[net.micro.mac] Does anybody know any good computer stores in Boston - the replies.

darren@runx.OZ (Darren Challis) (07/28/86)

About a month ago, I posted to this group, a request for the names of any
worthwhile computer stores, selling things for Macs, in Boston.

I only recieved one answer:- that was, that there were no very good stores in
the area, but the mail-order company 'Mac-Connection' usually delivers in 2
days. So, I gave my father, who was the one going to Boston, the details of this
and two others, in the area (Programs Plus, Northeastern Software) to try and
obtain the stuff I wanted: an Apple 800k external drive, a Cauzin strip-reader,
and a Microsoft MacEnhancer.

He arrived in LA, from Australia, on Saturday morning, and rang these three
mail-order places. Not one of them could deliver any of the articles before the
Wednesday on which he was to leave Boston. The MIT computer store -he was
staying at MIT- would only sell to students. They didn't tell him this straight
away. He tried ringing around to about a dozen computer stores in Boston. Only
two of which had their numbers connected. He was lucky to find a note on a
Bulletin Board (the non-computer variety) at MIT, advertising a new 2nd hand
drive, which he bought.

I am posting this as I had several requests from people for the answers I
recieved. I was personally not aware that these mail-order places have little
or no stocks, in order to minimize their capitol outlay.

Disclaimer: I have nothing what-so-ever to do with any of the above mail-order
companies or computer shops, or any other for that matter. As a matter of fact,
I probably never will.



________________________________________________________________________________
l Darren Challis,  l  ACSnet: darren@runx               CSNET: darren@runx.oz  l
l                  l    ARPA: darren%runx.oz@seismo.css.gov                    l
l Sydney,          l   JANET: runx.oz!darren@ukc                               l
l                  l    UUCP: {enea,hplabs,mcvax,prlb2,seismo,ubc-vision,ukc}  l
l AUSTRALIA.       l          !munnari!runx.oz!darren                          l--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

werner@ut-ngp.UUCP (Werner Uhrig) (08/06/86)

> darren@runx.OZ(Darren Challis@RUNX Un*x Timeshare, Sydney, Australia.) wrote:

> About a month ago, I posted to this group, a request for the names of any
> worthwhile computer stores, selling things for Macs, in Boston.
>
> I only recieved one answer:- that was, ......   etc., removed


	TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN (or be of help)

having lived overseas myself and experienced the hassles to find what I wanted
during short US-visits ....

and after having read Darren's limited success of getting what he needed
during his father's recent Boston visit ...

I'm moved to offer what assistance I can to future travelers in similar
need.  Unfortunately, Darren *COULDN'T* know in advance that it would be
difficult to get what he needed, and his posting may not have asked for the
*RIGHT* kind of help - mainly something like:

 '<person> is visiting <location> during <date> and wants to make sure  
that when he leaves he ownes <items>.  Can anyone help with arrangements,
making sure that these items will be available at the least cost possible?'

Personally, I tend to respond to such a plea and feel certain that others on
this net will, too (other priorities permitting, of course).

hopefully, someone from the geographic area being visited would speak up,
preferably, but UPS, FedEx and other mail-services being as good as they are,
I see no problem arranging stuff being send to someone's hotel anywhere, really.

And given that items could be charged to a credit-card or mailed C.O.D.,
nobody should have to end up "getting burnt" - of course, there could be the
overhead of making some long-distance calls, etc, but I trust that such
overhead would be considered 'minor' by most anyone (but a starving student).

I tend to consider this only a natural extension of the cooperative climate
on this net, don't YOU ???

	---Cheers,		---Werner

PS: maybe such "services" even deserve a news-group of their own, rather
	than limiting it to fellow Mac-enthusiasts.  I guess, I'll go ahead
	and cross-post this to net.news and, maybe, net.consumers then ....

	you may say, that such requests could have been posted all along in
	individual special interest groups (and net.wanted - but who reads
	that one anyway??!!) - and you are right, of course, but I'd prefer
	to distinguish certain "special" and "deserving" (oh boy, what a
	loaded term) requests from the more common requests.

	So, (and you are watching a volunteer project take shape as I write
	this) - I propose creating a new group called "mod.requests" (which
	can later be expanded to "mod.requests.whatever", when volume requires)
	and I volunteer as moderator (to get it started, anyway) - in the
	spirit of "put up or shut up" as it's easy to have ideas, harder to
	do the work to implement them.

	I propose that this be viewed as a service without intentions "for
	profit", but also where people are NOT expected to give away lots of
	their time for free or not be able to recover expenses.  All within
	a "reasonable" framework - get my drift?  and I'm not talking about
	a paid moderator (at least not until Stargate (Hellgate ??!! - just
	kidding, Lauren (-:)  arrives.

	I may take the liberty to request "references" (from a System's
	administrator, for example) or whatever else I can think of, to
	help make sure that people don't abuse (really, what far-fedged
	thought, Werner!), and might volunteer "honest middleman" services
	on a case-by-case basis ...

	...end of rambling thoughts for the inception of a new dimension to
	this net.  Given the success of some past groups I helped get started
	(net.consumers, net.micro.mac), I feel rather optimistic about the
	usefulness of my suggestion.  However, I would not look forward (nor
	do I expect for quite a while, really) to making this a group with
	comparable message-traffic as those groups.  But that's why I want a
	moderated group to start with.
	
	 Maybe we can even get some "Good Press" for computer
	networking, for a change - myself, I'm sure still upset about this
	BS coming out of CMU (supposedly) which made it sound as if we were
	all readily screaming and insulting each other here on these nets
	(not meant as an indication that I am willing to discuss this).

	I also think, that, just maybe, we can do something for the (once) good
	name of the computer-addicts that many of us are (we used to call
	ourselves "hackers" with pride, but have had that honorable title
	taken away from us and hesitate, even fear, to call ourselves "hackers"
	anymore these days ...)

	Anyway, we could use some good press, and creating a cooperative
	volunteer network with obvious benefits sure would make "the rest
	of them" jealous and "us" look good ... (no scandals, please!)

What do you think?  Will you help make it fly?  Will you, at least, give it
a chance?

  (only positive responses will be accumulated in my reply statistic... (-:

please, send me mail.

 Follow-Up: redirection to net.news.group has been included,
so please, help keep further discussions out of net.micro.mac and net.consumers.

ARPA/MILNET:	werner@ngp.utexas.edu	or	werner@ut-ngp.ARPA

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