Luckily in italy we have same scheme “qwerty” keyboards! surely this is a bad advertising for apple… but from what I read, they deserve it!
They’re located in IRELAND because they pay lower taxes (same as microsoft).

hi jack!!! i realize this post is fairly scathing but i’ve been a mac advocate for such a long time, and i honestly feel betrayed.

Never order something during french holidays! france is ran by interns for 2 months, maybe even at matignon there are only interns!!!

What an awful experience! I hope you gave Apple a piece of your mind.

I’m a Mac advocate, too, if only because I still find their gear more user-friendly, and less prone to viruses and other crashes. But I have to agree with you: Mac service has gone downhill big time. Since their iMac design breakthrough, they’ve turned themselves into a high-fashion brand — at least in the U.S. They’ve opened stores in posh areas — thus killing the smaller, more knowledgeable techie vendors–, and staffed them with cute little punks with a silly attitude that would better fit in a Prada store. Conclusion: bad skills, bad customer service.

Earlier this year, I had to liaise with their back office operations for one of my clients. I was appalled by their obnoxious bureaucracy, which reminded me of bad French “Sécu” days. My enthusiasm for Apple is now seriously eroded, but the question is: what’s the alternative, apart from the big, bad “Mini-mou”?

I understand your frustration but I have a feeling it has more to do with switching keyboards than it does with the keyboard itself. My situation is such that I have to use both for extended periods as I live both in France and in the US at different periods of the year. My home computer (which I use in France) has an AZERTY keyboard while my laptop (which I use in the US) is QWERTY. So four times out of the year I have to make a switch from one format to the other. It takes me about a week to adapt but it’s not too bad. Personally, I prefer the AZERTY style by far. It is annoying that some keys are rearranged but the extra characters make up for it. It’s really annoying to try and type in French – or any language with accents for that matter – on a QWERTY keyboard.

ok, i am feeling more calm now but this story isn’t over yet!

frog, dunno about alternatives (wahhh!) but if it get really really bad i might have to become a reverse switcher!

The Mac notebooks are (I believe) Asus-made, which means you can get pretty much the same hardware from another vender. If you just can’t stomach Windows, there is always Ubuntu. Lots of former Mac users that are becoming fed up with Apple are making that switch.

the english/japanese keyboard that we have is not in the same places as what i learned on–mainly the marks like apostrophe and parentheses.

theoretically, i should be receiving a uk keyboard, which is like the american qwerty, with the exception of the “@” sign. instead of the 2 key, it’s somewhere near the return key. i can live with that i guess.

i do hate windows!

i don’t want to switch keyboards! sorry about being such a brat about it. it IS sort of frustrating when i need to type in french but i don’t need to do that very often so i really NEED the qwerty. i have a feeling that the canadian keyboard would be the best for me! it’s qwerty but has accented letters that are easily available.

FYI: I have a Matias keyboard: http://matias.ca/usb2keyboard/index.php#.

It’s a qwerty, but with all the French accents, the € sign and all other °, ™, ±, ¿, §, etc. characters on the keys. You only have to use option, or option/shift key to type them (eg. é= option e e). Very useful when you have to type bi-/multi-lingual.

It is Max OS X & Mac OS 9 compatible, and comes with a USB 2.0 dock. You can order it online (including on amazon). Not the greatest quality but cheap…especially in €!

hmm i wonder if that is the canadian keyboard, frog. thanks for the link too. good to have handy. actually, i already have qwerty keyboards, it’s that the mac i ordered is a laptop and i’d rather have a qwerty keyboard on that.

I’d return the laptop to Apple and give them a piece of my mind for a replacement/refund. If they refuse to oblige, threaten to file a complaint with the DGCCRF [http://tinyurl.com/o4f6q]. II’ve used it in the past, and the mere mention of it gets companies to act on your claim pronto.

If Apple France cannot get you the laptop you want, can’t you order it directly from the U.S. (or have it brought by family/friends) — or maybe from the U.K. (European warranty)?

that’s an excellent link. thanks, frog! i actually would’ve just gone and bought one myself in the u.s. and brought it back but i so don’t want to deal with the new airtravel changes etc. it’s also why i don’t want to ask someone to bring me one. (otherwise, i’d do in a second! i’ve done it b4 ) i postponed going back, in fact.

i know, this is WAY more complicated than it SHOULD be. i might contact apple in cupertino california to tell them what is going on over here. i’ve done that with amazon. i had such a headache from amazon.fr, that i wrote a letter to jeff bezos (haha, the ceo). amazon hq in washington contacted me immediately and kicked some butt over here. my stuff “magically” appeared after all that drama. really, sometimes customer service is like pulling teeth for ppl here.

If you contact Apple in the US, they won’t help you. They’ll tell you to contact Apple Customer Service in France (who won’t help you either…but that’s a different story.) I think that’s why they can’t open an Apple Store here in Paris; they haven’t figured out how to deal with the ‘customer service’ issue.

I never order anything important to be delivered in August (like my ATM card) which was lost in the mail 3 times. So far, and counting…

(I also helped a friend here order something from Amazon.fr for the first time, telling him what a great service it was.The vendor never sent his book, and he never got a reponse from the seller or Amazon.fr here afterwards. So I contacted Amazon in the US, and they resolved the issue that same day.)

david lebovitz!! you’re right about never ordering anything in august. our friend just opened a bar/restaurant in july and is still waiting for her burners and kitchen equipment. they seem to be “lost.” obviously only the bar is open. i think i need to go there right now.

I suffered the same while in Brussels!

Why not to return to the old days where English Dovorak was the only std? (And I’m Spanish speaker)