When you are using an old computer like my Pismo and G3 iMac, occasionally there are bumpsin the night.
MobileMe Won't Sync
When Apple changed from .mac to MobileMe, I was all excited about it(as were many Apple users). Unfortunately, while my sage octopus (theiMac) will sync with MobileMe, my beloved Pismo has a log in errorevery time I try to sync. Apparently something had gone bump in thegentle Apple night.
Being the complete idiot that I am, I thought that it might havesomething to do with the Xubuntu that I had installed in the firstpartition of the Pismo's hard drive. I wiped the drive (after cloningit to my backup drive on a hard drive module I purchased from MCE) andcloned back to the Pismo's internal drive. This made no difference.
I decided to reinstall Tiger and wiped the drive again, installedTiger, and migrated from the backup drive. Still no change.
At this point I was so desperate that I emailed Apple.
Let's be honest, Apple is having enough problems with gettingMobileMe working with Intel computers, so I'm sure that some old fartwith an ancient G3 Pismo is the last thing on their collectiveminds.
I did not get any answers from the mothership.
I was going through my Address Book and noticed that my card did nothave my photo on it. I quickly made my card into My Card and said tomyself, "I wonder if that's what's hanging up my login to .mac?"
Well, Skippy, that's what it was. I now can sync my computers withMobileMe. Of course, I don't get "push" email, but my 8-and-a-half-yearold Pismo can still use the latest stuff from Cupertino.
Skype Doesn't Have Software for G3 Macs
I don't know about you, but my cell phone bill sucks. Sure, it'snice that I can reach the other 4 members of my family, but since 3 ofthem are teenagers....
I finally canceled my land line and decided to take the plunge intoVOIP. I found that Skype was thecheapest way to make phone calls over the Internet, but . . .oops, another bump in the night. I could not install Skype software onthe two G3 Macs. (Are you trying to tell me something, Steve Jobs?)Sure, I could install Skype on my sons' Dell and my daughter's G4 iBook, but nothing doing on the G3s.
So I emailed Skype and asked if they had an older version of Skype Icould try. I received the following reply:
Hello John,
Thank you for contacting Skype Support.
Unfortunately, we cannot provide you with an oldversion of Skype. Also, we do not encourage our users to downgrade,since with each new version a lot of problems are fixed. However, youmay download older versions of Skype from websites that provide them(http://mac.oldapps.com).
But please note that downloads from web sites otherthan skype.comare not officially supported by us and we cannotguarantee that the download works. Skype recommends to always use themost up-to-date version of the program.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
Best regards,
Mihkel S.
Skype support
I went right to mac.oldapps.com and downloaded the an older versionof Skype, and before you can say "lower phone bills", I was phoning therelatives. Coolness.
Not only can I make phone calls from my Pismo, but I can still keepit in sync with any other Mac I own now and in the future. I know thatan Intel Mac is in my future, but I can purchase it on my own schedule.Whew. 
