I would like to recommend as highly as I can Phillippe, the proprietor of “Computer Factory,” a Macintosh dealer I had the good fortune to meet while I was in Brussels with a debilitating Powerbook problem. I had been getting a ‘kernel panic,’ which would immediately freeze my computer since I was at Visa Pour l’Image in Perpignan. All the experts at the Apple center in the Palais de Congres there were unable to come up with a solution, once they’d eliminated the memory cards and hard drive as possible causes. After the festival, on my way to some appointments in Belgium, I spent seven hours at the shop in Paris that manages all the Macs for Visa, but they couldn’t help me either.

Finally, on the day of an appointment in Charleroi that I absolutely needed the Powerbook for, my friend Gael Turine took me to the Computer Factory in Brussels. Phillippe opened up the machine on his countertop and started testing things, letting things run while he took phone calls and took care of other business. Finally, after maybe couple of hours he discovered that the airport card had come slightly ajar in its slot, causing an electrical short, which created the kernel panic. No one else had bothered to check that. The problem I’d had for a week was solved and he absolutely refused to take any money for helping me.

These are the kind of minds one needs to find out there on the road. When he opened up the back of the machine he had already decided that he was going to solve the problem and would not be denied. As Gael had told me before we went to the store, “This man has the right attitude. I know he will fix it.”

I would not have been able to make my appointments I’d come to Belgium for without him. I understand that he also has the best Mac prices in the country.