It's also long been part of the Apple mythos that the company has a special relationship with the people who buy its products. Consumers tolerate their Windows-running PCs, but they love their Macs. Right?

Not quite. They might lavish affection on those Macs, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they adore Apple. The truth, actually, should be quite the opposite. If consumers really paid attention to how Apple treats them, they might think twice before drinking their next dose of candy-colored iMac plastic.

Long notorious for its less-than-stellar customer support, Apple is apparently back to its old tricks when it comes to introducing new technology without regard for what makes sense to the consumer. It's one thing to dump older, underpowered versions of the revolutionary iMac before introducing faster models at better prices. It's quite another to introduce a proprietary interface between a new line of monitors and the newest top-of-the-line computers, thereby shutting out thousands of new customers.

Take, for example, the way Apple chose to launch its Apple display connector. This device links the latest line of Apple's flat-panel displays to the G4 PowerMac models introduced at Macworld in July. That line of computers includes a single-processor G4 tower, the sleek, elegant G4 cube and two dual-processor G4s aimed at professional designers and those who cherish Macs for their graphics capabilities.

As a magazine editor and long-term user of Windows-based PCs, I have encountered Macs only peripherally in a variety of publishing houses. And for years I had been put off by the high prices of Apple machines -- even as I came to appreciate the recent line for its general ease of use and respect the Mac's place as the industry standard for the graphic arts industry.

So I was pleased to see a deal on a new single-processor PowerMac G4 in a mail-order catalog. Built in March, the unit came with a 400 MHz processor, a 20 GB hard drive, a Zip drive and 256 MB of RAM. With a DVD-ROM player and a price of less than $2,000, this machine was, I thought, a smart buy.

After the G4 arrived, I decided to buy one of the 15-inch Apple Studio Display monitors I had seen at a local computer supply store. What I didn't realize (until after forking over $999 plus tax) was that there was no way to use this new monitor with my "old" G4. My computer had only a 15-pin VGA outlet (a first for Apple, I found out later) and a digital video interface outlet (another proprietary connector used with these machines), neither of which was compatible with the new monitor.

After spending 26 minutes on hold for an Apple customer service representative, I was informed that no adapter was available to address the situation. I would need to buy one of the newer G4s (at a price of $2,700 for one with all the bells and whistles my "old" G4 had) to use the monitor.

"Do you mean to tell me that Apple has redesigned its connectors on the new monitors so they can only be used with the newer, more expensive computers?" I asked incredulously. "I'm afraid that's what I'm saying, Mr. Scott," the rep replied.

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