I just had a rather pleasant experience with Apple's iMac Support Site. I had an old CDR with a label on it that wouldn't eject. Part of the disk was bad, as one of the folders wouldn't load in the Finder and the Finder itself had to be relaunched to regain control. I ejected the disk and the system unmounted it, but it did not come out of the drive (nor seemed to make any effort to do so). So I visited Apple's iMac support site and opened up the iMac G5 Troubleshooting Assistant. On the starting page of options was "My CD or DVD drive isn't working properly." On the second page was "My disc won't eject." I clicked on that and it walked me through the basics of ejecting a disc (using the Eject key on the keyboard, ejecting from the Finder) with clear pictures of keyboard keys and on-screen visuals to use and look for. But (as I expected) this didn't do the trick, as the system already suspected the CD as having been ejected. And for what it's worth, the Disk Utility application showed nothing for that drive either. So the next page that came up asked if I was on the computer that was having the problem or on a different machine. I told it I was on the computer in question and it brought up a new window with printable instructions for what to do next.
The instructions dealt with going into Open Firmware, the low level booting firmware used by all modern Macs. I'm unsure how daunting this experience might be to users like my parents, but the instructions were very clear. They included a picture of the Mac keyboard with the special boot keys highlighted (command-option-O-F) and instructions on what will be seen. The commands to type in are fairly simple, eject cd and then mac-boot. I tried eject cd and sure enough, the CDR in question ejected quickly and smoothly. For some quick foolish fun, I poked around Open Firmware briefly, ultimately finding the words command which shows all of the words defined to control Open Firmware. Then I typed mac-boot and the startup process resumed as normal.
Overall, it was a very smooth process with no wasted clicks trying to find answers to my question. And if I couldn't find answers, the troubleshooting assistant maintained a "Chat with Apple Support" button at the bottom of the window, and the printable instructions had the URL back to the iMac support site if the open firmware option didn't work.
When I went back to the iMac support site, a JavaScript Window popped up alerting me that it noticed I had been using the TroubleShooting Assistant and had added a link to resume where I had left off, which I thought a was very impressive and nice thing to offer. Curious about what came next, I resumed the assistant. The next page that came up noted that if none of the previous tricks had worked, the drive might need to be replaced with options and descriptions about what to do next - replace the drive manually, take the iMac to an Apple Authorized Service Provider, or take it to a nearby Apple Retail Store. The assistant pushed the manual replacement as an option if the stuck disc wasn't important.
With the iMac G5, Apple seems to be making strides towards user serviceable machines that still fit their stylistic guidelines for consumer machines, at least, with their high end consumer machines. While the iMac G5 is pretty easy to open up and add RAM to, apparently the new stripped-down Mac mini is not. This makes some sense, as with its price the Mac mini is more of a disposable and replaceable machine if it develops too many problems in its life. Keep the display, buy a new cute and tiny CPU. With the all in ones, there's an expectation for them to last longer, at least in my experience. My iMac DV (G3/400) served me fine for many years, but one of the reasons I held on to it was that I knew that upgrading meant replacing the whole system and I wanted that upgrade to be worth it, and that came true with the iMac G5. With all of the things that can potentially go wrong with a computer, especially an all-in-one unit, over its lifetime, it makes sense for Apple to make the architecture easier for end users to support. It's not the DIY build-your-own-box that many geeks seem to prefer, but it's better than the more rigid architectures demanded by the styling of the iMac G3 and G4 systems (although Apple did a nice job with the iMac G3 DV (slot loading optical drive) systems, making the RAM and Airport card slots fairly accessible).
How this works out in the long run has yet to be seen. But there is a different feel coming from Apple these days. Maybe it's the new strength of the brand, courtesy of the iPod, iTunes, the iBook, and the iMac G5. Maybe it's the communication Apple is getting directly with customers through their successful retail operations. Maybe it's the growing media attention with lines like "hey, I can browse the web on this machine too, and not have to deal with all the viruses currently affecting the Windows world, and it's pretty darn easy to use and good looking too," that's bringing more "switchers" in. Maybe it's that The New Apple (second coming of Steve Jobs Apple) has been around long enough with enough successes and failures (iMac versus Cube) to know what works and what doesn't. Maybe it's just a new sense of pride (part of the strength of the brand) that comes from all of the above. Whatever it is, there is a rather positive feel. Or maybe I'm just feeling a buzz from my pleasant little "oops, how do I get a busted CD out?" support experience. In any case, I'm even happier with this machine and company that I've been a fan of so long. It's experiences like this that enhance brand loyalty, even more than the sexiness of the hardware/software.