Are there any old-timers here who remember back when Apple's service used to be one of the Mac evangelist's most formidable weapons? Oh, sure, the PC folks could talk about cheaper systems, more available software, and the hours of free entertainment derived from fiddling with IRQs and Registry entries (it's that last one that's always made us jealous), but we Mac users could always play that trump card: free lifetime technical support via toll-free calls to (800) SOS-APPL. Sadly, the past few years have yielded a steady decline in the quality of Apple's technical support. That lifetime phone support got reduced to a mere 90 days of coverage-- Apple moved to a more "Microsoft-like" (their words, not ours!) system and additional service required customers either to purchase a service plan or pay on a per-call basis. Meanwhile, product warranties remained set at one year, while some other computer manufacturers extended their coverage to three years or more. These days, when trying to persuade a fence-sitter to buy a Mac instead of a Wintel box, technical support is a topic we've learned to avoid like exposure to flesh-eating bacteria. When faced with the dreaded question "But how's the support?", we fake an epileptic seizure and then change the subject to the iMac DV's lovely color selection.

What's truly sad is that we're starting to think Apple just really doesn't "get it." Originally we assumed that Apple's reduced support was a simple matter of cost-cutting intended to keep the company from bleeding to death during the Scary Times. We figured that once Apple regained solvency, the technical support of old would experience a glorious rebirth and Apple would once again reign supreme in the field. Instead, we're seeing more cuts; according to a couple of MacNN special reports, Apple is now trimming back the involvement of third-party service providers. All iBooks and PowerBooks needing service must now be sent back to Apple instead of being repaired at a local shop, thus extending wait times for customers and cutting authorized dealers out of the loop. And since there's less of a need for them now, Apple has also trimmed the six percent of its Authorized Service Providers who "failed to meet their quota of $100,000 per quarter."

The idea, according to Apple, is to cut the dead weight, but we're sure some small but very dependable service providers got axed in the process. As for all newer Apple portables now needing to be sent off for "Depot Repair," we're at least mildly skeptical that this is going to be good for customers. Say your PowerBook dies. Maybe it just needs a relatively simple fix, but instead of having it repaired quickly by your local service guy, you've got to contact Apple, wait for them to send you a box, package up the PowerBook, ship it off, wait for Apple to fix it, and then wait for Apple to ship it back. Forget about one-day turnaround; you're looking at three days, best-case. And as we can personally testify, three days without your beloved Mac is three days too long. We're not involved enough in the service end of the Mac world to make a truly informed judgment, but based on what we've experienced in the past, we just hope Apple knows what it's doing. In the meantime, we'll keep practicing our "seizures."