me back on my cell phone "ASAP", but that hasn't happened yet. (That was at 9:30.) I guess I get to play support roulette tonight when I get home. (I'm posting this via email from work.)

One minor thing in my favor: if I have to connect a single machine to the modem anyway, it's going to be a Mac. I don't know Macs particularly well, but it seems less likely to get me routed to the undertrained, underinformed, English-limited support pool. (This morning I chose "Mac" on the phone tree and got to "Rauel", who seemed to actually know what he was doing -- but, unfortunately, he couldn't make them connect my service.)

If FiOS ever comes to my neighborhood I'll be thrilled. As soon as Verizon switches me over to it, I'm going to turn around and transfer my account to Nidhog (who now does FiOS but not DSL). Nidhog knows how to take care of customers!

This afternoon, several hours after not getting the followup "Linda" promised me, I called back. "Melissa" told me that if I were at home she could connect me directly a level-three tech-support person, but they wouldn't talk to me if I wasn't there with the modem. She said she would note this in my record and that I should call back when I got home and point this out. (It sounded like she was pre-authorizing it.) She also told me that both her office and tech support answered 24 hours a day.

I got home, called, and sat on hold. Meanwhile, around 7PM, someone from the complaint department called, following up from "Linda". I said I thought Linda had asked for a tech-support person to call me back, and this person said she would submit that request. She also said the relevant office closed at 9PM. I said I did not want to go another day without service and she said she would mark it urgent. I hung up the still-on-hold call.

A few minutes later I realized that, once again, I'd been given inconsistent information, and I wasn't going to rely on them to call back before 9. So I called again, and -- again -- while I was on hold "Muhammad" from tech support called. (Aside: every time I requested or was offered a call I explicitly said to use my cell phone, and every single call came to the house line. Bah. The request wasn't gratuitious; I knew they were likely to ask me to move things around, and I wanted the hands free.)

"Muhammad" actually seemed to have a clue, though first he went through the script stuff that I had to deflect. ("Yes, this is the same modem I was using yesterday without issues. Yes, we have filters on all the phones, just like we did yesterday. Ok, if you insist we'll swap out the phone cord." Etc.) He first said we weren't getting signal (despite the solid-green lights), then said we were getting some but not full bandwidth. With "some", though, we could proceed to configuration. He said start Internet Explorer; I countered with a Mac; he said go to our URL; I said 404. Finally he said "we'll configure your modem manually".

This, to me, was code for "we're going to mess around with the TCP/IP settings on your machine", so I said "how 'bout we bring the router back into the picture and do it there?". To my surprise he said that'd be fine. It turns out the only thing I needed to set was my new user name and password; I said I hadn't been issued a password, he said I'd need to create one online, and I pointed out the obvious problem. I asked "can't you just give me one?" and he did. This could have been done yesterday, or days ago, and I might have been online this morning! (I then had to change it, which I would have anyway.)

I also had to zero out the DNS settings. That was it. I don't really believe our modem was any part of this problem, so I think it's quite likely that I could have had nearly-uninterrupted service had "Manu" been willing to give me a password last night as I'd been promised.

We seem to have lost our static IP address, which "Maddy" promised would not happen. We don't need it right now, but we've needed it in the past (for employer VPNs) and I wanted to keep that option open. With luck, we'll be on Nidhog-served FiOS by the time it matters.

Several Verizon employees I dealt with were either grossly misinformed on various things or outright lying to me. I'm not sure what to do about that yet.

Edit Friday AM: This morning there was, again, no apparent connectivity. After a little digging I was confident it was DNS. Michael (I think that probably really is his name) at Muhammad's number was able to confirm that and give me alternate DNS numbers to use. He, too, told me our modem is crap and initially said that was the problem. (Muhammad is sending a new modem next week, so we'll see what that does.)