Update: I managed to isolate the problem and fix it.  Back to normal operation. Better actually: the changes I applied make the tools I use work even better and faster than before.

A temporary setback which will slow me down for a week or two...

Working on a few new features for c9; I think I have outgrown the tools I use to work on c9 :-(.  Apparently a common problem for working on very large programs using the technology that c9 is based on; tools now run very slow and are unreliable.  C9 is as solid as ever but the tools I need to work on c9 are now flaky; which is frustrating me to no end.

C9 now contains 550 windows and 90 reports, it has almost doubled in size in last 2 years. Due to dealer appetite for more sophistication and capability, there is no indication that things are going to slow down anytime soon.  This rapid growth is main reason I have outgrown my professional development tools.

Going to retool my workshop so to speak;  just purchased latest version of the software tools I use; to be shipped from USA (for some reason they don't offer software download so have to wait). Hope to receive it in a week or  3.  Other programmers that use latest versions tell me it is a massive improvement on ability to get work done.  Also it is based on technology I hope will allow me to run in an environment more comfortable for me (under Mono or Wine, which older versions could not do).

In meantime I'll need to suffer working at reduced productivity for a while.  Luckily most of focus at the moment, on catalogs and web development will not be impacted by this.  New versions of c9 will continue to ship as normal, but I'll be holding back a little bit until I finish retooling.