I couldn’t agree more. Like the new non-customizable toolbar, the compulsory “Rating” field at the head of the reference window is a great annoyance. Why a professional academic would want to “rate” publications in her or his personal database is a mystery to me but it appears that there are some amongst our ranks who wish to do so and they are entitled to their preferences. But why thrust this “feature” upon us all? In Endote, all other non-active fields can, naturally, be hidden by using the +/- buttons, or customized for selective display. But there is no way to get rid of this irritating “Rating” field. Even iTunes, which also has this “Rating” feature, allows users to opt out of having the “Rating” field displayed. Like the toolbar, all display fields should be fully optional and customizable. No exceptions. There is no reason why Endote cannot be useful to users with diverse personal and professional conventions and and preferences by simply allowing all users to opt in and opt out of these things. Not having certain features in a program is one thing. I am sure we could all think of features that we would like the developers of our favorite programs to incorporate into them. But having existing features forced upon you in a software environment that stifles the workflow by putting in place a regime of non-optional and non-customizable rigidty is simply unacceptable. While some users may like the feature, and they are of course free to have their own preferences, it is unreasonable for the “Rating” field to be thrust upon the rest of us.
All of this suggests that the pathological urge to hastily issue annual releases of poorly tested and conceived upgrades in the pursuit of rapid revenue, a problem which unfortunately pervades many sections of the software industry, also exists among the good folks at Thompson Reuters. Endote X6 is clearly a product of lazy and hasty work, the sort of 60% effort that might get an otherwise capable student in my class a C, but will leave him wishing that he had spent more of his time at his desk, and less of it at the beer keg, so that he could have earned the A that we all know he is capable of.
But since we have no good alternative here (I have tried Sente and other programs on the Mac and they have even more problems), we are at your mercy. Be kind to us. We do pay you for your product. I would recommend spending the next two or three years doing some real research and development on this program, rather than cashing in with another poorly thought out version next year. I am happy to pay for this program but I have a low tolerance for chicanery, as, it would seem, do many customers on this forum. You may be laughing all the way to the bank but it is we who must suffer.