Feel free to add more to the pile.
June 27, 2011 6:02 PM Subscribe
This post was deleted for the following reason: This is super duper thin. -- cortex
After the day I've had, I've got to add myself to the list.
posted by Ad hominem at 6:04 PM on June 27, 2011 [10 favorites]
posted by Ad hominem at 6:04 PM on June 27, 2011 [10 favorites]
That web developer needs to add himself to his list. That bottom nav bar is obnoxious.
posted by banished at 6:06 PM on June 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by banished at 6:06 PM on June 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
They're missing Logitech, who makes great hardware but terrible software.
posted by NipplesOfTheFuture at 6:13 PM on June 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by NipplesOfTheFuture at 6:13 PM on June 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
The inclusion of Nokia on the list is interesting, given that their recent deal with Microsoft basically does amount to a decision to stop making software.
posted by Tomorrowful at 6:13 PM on June 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by Tomorrowful at 6:13 PM on June 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
Sony : obnoxious stealth rootkits aside, soundstage makes iTunes look good
posted by JustAsItSounds at 6:15 PM on June 27, 2011
posted by JustAsItSounds at 6:15 PM on June 27, 2011
That post it three years old. Nokia doesn't write software anymore. One down!
posted by cjorgensen at 6:16 PM on June 27, 2011
posted by cjorgensen at 6:16 PM on June 27, 2011
oops, somehow I missed the first company on the list... and got the name of sonicstage wrong. Move on people, move on
posted by JustAsItSounds at 6:16 PM on June 27, 2011
posted by JustAsItSounds at 6:16 PM on June 27, 2011
Lenovo. That is all.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 6:17 PM on June 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by ZenMasterThis at 6:17 PM on June 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
Somebody has to: Microsoft.
posted by Ad hominem at 6:17 PM on June 27, 2011
posted by Ad hominem at 6:17 PM on June 27, 2011
God I hated SonicStage!
posted by TwoWordReview at 6:18 PM on June 27, 2011
posted by TwoWordReview at 6:18 PM on June 27, 2011
IPSO is fucking awesome.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 6:19 PM on June 27, 2011
posted by Threeway Handshake at 6:19 PM on June 27, 2011
Sorry, this is pretty weak for an FPP.
But I will say, hopefully without a hint of glee, that most of these things (anti-virus, preinstalled crapware, proprietary hardware drivers) are completely foreign to me as a Mac user. Not to drag Apple into a conversation where it doesn't belong, especially considering it gets such disproportional focus around here anyway, but this is one area the company's always mostly succeeded at: offering users escape from that suffocating feeling of being controlled by their own unwanted software.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 6:25 PM on June 27, 2011 [4 favorites]
But I will say, hopefully without a hint of glee, that most of these things (anti-virus, preinstalled crapware, proprietary hardware drivers) are completely foreign to me as a Mac user. Not to drag Apple into a conversation where it doesn't belong, especially considering it gets such disproportional focus around here anyway, but this is one area the company's always mostly succeeded at: offering users escape from that suffocating feeling of being controlled by their own unwanted software.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 6:25 PM on June 27, 2011 [4 favorites]
A graphics card driver drives the screen. It does not include two context menus and a tray icon that handily reminds you that you don’t have an SLI configuration every time you boot.
Well, I just opened up my nVidia control panel--in Advanced mode, thank you very much--and didn't see many options there I haven't used at some point or other. And it's no Clippy, either.
posted by Phyltre at 6:26 PM on June 27, 2011
Well, I just opened up my nVidia control panel--in Advanced mode, thank you very much--and didn't see many options there I haven't used at some point or other. And it's no Clippy, either.
posted by Phyltre at 6:26 PM on June 27, 2011
Somebody on my Twitter feed, I think it was, once wrote that "Whenever I boot up my computer and there isn't a Flash update screaming out at me, I feel like I have done something wrong."
posted by tumid dahlia at 6:26 PM on June 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by tumid dahlia at 6:26 PM on June 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
offering users escape from that suffocating feeling of being controlled by their own unwanted software.
Only to be suffocated by their own smugness.
posted by fire&wings at 6:27 PM on June 27, 2011 [4 favorites]
Only to be suffocated by their own smugness.
posted by fire&wings at 6:27 PM on June 27, 2011 [4 favorites]
I am watching this Nova special on the Hubble repair mission and so far it is cheesy and godawful. Can I nominate these guys?
posted by nathancaswell at 6:28 PM on June 27, 2011
posted by nathancaswell at 6:28 PM on June 27, 2011
Adobe.
Oh, by the gods, yes. This.
They should have shot the first person who even uttered the words "Creative" and "Suite" in that order together. Shot them and burned the body.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:29 PM on June 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
Oh, by the gods, yes. This.
They should have shot the first person who even uttered the words "Creative" and "Suite" in that order together. Shot them and burned the body.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:29 PM on June 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
Every GPL- or LGPL-violating audio/video editing/transcoding turd squeezed out by Chinese and East European "developers" who don't know to compile ffmpeg without dividing by zero.
The team behind Quicktime. All of you.Even Especially you, ""C:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe" -atboottime" guy.
Dell "All in One" printer software developers. Thank you for making my parents click through 5 windows of Comic Sans / Greetings Workshop '95 inspired clutter just to print something. Thank you also for hardcoding into your print prompt a reminder that your competitive "strategy" is unethical bundling of cartridges with deliberately broken printers. Thank you for being unable to ship a driver that doesn't foul up spoolsv every third print job. Thank you for making your sorry driver bundle incompatible with Windows Vista and 7.
Internet Explorer developers, for setting up all versions of IE since tabs were introduced to spawn tabs with a "Connecting" message that renders the tab temporarily un-clickable.
Windows Search. Go fuck yourselves, if you can find the orifice you're looking for without 10 boolean operators and indexing the entire surface of your body.
Windows Media Player: for when you want to watch DVDs from a playlist generated entirely from the names of IFO files on the disc.
Nero: from industry standard to bloated has-been in five years.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 6:29 PM on June 27, 2011 [8 favorites]
The team behind Quicktime. All of you.
Dell "All in One" printer software developers. Thank you for making my parents click through 5 windows of Comic Sans / Greetings Workshop '95 inspired clutter just to print something. Thank you also for hardcoding into your print prompt a reminder that your competitive "strategy" is unethical bundling of cartridges with deliberately broken printers. Thank you for being unable to ship a driver that doesn't foul up spoolsv every third print job. Thank you for making your sorry driver bundle incompatible with Windows Vista and 7.
Internet Explorer developers, for setting up all versions of IE since tabs were introduced to spawn tabs with a "Connecting" message that renders the tab temporarily un-clickable.
Windows Search. Go fuck yourselves, if you can find the orifice you're looking for without 10 boolean operators and indexing the entire surface of your body.
Windows Media Player: for when you want to watch DVDs from a playlist generated entirely from the names of IFO files on the disc.
Nero: from industry standard to bloated has-been in five years.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 6:29 PM on June 27, 2011 [8 favorites]
most of these things (anti-virus, preinstalled crapware, proprietary hardware drivers) are completely foreign to me as a Mac user
Well, the majority are specific to people buying certain types of Windows machines. I don't deal with any of this on Windows either, but I install vanilla Windows, use MSE for antivirus/etc (free, nice UI, no fiddling) and don't have to worry about things like Flash updates because I use Chrome (which has its own Flash version it keeps up to date).
Really I never have ot manually update anything, everything just hums along in the background.
The problems come because some PC vendors are like some smartphone vendors, and pre-install all kinds of crap that just makes things worse. On the upside, on Windows you _can_ actually remove all that stuff --- with phones it's not always possible without rooting and installing a custom ROM.
posted by wildcrdj at 6:31 PM on June 27, 2011
Well, the majority are specific to people buying certain types of Windows machines. I don't deal with any of this on Windows either, but I install vanilla Windows, use MSE for antivirus/etc (free, nice UI, no fiddling) and don't have to worry about things like Flash updates because I use Chrome (which has its own Flash version it keeps up to date).
Really I never have ot manually update anything, everything just hums along in the background.
The problems come because some PC vendors are like some smartphone vendors, and pre-install all kinds of crap that just makes things worse. On the upside, on Windows you _can_ actually remove all that stuff --- with phones it's not always possible without rooting and installing a custom ROM.
posted by wildcrdj at 6:31 PM on June 27, 2011
Oh god I just remembered RealPlayer. Old but fun.
posted by tumid dahlia at 6:31 PM on June 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by tumid dahlia at 6:31 PM on June 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
Nikon. Just... No.
posted by snickerdoodle at 6:31 PM on June 27, 2011
posted by snickerdoodle at 6:31 PM on June 27, 2011
most of these things (anti-virus, preinstalled crapware, proprietary hardware drivers) are completely foreign to me as a Mac user.
...
I don't deal with any of this on Windows either, but I install vanilla Windows
I think this is really the problem. What Apple does really well isn't how they compete with Microsoft, but how they compete with Dell, etc. The best thing that Microsoft could have done to improve the general Windows experience would have been to use those monopoly powers to beat down on the hardware vendors and kill the crapware that said vendors put on the average PC.
Interestingly to me as a PC guy, Apple provides a very smooth Windows experience - installing Windows on my Mac was the easiest Windows install I ever did.
posted by me & my monkey at 6:41 PM on June 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
...
I don't deal with any of this on Windows either, but I install vanilla Windows
I think this is really the problem. What Apple does really well isn't how they compete with Microsoft, but how they compete with Dell, etc. The best thing that Microsoft could have done to improve the general Windows experience would have been to use those monopoly powers to beat down on the hardware vendors and kill the crapware that said vendors put on the average PC.
Interestingly to me as a PC guy, Apple provides a very smooth Windows experience - installing Windows on my Mac was the easiest Windows install I ever did.
posted by me & my monkey at 6:41 PM on June 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
MYOB. It's software that hundreds of thousands of people control hundreds of thousands of dollars with, and it's incredible shite.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 6:42 PM on June 27, 2011
posted by aeschenkarnos at 6:42 PM on June 27, 2011
Interestingly to me as a PC guy, Apple provides a very smooth Windows experience - installing Windows on my Mac was the easiest Windows install I ever did.
You know fresh installs do that regardless of the hardware.
posted by kafziel at 6:43 PM on June 27, 2011
You know fresh installs do that regardless of the hardware.
posted by kafziel at 6:43 PM on June 27, 2011
As for the list itself, I'd like to nominate SecuROM, Starforce, TAGES, Valve, EA, Ubisoft, everyone that shits DRM all over products. It means something when pirated product are most often actually better products, because they doesn't shut down from shitty DRM tying up resources and generating false positives.
posted by kafziel at 6:48 PM on June 27, 2011
posted by kafziel at 6:48 PM on June 27, 2011
Tomorrowful: "The inclusion of Nokia on the list is interesting, given that their recent deal with Microsoft basically does amount to a decision to stop making software."
Not all of Nokia's software runs on the phone.
posted by mkb at 6:51 PM on June 27, 2011
Not all of Nokia's software runs on the phone.
posted by mkb at 6:51 PM on June 27, 2011
Adobe? So obvious and so obviously wrong to anyone that has actually used their software as anything more than a glorified MS Paint. There's plenty wrong with Adobe… plenty wrong, but "stop writing software" wrong? Not even close.
But I'll tell you who needs to be sacked: the assholes that write the device drivers for inkjet printers from HP, Lexmark, and Brother. You should never be required to install a giant software suite just to use your fucking printer. The device drivers are, like, two files: an .INF and the .SYS file it describes. That's it. But of course they never give you that option. Noooo… they bury the SYS and INF files inside giant honking software bundles. Somewhere deep inside that 50 MB SETUP_PRINTER.EXE file are 10KB of drivers that actually do the "stuff" necessary for you to use your printer. The rest of the crap is slipshod, half-assed, poorly-tested horseshit that might as well be malware.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:51 PM on June 27, 2011 [7 favorites]
But I'll tell you who needs to be sacked: the assholes that write the device drivers for inkjet printers from HP, Lexmark, and Brother. You should never be required to install a giant software suite just to use your fucking printer. The device drivers are, like, two files: an .INF and the .SYS file it describes. That's it. But of course they never give you that option. Noooo… they bury the SYS and INF files inside giant honking software bundles. Somewhere deep inside that 50 MB SETUP_PRINTER.EXE file are 10KB of drivers that actually do the "stuff" necessary for you to use your printer. The rest of the crap is slipshod, half-assed, poorly-tested horseshit that might as well be malware.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:51 PM on June 27, 2011 [7 favorites]
that most of these things (anti-virus, preinstalled crapware, proprietary hardware drivers) are completely foreign to me as a Mac user.
Not for much longer, though. Yes, people have been saying for years, but with the rise of MacDefender it's clear Mac is finally nearing hacker critical mass.
Knowing Apple, though, they'll just force all software through the App Store and deal with those consequences.
posted by dw at 6:51 PM on June 27, 2011
Not for much longer, though. Yes, people have been saying for years, but with the rise of MacDefender it's clear Mac is finally nearing hacker critical mass.
Knowing Apple, though, they'll just force all software through the App Store and deal with those consequences.
posted by dw at 6:51 PM on June 27, 2011
me & my monkey writes "The best thing that Microsoft could have done to improve the general Windows experience would have been to use those monopoly powers to beat down on the hardware vendors and kill the crapware that said vendors put on the average PC."
They were too busy squeezing all of the profit they could out of their windows license to the point that pretty well all the profit in consumer PC sales was in selling the desktops of end users.
posted by Mitheral at 6:57 PM on June 27, 2011
They were too busy squeezing all of the profit they could out of their windows license to the point that pretty well all the profit in consumer PC sales was in selling the desktops of end users.
posted by Mitheral at 6:57 PM on June 27, 2011
Not to turn this into another tiresome Apple thread, but proprietary hardware drivers? REALLY?
posted by kafziel at 6:58 PM on June 27, 2011
posted by kafziel at 6:58 PM on June 27, 2011
Camen Design
Your website is obnoxious and poorly structured. The color scheme is terrible and the font selection is weak. The topics reflect a menagerie of hipster bullshit and the broadband beg-a-thon on the homepage is pathetic. Please stop making web software.
posted by humanfont at 6:58 PM on June 27, 2011
Your website is obnoxious and poorly structured. The color scheme is terrible and the font selection is weak. The topics reflect a menagerie of hipster bullshit and the broadband beg-a-thon on the homepage is pathetic. Please stop making web software.
posted by humanfont at 6:58 PM on June 27, 2011
Whoever is responsible for the PS3 web browser... I'd much rather go with Netscape Navigator V1.0 if there was such a choice.
posted by crapmatic at 7:01 PM on June 27, 2011
posted by crapmatic at 7:01 PM on June 27, 2011
Adobe Lightroom is brilliant. For all the shit talking about Flash and other things they do horribly (including their installers), the team who made Lightroom deserves a ton of praise. It is an amazing program that does exactly what it needs to do in an intuitive way.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 7:01 PM on June 27, 2011
posted by Threeway Handshake at 7:01 PM on June 27, 2011
How could they leave out Ask.com?!
The only time I'm reminded that Ask.com still exists is when some piece of crap software wants to surreptitiously install their horsefucking toolbar on my machine. This is a sign that they produce absolutely nothing of value.
posted by Afroblanco at 7:02 PM on June 27, 2011
The only time I'm reminded that Ask.com still exists is when some piece of crap software wants to surreptitiously install their horsefucking toolbar on my machine. This is a sign that they produce absolutely nothing of value.
posted by Afroblanco at 7:02 PM on June 27, 2011
most of these things (anti-virus, preinstalled crapware, proprietary hardware drivers) are completely foreign to me as a Mac user......
offering users escape from that suffocating feeling of being controlled by their own unwanted software.
You mean your Mac doesn't have the excrescence that is iTunes?
posted by xetere at 7:03 PM on June 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
offering users escape from that suffocating feeling of being controlled by their own unwanted software.
You mean your Mac doesn't have the excrescence that is iTunes?
posted by xetere at 7:03 PM on June 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
From the post: The Yahoo Toolbar is like AIDS.
Oh dear.
posted by milkrate at 7:03 PM on June 27, 2011
Oh dear.
posted by milkrate at 7:03 PM on June 27, 2011
Whoever keeps adding cruft to AVG.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 7:04 PM on June 27, 2011
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 7:04 PM on June 27, 2011
offering users escape from that suffocating feeling of being controlled by their own unwanted software.
Late last week reports uncovered a plan by Apple to patent technology that can detect when people are using their phone cameras and shut them down. Apple says this technology was intended to stop people from recording video at live concerts, which should worry the creative commons crowd. But a remote "kill switch" has far more sinister applications in the hands of repressive governments.
posted by 445supermag at 7:05 PM on June 27, 2011
Late last week reports uncovered a plan by Apple to patent technology that can detect when people are using their phone cameras and shut them down. Apple says this technology was intended to stop people from recording video at live concerts, which should worry the creative commons crowd. But a remote "kill switch" has far more sinister applications in the hands of repressive governments.
posted by 445supermag at 7:05 PM on June 27, 2011
I haven't used their software, but 37signals really need to stop blogging.
posted by schmod at 7:07 PM on June 27, 2011
posted by schmod at 7:07 PM on June 27, 2011
PLEASE, oh dear god PLEASE stop the Mac/PC flamewar bullshit.
The OS debate is the most tedious conversation you can possibly have and still be talking about computers.
posted by Afroblanco at 7:08 PM on June 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
The OS debate is the most tedious conversation you can possibly have and still be talking about computers.
posted by Afroblanco at 7:08 PM on June 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
Adobe Lightroom is brilliant. For all the shit talking about Flash and other things they do horribly (including their installers), the team who made Lightroom deserves a ton of praise. It is an amazing program that does exactly what it needs to do in an intuitive way.
That would be the team at Pixmantec, whom Apple purchased part-way through the development of Lightroom. Lightroom existed in public (free!) beta for a rather long time. Pixmantec were picked up somewhere along the way, and the quality of the product skyrocketed afterward.
In many ways, I preferred Pixmantec's Rawshooter, because it didn't muck about with a complicated cataloging system, and just used the filesystem for organization (and let you easily do simple re-arranging chores from within the application). The other distinction was that it was blazing fast, which Lightroom has never been.
However, Lightroom's grown into a mature, and downright essential application for any serious photographer to have. Despite its bloat, it's still a great app.
I mentioned it in the thread about Final Cut X, but the long beta and feedback period that Adobe used for the development of Lightroom allowed them to create an awesome app from a shitty first beta, and built a hugely loyal customer base before the product was even released. Apple should have done this with FCP X.
posted by schmod at 7:15 PM on June 27, 2011
That would be the team at Pixmantec, whom Apple purchased part-way through the development of Lightroom. Lightroom existed in public (free!) beta for a rather long time. Pixmantec were picked up somewhere along the way, and the quality of the product skyrocketed afterward.
In many ways, I preferred Pixmantec's Rawshooter, because it didn't muck about with a complicated cataloging system, and just used the filesystem for organization (and let you easily do simple re-arranging chores from within the application). The other distinction was that it was blazing fast, which Lightroom has never been.
However, Lightroom's grown into a mature, and downright essential application for any serious photographer to have. Despite its bloat, it's still a great app.
I mentioned it in the thread about Final Cut X, but the long beta and feedback period that Adobe used for the development of Lightroom allowed them to create an awesome app from a shitty first beta, and built a hugely loyal customer base before the product was even released. Apple should have done this with FCP X.
posted by schmod at 7:15 PM on June 27, 2011
Am I the only one who noticed this list is almost exactly three years old at this point? The tip off was this line:
posted by hincandenza at 7:18 PM on June 27, 2011
Yahoo: If Microsoft bought you, your software would actually improve.which made me then look up and notice that the date in the top left hand corner- June 29th, 2008- was just shy of three years ago, and was one year and one month before Microsoft did buy Yahoo (after a fashion).
posted by hincandenza at 7:18 PM on June 27, 2011
Can I add Linux and open source engineers to a list of people who should be not be designing user interfaces?
posted by braksandwich at 7:20 PM on June 27, 2011
posted by braksandwich at 7:20 PM on June 27, 2011
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posted by Arthur Phillips Jones Jr at 6:03 PM on June 27, 2011 [22 favorites]