Hi all,
I'm a Ubuntu Intrepid user, starting from some recent system upgrade, I begun to have the same desktop problem I had more time ago with early Hardy Heron releases:

when I launch applications, their windows randomly appear on the upper-left corner of the screen, but with the title bar hidden by the gnome-panel.

system equipements:
Video card: GeForce 9500 GT
Drivers up to date from new Intrepid repository and verified with the nvidia recomended
Accelerated driver enabled

My very boring workaround consists in moving the panel on the bottom screen side, so I can see the windows title bar again, and drag it just under the panel but not behind.

I'll be sincerely grateful to those who will give me a hand

I believe this is a Compiz issue. In 7.10 I reverted back to the metacity desktop and the problem went away. It's greatly improved in 8.04 but isn't 100%. It also seems to be application dependent. I've seen a little of this with Pidgin and with the open file pop up window in Gedit.