Stupid Fucking Safari

I don't know about you, but I've had some real beefs of late with the current incarnations of Safari. One pesky problem is the fact that both the Panther and Tiger versions often have trouble loading pages: I type in a url, or open a bunch of bookmarks in tabs, and some fail to load. Safari says it can't find the site. A simple reload generally rectifies the problem, but still, it's just fucking annoying that Apple can't quite seem to get their own browser to actually load all pages every time they're requested.

The other problem I continually have, though this seems to be only in the Tiger version of Safari, is that my browser window placement is often changed after quitting and restarting the application. People who know me well know that I am a total freak about my window placement and sizing. I have window placement set up in certain ways that work very well for me, and I don't move my windows around. Ever. Having them in consistent locations with consistent sizes makes me a far more efficicient, far less bitchy, computer user. I find the moving of windows pointless and unfathomable -- you want it out of the way, hide the application or, if you must, minimize the window (though, if you've set your windows up properly, you should never, ever need to do the latter). Quit moving the windows around. It's stupid and inefficient. Can't you see that? Find a good place for them and leave them. Do you know how many times I've had users tell me that the Timeline Window in Final Cut had simply disappeared and would not come back? Guess what. They'd moved it off screen. Cut it out. There's no reason for it.

As I already said, I am a total freak. But I'm right.

In any case, as much as it pisses me off when users move their windows around, it pisses me off ten times more when they move my windows around. And as much as that pisses me off, it pisses me off a thousand times more when an application randomly and arbitrarily repositions its windows for no apparent reason. Tiger's version of Safari does this on a fairly regular basis. So much so that I'm really this close to switching to Firefox or Camino as my primary browser. And to add insult to injury, getting back your custom window position setting requires not only that you reposistion the main Safari window (which used to do the trick), but that you resize it as well.

What.

The.

Fuck?

And one last thing: What the Hell happened to the "Bookmark This Group of Tabs" feature? About a year ago, everyone was asking for this, and, I believe, the Safari developers were claiming it was just around the bend. But lately, all's been quiet on the "Bookmark This Group of Tabs" front. This is another missing feature that has me eyeing (and trying) other browsers. I'd put out a call right here right now to go bug the Safari devs to add this feature, and I'd go bug them myself, but I'll be damned if I can find a place to request a feature. Maybe it's this damn migraine that's mucking me up. Anyone know where/how to do this?

Okay. All done.

Somebody's Actually Reading This?

I just got back from an almost web/email free vacation yesterday, during which, needless to say, I was not posting on this blog, nor checking the email account that gets contacted when people post comments. But then, no one ever comments, so I figured no biggie. In fact, I honestly didn't think anyone was reading this blog at all. I really just made it as a sort of notetaking system for my various systems projects, both at home and on the job, and I've shared the URL on certain forums when it seemed appropriate.

So I was quite surprised to find, upon my return, several comments on some of my recent posts. This is great, actually. I'm hoping people can benefit in some way from my experiences, and already some folks have provided me with some potentially very useful info in the comments section. And I'm hoping this will continue. Either way, I will keep posting my experiences, because it's both fun and useful for me. But thanks to the folks who posted comments. It's much appreciated, if unexpected.

Lastly, about the future of this blog: I'm hoping to move The Adventures of Systems Boy to a webserver that's independent of Blogger sometime in the near future. Nothing against Blogger, mind you, it's just that I'm starting to hit the limits of the Blogger system, and I really want to implement things like categories, if for no other reason than it helps me organize things in a way that's more useful to me, and, I would presume, readers of the blog, if I continue to have readers. The details of this migration are still quite sketchy: I've got to get a domain name and a host for the site, and figure out the best blog server software to use. Yes, I'm still quite new to all this blogging jazz. Until then, I'll be here, on Blogger, which has served me quite well thus far. Needless to say, once the migration is complete, I'll blog all about it.

Again, thanks to the folks who are reading, and to those who've commented. It's got me quite jazzed.

And now, it's Pizza Time.

systemsboy

Duplicate Computer Names Automatically Changed

I just cloned my system to another computer. When I rebooted the clone it had the same name as my original system, for obvious reasons. Interestingly, once the computers figured out they had evil twins on the network, they both renamed themselves. So, if my computer's original name was "systemsboy," its new name became "systemsboy (3)" and its clone was renamed "systemsboy (2)." Unfortunately, taking the original machine off the network did not cause the clone to rename itself back to its original name (which makes sense, but it would've been cool). To do that, I had to go to the Sharing System Preferences and rename the computer by hand.

I think this is new in Tiger, but I'm not sure.

Escape Finder Window Resizes

Well, this is pretty stupid, but I thought it worth a quick mention as it just came in handy a minute ago.

If you're as anal about your window sizes and positions as I am (it's okay, we all have our things), and if you happen to be changing either the size or the position of a window in the Finder, and if you, for some reason, decide to change your mind and you don't want to resize or reposition that Finder window, just press the esc key, and your window will pop back to its last state.

Hey look at that: a whole post in three sentences.

Followup:
This works as described in Panther, but in Tiger it only works for size, not position. Pressing esc while moving a window in Tiger has no effect.

And there go my three sentences. Oh well.

What I Think of the Tiger 10.4.2 Update

I've been waiting for the Tiger 10.4.2 with bated breath for a couple months now. Why? Well, there are lots of bugs and annoyances in Tiger that make it much more painful to use than one would like. And yet, there are enough good reasons to move to Tiger that I am gradually doing so. I'd heard a lot about how the 10.4.2 update was supposed to fix a great many of the problems, and frankly I was really hoping this would be the update that gave me the confidence to move ahead with Tiger. Instead, it's just pissed me off. The list of fixes is so obscure I'd not heard of most of the listed problems, and I scour the tech sites. Some are even just downright bizarre. After all the hype, I find myself disappointed again.

Here's what Apple had to say about the Tiger 10.4.2 Update, complete with snarky comments by yours truly.

Improvements
This update offers many reliability and compatibility improvements. Here are just a few of the enhancements and improvements included:

AirPort
With this update, logging out of Mac OS X automatically disconnects the computer from an AirPort network if it is using WPA Enterprise security settings (this does not affect WPA Personal WEP-secured networks).

Oh, good. I'm glad we have a new way to get disconnected from Airport. I was getting bored with the old ones.

The AirPort menu extra displays more information when you enable a Software Access Point with this update installed.

Yeah, I know that was bugging a lot of people.

Adds support for AES encryption of WPA-PSK networks, which are supported by many wireless access points.
The Try Again button behaves as expected when attempting to join a third-party, WEP-enabled wireless access point with this update.

Hey, here's a thought: Why not get the Apple hardware working first.

Improves reliability when associating with wireless networks after waking from sleep.

Which is promptly broken again with the arrival of Airport 4.2.

Improves WPA2 wireless encryption support for AirPort Extreme cards.

I don't know about you, but I live in constant fear of any update that affects my Airport connection. They usually seem to break more than they fix.

Mail
In Mail, if you retrieve and sort IMAP mail using multiple email clients, the counts of unread IMAP messages in mailboxes other than what's in your Inbox are more accurate with this update.

Um... So you're saying you've finally taught a computer application to count? Nice.

Addresses an issue in which IMAP messages deleted in Mail could unexpectedly "reappear" after a few seconds.

And you've taught it to delete stuff. Genius!

In some situations, a Mail message's attached graphic displayed as a small blue box with a question mark inside the message window, even though the attached file was just fine; this update addresses the issue.

And display stuff. Amazing!

Mail no longer tries to print an HTML message's remote images if the "Display remote images in HTML messages" option is deselected—the message is printed without the graphics instead—after this update is installed.
This update addresses an issue for Mail in which signatures with graphics were not appearing as expected.

Yeah, what about the problems people were having getting their Mail! Apparently, not such a big issue.

iChat
With this update, you can successfully send and receive AIM messages using iChat after changing network locations (without having to log out and back in)—from wireless to Ethernet, for example.
If iChat is logged in to your AIM account in Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.4.1, logging in to the same account on a different computer disconnects the Tiger computer without warning—this update adds a preference choice to iChat to avoid this, if desired.
iChat no longer states that the network is unavailable if you intentionally disconnect from the Internet using Internet Connect without first quitting iChat.
Improves video framerate for iChat when certain kinds of background processes or applications are running.
Resolves a situation in which iChat could incorrectly report "insufficient bandwidth to maintain conference," even though enough bandwidth was available.

I don't know. The list of iChat fixes is just plain boring. I'd like it better if it said something like, "iChat now has the ability to grant Godlike powers to it's users and smite their enemies." Alas, it does not.

Finder
Addresses an issue in which the Finder could unexpectedly quit if Show Package Contents was chosen several times from the shortcut menu for the same package.

This is a big issue? A problem that affects maybe five people, is difficult to reproduce, and that is easily avoided by simply not opening the same fucking package over and over again? Why don't you just write a patch that address the issue of people being morons. That would fix at least 75% of all your OS problems.

The Finder slideshow feature should now always work as expected.

How very reassuring. You know, seems to me like the Finder slideshow should have always "always worked as expected." That's what that means. Now it either works, or it doesn't. Which is it?

If ACLs were enabled on an SMB volume, a Get Info window in the Finder wouldn't show the Details section when getting info on files stored on the volume—this update addresses the issue.

Glad Apple is fixing Get Info problems on SMB volumes. But what about Get Info on AFP volumes? Or local volumes, for Chrissakes. I guess that nut's too hard to crack, 'cause guess what, folks: still broken.

Addresses an issue in which a supported burning device could unexpectedly be seen as "unsupported" by the Finder.
The duration of MP3 files is accurately reported in Get Info windows in the Finder with this update.

It amazes me, sometimes, what gets fixed first in updates.

Other applications
With this update, many applications, including Safari, work better with proxy servers that require authentication.

Okay. Good.

With this update, you can use Safari to log in to MyAccount on cingular.com.

Okay. Huh? Is this Apple scratching Cingular's back because they're about to do a mobile phone with them? This seems totally out of left field to me. Anyway, thanks for scratching my back for being a loyal fan and customer for the past 7 years.

Safari pages scroll better with this update when scrolling with a scroll wheel (such as one on a third-party mouse or keyboard).

Actually, this is one of the two real improvements I noticed in 10.4.2. Still not as good as in Panther, but acceptable now. Thank God.

Orange iCal calendars, with alarms that go off while iCal is not open, no longer change color after the alarm is snoozed.

What, just the orange ones? Alright, this is getting ridiculous.

Addresses an issue in which Stickies.app notes could disappear unexpectedly if Stickies opens automatically during login (if it was set as a Login Item in Accounts preferences).

If you're still relying on Stickies, you're a loser. Go buy the paper kind. Problem solved.

Addresses an issue for Adobe Premiere 6.5 in which the application could unexpectedly quit when exporting a file.

If you still use Premiere, which isn't even made for Mac anymore, you're a moron, but Apple supports you.

With this update, the Reduce File Size option in Preview works as expected when saving a file as a PDF from the File menu.
Addresses a Keychain Scripting issue in which the "password" property of a key often could not be retrieved.

It's just getting embarrasing.

iDisk, WebDAV
Improves .Mac iDisk syncing after changing network locations—an iDisk could incorrectly appear to be offline after switching networks, causing syncing to stop working.
With this update, you can access iDisk or other WebDAV servers through HTTP and HTTPS proxies.
HTTP/HTTPS proxy account and password settings defined in Network preferences are now used by the WebDAV file system as expected.
Addresses some issues that could occur when saving files directly to an iDisk.

Who gives a fuck?

Networking
Addresses an issue in which some Apple internal modems would not dial, and the PPP log would include a message such as "Failed to open /dev/cu.modem: Resource busy".
Adds improvements to Active Directory support.
Addresses an alert "Error code -8065" that could occur when copying a file through SMB to a Microsoft Windows-based PC volume a second time, if the file had previously been deleted from the PC.
Includes other enhancements related to connecting to and using Windows-based file servers (SMB/CIFS).
Allows Active Directory users with Mobile Accounts to authenticate without being connected to the Active Directory network.
Allows Active Directory users to log in after a restart.
Resolves an issue that prevented Active Directory users from accessing certain Kerberized services, such as ssh, on a Windows 2003 server.
Active Directory users can be given local admin privileges on a client computer, with this update.
Other enhancements

Are all the networking updates for non-Apple protocols? No, wait, there's that one for the 17 people still using Apple internal modems.

Software Update no longer unexpectedly quits in certain situations after upgrading to Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and changing Network Port settings, after installing this update. More....

Whatever. I'm getting tired.

With this update installed, Disk Utility (and fsck) can better resolve "Overlapped Extent Allocation" issues that could appear when verifying or repairing a disk.

This is actually kind of cool, I must admit. An improvement to fsck. Wow.

Xgrid can now map multiple input files using the inputFileMap key, and retrieve results from multitask jobs using the command line.
The Dashboard widget Unit Converter requires much less CPU usage after installing this update.
Improves performance for the web-based Power School student information system (http://www.apple.com/education/powerschool/).
Improves compatibility when using an HP Deskjet 5850 printer wirelessly.
Improves compatibility for HP LaserJet 1320 printers.
This update ensures that periodic background maintenance tasks run as scheduled in launchd.conf.
Addresses an issue in which custom installations from a Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger Install disc that don't require starting up from the disc could cause Installer to stop responding ("hang") for a couple of minutes if the destination volume was write-protected (eventually, a "There is not enough space for this item" message would appear).
External disks no longer unmount unexpectedly when switching users, if Fast User Switching is enabled.

Who cares?

Addresses an issue in which after performing a NetInstall or restoring Mac OS X from a disk image, you may see certain files and folders at the root level of the Mac OS X volume that are not supposed to be visible, such as etc, tmp, and var. More....

Actually, this affected me, so I'm glad to see it fixed. Of course it got fixed about two hours after I'd found the workaround. Better late than never, and I have to say, it's good to see little admin stuff like this get fixed. But only when it helps me.

With this update, the ttys file can be edited in Tiger; for example, if you're creating a login hook.
Addresses an issue in which the computer might wake from sleep with a black screen if it went to sleep while prompting you for a keychain password.
Allows users to log in with Kerberos authentication when using an edu.mit.Kerberos file.
These Automator actions are updated in this update: Add Files to Playlist, Add Songs to Playlist, Import Photos into iPhoto, New Mail Message, Run Shell Script.
The AppleScript "do shell script" command has been revised.

This last bit is obviously for the Geeks. We'll take it.

Like I said, overall this update was diappointing. Seems like there are a lot more prominent bugs that could have been addressed but weren't. I can't figure it. And what's worse, this update leaves me completely unmotivated to switch to Tiger. Until the worst of the worst bugs get squashed, I've decided to stay with Panther.