Rush Limbaugh provided a little more detail Wednesday on the Mac issues that have been driving him batty (yes, more so) since he upgraded to Leopard.
The bombastic radio host has been a Mac user for years, but on Tuesday he complained on his show about issues with six Macs that he runs on a network, without providing any details. The story made its way around the Mac community to a mixture of curious and hostile responses, and now Limbaugh has outlined his two main beefs.
Rush doesn't like the fact he can't back up his e-mail with Time Machine.
(Credit: Rushlimbaugh.com)The first one is the Back to my Mac feature introduced with Leopard isn't working on a regular basis. This is supposed to allow you to access files and applications that reside on a Mac running Leopard from any other Leopard Mac. He wouldn't be the first to report problems with Back to my Mac, and Apple has been looking into compatibility issues with third-party routers.
Limbaugh's more puzzling complaint, however, involves Time Machine. Time Machine was considered one of the more compelling reasons to upgrade to Leopard, as it's designed to make backup and restoring files--which few people actually do--a much easier process. Most of the early complaints around Time Machine have involved the inability to use it wirelessly with MacBooks or MacBook Pros unless you buy Apple's Time Capsule product, but that's not what has El Rushbo up in arms.
He's peeved that Time Machine doesn't appear to work with e-mail. "E-mail is everything, and Time Machine will not restore e-mail mailboxes. Restores everything else but that, and ought to restore either a single message or a whole mailbox, and it won't," he wrote on his Web site Wednesday.
However, Limbaugh doesn't get into how he accesses e-mail on his Mac; for example, whether he's reading it off the server or downloading the messages to his Mac. Most people in corporate-style setups read their e-mail off a server, and it's sort of hard to expect a desktop backup system to back up files that aren't actually stored on the desktop.
But if he's downloading e-mail to his desktop, that's another thing. Can he not find the folder where those files are stored? Is there actually some problem with Time Machine's ability to recognize e-mails as data? Who knows.
Apple declined to comment on Limbaugh's issues, and Limbaugh never replied to Wednesday's e-mail for comment on the issue.
Even the rich and famous can't always depend on their megaphones for technical support.
Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh is having trouble with his four Mac Pros, which he recently upgraded to Mac OS X 10.5.2. Apparently he's having some sort of issue with Leopard that he thought would be fixed with the latest update, but it wasn't, and Limbaugh joked about making a personal appeal to Apple CEO Steve Jobs for technical support.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs is probably not a dittohead.
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)Limbaugh posted a transcript of an exchange from his Tuesday show concerning the Leopard update. "I've been having two problems since I went to Leopard that I hoped this update would solve, and it didn't solve them; and it's frustrating. ...(Apple representatives) file reports and get lost in the Apple bureaucratic system -- and occasionally a good-intentioned, good-hearted Apple rep will get on the phone, try to solve it, and will say, "Yep. It's the same problem I'm having on my machine."
Limbaugh didn't get into exactly what type of problem he was experiencing, but figured that Jobs might not be all that receptive to his pleas for help. Jobs is a noted Democratic supporter, even nominating former Vice President Al Gore to his board of directors and openly urging him to run for president this year.
One of Limbaugh's employees drove the point home: "If you put out this appeal to Steve Jobs and ask him to help, his reply is going to be, 'Mr. Limbaugh. Do us a favor and endorse Windows.'"
Limbaugh is actually a longtime Mac user and Apple supporter, openly talking for years about his preference for Macs on his radio show. And back in 2006, he was able to get Apple to change the way iTunes handled podcasts that were only open to members of a club or organization. Although if you believe the latest studies, Mac users are supposed to be more liberal and open-minded than the average person. Go figure.
The more interesting question is what is plaguing Limbaugh's Mac Pros. I e-mailed Limbaugh through his Web site asking for more details, and I'll let you know if I hear back.
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