Thursday, November 10, 2011

Rage Against Technology

I live with the not unreasonable expectation that every time I do a certain thing to a machine or with software programs I should and can expect the same results.

This expectation has more often than not been proven to be false, which absolutely stuns me every time. I think of myself as a human being with some emotional weaknesses but on the whole mostly rational. The fact that machines and software programs have the audacity to act up against me and take on a will of their own totally and completely pisses me off!

What has made the otherwise meek, happy-go-lucky and ever so humble Bock so angry you wonder? Well, this is what happened.

Yesterday I read about the new Linden Lab Beta Viewer 3.2 on Sven Idyll´s blog. He was very convincing so I uninstalled my Firestorm viewer, cleaned up my computer from anything SecondLife and downloaded and installed the new viewer.

I was totally enchanted by the exceptional usability of the new user interface and by the fact that my personal and group IM´s were vertically stacked (see picture).

It´s an awesome feature that prevents you from missing any IM´s and also keeps them collected in the same space instead of spreading out all over ones screen.

Well today I did the mistake of reading Sven Idylls blog again and seeing his praise for Starlight I decided to try that feature too. I shouldn't have done that! Because when I had installed the Starlight my vertically stacked IMs disappeared and seem to be lost forever.

In an effort to try to retrace my earlier steps I have uninstalled Starlight. uninstalled  Beta Viewer 3.2, cleaned up my computer completely from SecondLife, re-installed Firestorm and chosen the vertical tabs, uninstalled Firestorm, cleaned up my computer, re-installed Beta Viewer 3.2.

Nothing helps and my vertically stacked IM´s are gone and instead I end up with this (see picture).

Thinking about this I realize that I am mostly angry with myself. When the f**k will I learn not to mess with something that is good!

P.S. Finally I must emphasize that this was none of Sven´s doing he only got me excited when I read his blog. If I in any way have given you that impression I apologize to Sven Idyll!

7 comments :

  1. If it's any consolation, I did not got Starlight to function properly. It's a nerd software. Only for those who want to "do with the computer" is not for those who "want to get something done with the computer ".
    My advice for the future, regardless of OS:-Change one thing at a time. When you are sure that it works back up and change the next.

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  2. This is a mystery. I installed Viewer 3.2 to a computer, totally reinstalled from the beginning, but the stacked IMs are always in horizontally mode.

    In Firestorm debug settings, there is a field for ChatTabDirection and if the value is set to 1 there, the IMs will be stacked in vertically. Now to the mystery, I have checked three different versions of Linden Labs viewer and the setting for ChatTabDirection isn´t present in anyone of theese versions?

    I've been looking at Lindens Jira to find any information about ChatTabDirection but there is no information about that at all, ( for viewer 2 and 3 ). In Firestorms Jira there´s information about ChatTabDirection.

    But I like to solve problems so I will examine more ... and i still love Starlight! ;)

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  3. @Vanadis How do I make a back-up of my SecondLife viewer and it´s settings at any given moment?

    @Sven I do not know how it happened or why it happened I just know it did happen, that why I am only a user and you are a techie.

    Now back to work with you and come back and tell me what to do to get it back! ;)

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  4. Ever consider doing a one-week blog poll for major issues such as this on your blog Bock? I think you should - does Wordpress offer a gadget like Blogger does this this?

    Good post, but I thought you might be turning Luddite on us! I am the real Luddite here because I won't stop using my Phoenix.

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  5. Thanks Eddi, well I do have Luddite tendencies but I am often successful in curbing them!

    About the poll, I am also using Blogger, so I have that option, but I will leave this poll to you. Write it up buddy and I will ask my readers to go vote!

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  6. I have "Time Machine", Apple backup software, with that a can go back in 5 min step and replace the whole harddrive or one singel file. I hade stepped back and replaced "Second Life settings"-file or/and Second Life software. Must exist something similar for PC.

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  7. OK, I am sure there is something for Windows also, but my question is, to go back don´t I have to have made a backup previously?

    Or to put it straight, can I go back to something I had yesterday which I haven´t made a backup off?

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