Re: Version 7.0.1 bug with initial Palette positions
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg97204] Re: [mg97191] Version 7.0.1 bug with initial Palette positions
- From: peter <plindsay.0 at gmail.com>
- Date: Sun, 8 Mar 2009 05:50:00 -0500 (EST)
- References: <200903070741.CAA17106@smc.vnet.net>
I always find that a nice cup of tea helps in these situations.Peter 2009/3/7 Bob F <deepyogurt at gmail.com> > I downloaded the 7.0.1 update and started it up and it didn't place > some of the palettes correctly when starting up. I have a dual-screen > Mac setup and I put all my palettes on the left screen, and Notebooks > on the right primary screen so I have visibility of my notebook > windows at all times and not obscurred by the palettes that don't like > to cohabitate with normal windows (something I still find to be a > royal pain -- why cant they be like any other windows - yes I know you > can change their floating attributes, but the whole idea of not > behaving like any other window is so contrary IMO, you can't resize > them, you cant minimize them, etc). > > So in this case the WindowMargins parameter in the init.m setup file > had a negative left and top number and Auto for right and bottom. But, > for some strange reason only the ClassroomAssistant palette was > incorrectly placed on the left screen and before with 7.0 and 6.0 and > 5.2 things were fine (all the other 4 or 5 palettes came up in the > expected position which is even more bizarre actually - I can only > guess that the code that does the placement of the palettes is > individually isolated to each and every palette and not a general > purpose routine that all share, otherwise all would exhibit the > problem cause they are all on the left screen). The most bizarre > problem is that sometimes one of the other palettes would do this and > not the Classroom assistant, but not very often, and certainly not > repeatable as far as I can tell. > > The really ugly thing is that the ClassroomAssistant palette was > positioned so that the title bar was underneath the main Apple/ > Mathematica menu along the top of the primary screen and no matter > what I did, I could not move it. It's title bar was underneath and > totally not reachable. > > What I ended up doing was using the OptionInspector to change the > WindowMargins parameters so that it was lower on the primary screen so > that I could drag it where I wanted it on the left screen, or just > change it to what it should have been to begin with. But when exiting > Mathematica and then restarting, the same thing occurs all over again. > WHAT A PAIN!!!! And on top of that the init.m file is rewritten on the > fly when Mathematica starts up to change what it considers as an > invalid margin setting and changes them to what it thinks are valid, > but no message ever indicates that it just mucked with the settings in > the init.m on it's own prerogative for this ClassroomAssistant > palette, so you are forced to move it to where you really want to > every time you start up Mathematica as I described with the Option > Inspector and I spend a minute or two every time Mathematica starts up > to fix a problem it caused! > > I can't believe this simple user interface issue escaped the QA > process, and the beta testers. The only thing I can guess is that a > two screen setup is not common. When I called Wolfram to see about > this, the person in support was able to locate a dual-screen Mac and > verify that the problem occurs there also. So they have the ability to > test dual screen setups, but guess they either didn't do at all, or > not very extensively. Very disappointed in my first excursion into > 7.0.1 land -- but I will get over it. Now I will only have to wait 6 > months or maybe a year and the fix will be available. And I pay money > for this??? In the meantime, I know how to get around the problem - > thank goodness for the option inspector. > > Why oh why oh why do people put up with this kind of software > problems!! Wolfram get your act together and come up with some way to > get patches to people on a timely basis for when you create bugs and > problems and don't catch trivial bugs you create in releasing new > versions, let alone the hard ones. This is not the first time this has > happened, far from it. I am sure everyone on this list has stories > that would cause us all to shake our heads in familiar disappointment > and belief. If people feel the same, please let your Wolfram sales and > support contacts know how disappointing this kind of problem is and > encourage them to come up with a solution. > > That Mathematica is such a powerful tool is it's saving grace, but > Wolfram -- wake up and smell the coffee! Remember a company called > Quark, who was so world famous about not giving a rat's behind about > customers problems -- now Adobe has virtually killed them off because > people gave up on Quark ever getting better. Please, WOLFRAM, do a > better job of QA and do a better job of coming up with a way to solve > bugs, rather than wait for months and years and the next release. > THERE HAS TO BE A BETTER WAY. Solve it and you will have even more > loyal and fanatic customers. > > Of course, I realize that the problem is not rampant, but a relatively > rare, and certainly Wolfram is not the only one suffering from this > problem. It only becomes such a frustrating issue when it affects > things in what I am doing or try to do, and I say to myself that this > ought to work, that I get so disappointed. And I am sure that we all > have shared in this frustrating experience before. > > But the fact that it happens again and again and again is the part > that completely baffles me and makes me think how could they shoot me > in the foot again and think I wouldn't say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!! I am > so disappointed with bad, careless, and sloppy programming - why after > about 60 or 70 years of the "science" of programming and all the > advancements of computer hardware, do things like this continue to > occur? It is not just Wolfram, but rampant in the entire field of > software. The complexity of code today and the difficulty in solving > trivial as well as difficult problems is hardly any better today than > decades ago. Since the overall complexity of software solutions is so > many orders of magnitude greater, the only saving grace is that the > hardware is so much faster as well. Otherwise we would be in a truly > dismal position. > > But I am sure there is a solution for this problem, and Wolfram does > have some of the most talented and resourceful and intelligent people > in the world. My wish is that they solve some really fundamental > problems so that customers don't have to continually have to go thru > this frustration on every release and every bug, but instead remember > and chant to themselves > > Just wait for the next release - the problem will be solved, or at > least moved to some other, hopefully unimportant, spot. > > In the meantime, just don't do it that way, no matter how much you > think that it should work or not work that way. Adapt and be happy, as > the alternative is rather miserable. > > -Bob > > -- Peter Lindsay
- References:
- Version 7.0.1 bug with initial Palette positions
- From: Bob F <deepyogurt@gmail.com>
- Version 7.0.1 bug with initial Palette positions