Eek A Bug!

By “Cajun” David Richard
For this section of our newsletter, we will be reporting on the most common, and the most exotic bugs that we have encountered over the past two months.  Keep in mind that these bugs will not be around forever, so enjoy them while you can, especially this issue’s Most Unusual.

This issue’s set of bugs are of the usual bug types. I thought that this month we could take this opportunity to concentrate on a couple of problems some folks were having with our software.

Most Common:
I have had, on a consistent basis, folks coming to me with problems experienced while entering in our registration codes. After receiving the code in the mail (after much anticipation, I’m sure) some folks rush to their computer to enter their new registration code, only to find that the code is coming up invalid. After retyping in the code several times, carefully checking each letter, the code still seems to appear worthless.

Work Around: 
Our coding software is very picky. Any inconsistencies and your code will be rejected. But some don’t fully understand that the code is not just the eight letter string, it is your name, product, and number of copies as well. 

Here’s how it works: When we get your registration, we take your name, exactly how you sent it in, and use it along with the product and number of copies to generate the code. When you get the code from us, you type your name, number of copies, and the code into the dialog box. The software then generates the code again, and compares it with what you typed in. If the two do not match, then the code comes up invalid.

The thing that causes so much trouble is that sometimes folks will enter something different for their name, such as a middle initial, nickname, or short form of their name. This will cause the software to generate a different code, and when it compares it to the one you typed in, it comes up invalid.

The solution to all of this is to make sure you are typing in exactly what we are sending back to you on your license postcard. This is what we used to generate the code, and it is the only thing that will work. But as with all non-superhuman types, we do make mistakes. So if you are doing everything by the book with no success, then your code may be wrong. Simply contact us and we will give you a new one.

Most Unusual:
This is more of a theory than an actual bug, but I have noticed a possible problem that some of you may be affected by. Extremely isolated reports have led me to believe that there may be some damaged logic boards floating around out there. The problem appears to be discovered by Maelstrom, and so far, it’s only been on 7100 PowerMacs. The problem is that Maelstrom, having been proven to run fine under the PowerMac emulator, will unexpectedly crash, usually early in the game. After testing the integrity of the Maelstrom files, removing any possibility of conflict with INIT’s, and running nothing else, the problem still occurs. Although I do not have much information at this point, I would suspect that if this problem does actually exist, it would also emerge during other applications. Keep in mind that this is only a theory.

Work Around: 
Bring your newly purchased PowerMac 7100 back to the store (don’t forget your receipt) and exchange it for a new one.

If you have any problems with any of Ambrosia’s products, please let us know. We can be reached in a variety of ways, but the best thing to do is to send E-mail to AmbrosiaSW@aol.com. Replies are usually returned in about 24 hrs.