Sir - Des Corbett (July 1st) is perfectly right. Apple executives should have told Tanaiste Mary Harney to "take a hike" when she asked the computer company to save jobs in Cork. Her Government and its predecessors, as well as their agencies, have done nothing to support the jobs in Cork. Indeed, they have fostered a climate of disparagement about Apple Macintosh computers.
As a Mac user, I needed Internet service and got the software CD from Telecom Eireann, only to find that it was suitable only for IBM clones. I got a replacement, after considerable delay, and found that while I could access the Net, I could not use the e-mail function. Lack of that facility has cost me a fortune. A third software CD did not rectify the problem. I spent hours phoning and "on hold" while the Telecom Eireann support people tried to find a technician who understood Mac requirements. My phone bill reflected the delays and difficulties. In frustration, I cancelled the Internet service. Did they care? Not a whit. Perhaps British Telecom will be more considerate to Mac users when it enters the market here.
Schools, through a recent Tesco/Quinnsworth promotion, received voucher funding for classroom computer purchase. As a parent, I enthusiastically supported the effort. How many Macs were acquired? None here, at least. Internationally, Apple Macintosh computers are strongly favoured in publishing, design, cartography and a host of other sectors. They are fast and incredibly easy to use, with none of the gobbledygook that PCs require (even with their copy-cat Windows programmes). I know: I have used both systems professionally. As far as I am concerned, I'd take one "byte" from an Apple for all the megabytes in any of its competitors.
The State and its agencies treat Apple products like forbidden fruit. How many of the taxpayer-supported personal computers being sold in the designated "technology town" of Ennis are Apple Macs?
Apple computers have invested heavily in Cork. It has been a good corporate citizen, with a well-paid, unionised workforce. I sympathise wholeheartedly with those workers who will be signed off. I do not sympathise with Harney or her Government for their eleventh hour concerns. - Yours etc., Darach MacDonald,
Monaghan.