Diane Campbell is disabled and on a fixed income. She needed a computer and when the iPad came out she found that it would fit her basic needs and her budget. So she took $600 in cash to the Palo Alto Apple Store, excited to take an iPad home with her. But the store told her they would only accept a credit or debit card. So Ms. Campbell went home disappointed and empty-handed. The bad publicity has forced Apple to change its policy. I’ve believed for the past 10 years that the long-term cost of ownership (monetary and psychic) for a Mac is less than the average PC (my support for this supposition is purely anecdotal), when you take into account ease of use, software/hardware reliability, the lack of virus/malware issues, the availability of the Genius Bar to solve common problems, and the helpful Mac user community. This makes a Mac better long-term buy for fixed- and low-income families. Apple could do more to market itself to that demographic. Watch the video from Palo Alto’s KGO Channel 7.