Judging by my inbox last week, the cable industry, Microsoft and Apple have a big PR problem.
The cable industry's deal is that-how can I put this delicately?-nobody likes it. Since my denunciation of cable-industry prices, I've gotten dozens of e-mails along the lines of "yeah, what's wrong with these people" but none expressing any thoughts like "cable TV is a great deal compared to going to the movies" or "I love all the features digital cable brings."
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Microsoft's problem is that, even after dumping all those dollars into "protect your PC" ads that reiterate its three principles of computer security-use an up-to-date anti-virus utility, use a firewall and keep your copy of Windows current-at least a few people still don't know you can download software updates.
How do I know this? After I praised Microsoft in last week's newsletter for putting together a CD-ROM with all of the critical security updates it's released for Win 98 and up and shipping it free, I received this e-mail (and a few others along the same lines):
* "to my simple mind it would be so much cheaper for them and easier to put the patch on line where we could just down load it."*
Huh? The patches *are* online and have always been there: windowsupdate.microsoft.com. The updates may take a while to download, but that's why God invented the concept of leaving the computer on overnight to grab really large files. And there is always that CD to order if your Internet connection is that bad.
Finally, there's Apple. At last week's chat, I got enough "why aren't you writing about the iPod's non-replaceable battery?" questions to smack one poor fellow down: "Good grief... look, let's get this straight now. The 'iPod batteries die after 18 months and cannot be replaced' story is crap."
I went on to note that there is no hard number for how long an iPod's battery will continue to work, but the lifespan is "almost always much longer than 18 months." And if the battery does die, Apple will replace it for $99, or you can pay a third-party company $50 or $60 for the same service.
The technologically brave can do the procedure themselves: http://www.popsci.com/popsci/computers/article/0,12543,588084-2,00.html
I can attest that, so far, of all the iPod owners who have e-mailed me over the years with their thoughts about these gadgets, not one has-so far-complained about an iPod battery losing its ability to recharge.
