This guy is a personal hero of mine now.

There's some follow up story information on this...

http://www.wisinfo.com/postcrescent/news/archive/local_4730076.shtml

I hear what people say about this guy being a sort of hero, but to think about it from the manufacturer's point of view, it's can be very frightening to have a customer walk in with a sledgehammer and bash your product to bits. If he came in with a sledgehammer, what else could he do? Yes, he knows that it was going to stop there, and his friends know that he's not a violent man, but how does anyone else know that? I can competely understand other patrons being terrified, and I think the police should have investigated it. Maybe not jail him, but certainly visit him at his home and have a talk.

That said, I'm glad he made the impact (no pun intended) that he did. I have been in that frustrating service spiral of doom before, and it isn't pretty. There's got to be a point where the company has to admit that a new computer is required, and that replacing parts is obviously not going to work. Unless this guy is constantly sabatoging his machine, there's just no other explanation for constant trouble like that.