ALL i wanted to do...

all i freaking wanted to do was update an old wire frame in omnigraffle, and now i am in update hell. i am redesigning my portfolio web site, and i wanted to make it a case study for my design process, from information architecture to a finished live site.

a few days ago i got into omnigraffle and realized that the version i was using at my old job was a newer version than the one i have on my computer. the version i have does not have "canvases" which is like a "master page" feature, so i was not able to edit the canvases at all with the version i have. i could have started from scratch, but that seemed silly since i have documents with pages all set up and ready to go. i went to the omni web site to see how much the update was. on their site i discovered there is now a whole new version (5) of the program and the pro version of the version i have (4) is no longer available, the update from 4 to 5 is only 39.99, so i figure what the hell. i pay for it, download it and try to run it. it doesn't run on tiger, only on leopard. what a pain in the freaking arse.

so i email them and tell them i need a refund because i can't run their software. i get an email back that says if i want to i can buy version 5 and then request a downgrade to version 4. ok, that sounds reasonable (sort of), i will do that. i just want to get on with my life and be able to edit this document. so the next day i buy it again and send an email requesting the downgrade and wait all day for a reply (this is day 2 by the way of trying to resolve this issue). i finally get an email back that says no. i have gotten it wrong. AGAIN. i cannot down grade from normal version 5 to pro version 4, i can only downgrade to pro 4 if i pay for pro 5. the upgrade to pro 5 from normal 4 is 139.95. the normal version 5 runs the canvas feature, which is the only thing i need that i don't have.

now i ask you this? if you had the option of upgrading your operating system (for a mere 129.00), or buying a new version of a piece of software (that while it does a few things well, has pretty limited overall value, and has obviously gone out of it's way to alienate and suck $ out of it's users), which would you do??

ok, so i decided to go ahead and update to leopard (i figured i would have to do it eventually anyway). but, guess what? i can't purchase and download from apple.com, i have to either order it and have it delivered (5-7 business days) or physically go to the store and buy a copy. can you see the steam coming out of my ears?? yesterday (which is day 4 of this adventure, if you're keeping track) we drove out to ardmore (roughly an hour there & back) and bought fresh, shiny, new copy of leopard.

apple boy informed us of the many updates since release and advised that i run the updater 3 times to get everything up to speed. right now, it is sunday morning (day 5) and i am in the middle of software update number two.

the good news? well omnigraffle 5 does appear to run on leopard and i can edit the canvases. w00t! i will let you know how i like leopard after i get done with all the updates and can actually poke around.