I don't suppose we could see the message you sent him? Might help us understand his response...
Below is my email to Steve. I should point out that I'm not particularly proud of it - it was written in a pique of frustration shortly after the announcement and during some particularly bitter words being uttered by many people in the official Apple support forums. I tried to make it strong and highly critical without using abusive language to really hit home how a lot of Mac Pro owners were feeling at the time.
To those people who still express doubts about the validity of the email, there's not much I can say or do to convince you. I thought about posting a screenshot of Gmail, but you're still going to question it. Just know this: I'm a graphic designer. I don't have the knowledge to fake an email header of the complexity of the one I posted earlier. Especially in such a short space of time. As for the proofreading comments ("...worked") that's what happens when people are busy and send emails in a hurry. I'm sure we've all done the same.
Anyway - the email I sent:
Dear Mr. Jobs,
I have no doubt that this email will never get to you, however I am
writing in the vain hope that your assistant will bring this matter to
your attention.
Recently the new range of Mac Pros was announced by Apple, and fine
machines they are too. However, there are a significant number of
existing Mac Pro owners who have been patiently waiting for a long
long time now for an upgrade path for the graphics card (currently the
top of the line is a Radeon 1900XT which is well over a year out of
date - eons in graphics card terms).
I'm sure you can imagine how pleased we were when it was announced
that the new Mac Pros will have the option of an Nvidia 8800GT card,
and this was offered as an upgrade in the Apple Store. However, now
it has come to our attention that these cards will not work in older
Mac Pros (and by "old" I mean a machine purchased last week). The
fundamental reason for buying a Mac Pro aside from its power is that
it is the ONLY Apple machine that is expandable and upgradeable. Yet,
your company has decided to remove that option. I can assure you that
this has already had an impact on your sales. A brief look around the
'net has indicated that orders are being switched to PC workstations
because you have destroyed the confidence of potential Mac Pro buyers
by taking away the main reason we buy them.
Let me be very clear. There is utter disgust, disappointment and
contempt being expressed by the Mac Pro community for Apple right now.
Go into the Support>Discussions area on the Apple website and you
will see that the community is up-in-arms about the way we have been
treated. You have a serious revolt on your hands. Let me remind you
that we are your best customers. We spend many thousands of dollars
on our Mac Pro workstations, and yet we feel like your company cares
more about someone who spends a couple of hundred bucks on an iPod.
Mac Pro owners are the hardcore of your customer base -your power
users. We are the ones who have supported your company through the
leaner times, when the OS wasn't quite what it should have been, or
sales weren't so good. We use your machines in a professional
capacity and we make large orders for expensive equipment and
software. Well, no more. We won't be treated like second class
customers, at the back of the queue behind kids buying iPhones.
Do the right thing. We deserve better.
Sincerely,
Oh Geeeeez.
