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Workbench rant: software annoyances I can do without
Bloated drivers.
Ok, fellas, what's the deal? Why do OEMs feel the need to cram drivers for every OS into a single, massive file? Even better, they pack them as an exe inside a zip so LoadScout doesn't do me any good. All I want is 300k of stuff for 32-bit Windows XP, and I'm stuck waiting while you let an encyclopedic archive for all platforms trickle down to me at 14K/s?
I hate you. I'm going to start paying for your hardware by mailing you a nickel every day for four years.
Driver installs for the braindead.
Why does almost every printer on the market include some hideous 250mb installer and not have a plain ol' drivers folder on the disc? Come on fellas! You're selling these things for an hour's wages at Hardee's, yet you've clearly spent loads of cash developing complex installers.
Clicking the browse button and finding a folder is not that hard. Infs and related files in one directory, please.
Crapware that comes with hardware.
My customer has PAID for your device. Do you think perhaps you could do them the courtesy of not trying to sneak in the Google toolbar or some stupid app that pretends to be delivering "useful product updates?" That'd be great, thanks.
Windows activation.
Microsoft clearly doesn't care that much about activation. I can call in and say that a decal is installed on one machine, I replaced the mainboard, yes, yes, no, yes, and get an activation code every time - yet I still have to call in.
It's not that I don't want to speak to the charming staff in Delhi - they're always very polite, though I've yet to talk to anyone whose favorite squadron is the NY Mets.
But why not just let me click on these things from an updated OOBE wizard? The thing hasn't changed a bit in two service packs, and the one in Vista is nearly identical. You can create songsmith, but you can't add a four-question confirmation page to the activation wizard? It's no wonder people use WPA kill.
Now it's your turn. Fire away!
Comments
38
Subscribe to commentsPS_4Jan 28th 2009 4:15PM
Any software that for some reason NEEDS to move the cursor to the center of the screen, or over a button like "OK" to make whatever process "easier" for the user.
Anyone who has played BF2 or has installed some creative drivers probably knows exactly what I'm talking about, and would probably agree that someone needs to be hung by their balls for this, because this is the biggest software annoyance that I have EVER came across.
KerrAvonJan 28th 2009 4:55PM
Apple Quicktime - everytime you install it, you un-check the box that says "Install Apple Update" and it ALWAYS installs it. Apple have not fixed this in the last several versions. They have to be aware of it, so why do they want the Apple Update on your machine so badly?
Adobe CS Applications - These things get worse with every new version, taking 20 minutes to install on a modern quad-core and, and another 20 minutes to uninstall. They have so much extra crapware they try and install, which you are not sure if you need or not.
supernova_hqFeb 5th 2009 8:35PM
How has nobody mentioned EULA's or Vista's UAC?
I run Ubuntu on my laptop, but had to help a friend with Vista the other day. I swear, just to install java (jre+jdk), I must have hit "yes i'm sure", "continue", "ok" and "i understand the situation" about 30 times!
God do I love ubuntu
sudo apt-get install -y java6-jre java6-jdk
DapxinJan 29th 2009 7:53AM
whats to use the over-rated broadBand lines then ?
arrgh. torrents r illegal and thepiratebay is evil :)
SteveJan 29th 2009 3:16AM
Events, not necessarily initiated by me, that take the focus away from the window that I am typing into. I look up from the keyboard, and the last fifty keystrokes have gone -- where?
Matias KorhonenJan 29th 2009 3:17AM
Microsoft Add/Remove Programs (or Programs & Features in Vista)
Why can't I just tick a bunch of check boxes and uninstall several programs at once. Especially with software like Visual Studio which gets installed into 10 separate applications.
MaffJan 29th 2009 4:33AM
you call it a Workbench rant then there's no mention of Workbench, AmigaOS or the Amiga, what gives?
SchwinnJan 29th 2009 9:26AM
On the activation-front: Because I frequently have to rebuild windows for customers, the one thing I really hate is that there are multiple versions of XP Home, for example, and no way for me to really know which version I need to install to get the code on the sticker to be valid. For example, I installed a "Royalty OEM" version of XPH on a laptop, and it let me all in...but now it won't activate by phone or online. WTF?!
Anyone have any ideas/clues on how to get around this, or do I just continue with the trial-error method I have done to date? (I know, if I knew the first 5 digits of the product id (ie, the "55277") then I can ID the proper version... but if I don't have that, how can I back out the version with the character-code on the sticker?)
Farseer (GDI)Jan 29th 2009 12:00PM
Check out my reply to Christian, above. You may find it helpful.
SchwinnJan 29th 2009 8:12PM
Maybe it will help, maybe it won't. The problem was that each CD had a special code on it (the setupp.ini file detailed here: http://wiki.lunarsoft.net/wiki/Product_IDs)
As you can see, in XP this can mean a different CD for each type of install. Now, granted, most will work on the OEM CD... but I used the "Royalty OEM" version for the last machine I tried to rebuild... and it accepted the key during the install, but refuses it on the OOBE and phone systems. I have a non-Royalty OEM disc, which I will try next.
I had similar issues with XP Pro installs, where I had the right Product ID root, but it still refused to accept the key even during the install. I finally found a CD that worked with it, and it had the same PID, but WTF?! What a pain in the butt.
At least it's nice to know that Vista has reduced this matter... hopefully 7 will keep this platform.
Anyway, can you tell me what PID the disc you listed has? Just curious (I don't want to download an ISO just to find out it's the same PID as my OEM disc.
Farseer (GDI)Jan 29th 2009 10:41PM
Glad to help. I pulled up the ISO, and according to the volume label, VRMHOEM_EN, it contains the following PID elements:
MPC= 55277 : XP Home generic OEM
CID= OEM
Let me know if you want me to dig further.
SchwinnJan 30th 2009 3:53PM
Nope, that's exactly what I expected to see - I have that version of OEM as well. So, it gets me to wondering - who, exactly, are the Royalty OEMs?! (The royalty OEM CD uses a 76477 PID, which is where I am having the issue. I'm guessing that they probably obsoleted that code or something...
Still, if you have a character-key that only activates under this PID, then how would you know without first going through the install? That's my issue with the current system - I have to do it by trial and error... there is no tool (that I know of) that can tell me what PID a certain char-code will work with... and that's my rant. :)
Joe LevellJan 29th 2009 10:16AM
1. Multiple versions of the same OS -- Ultimate/Premium/Basic/Starter/Business/64/32/Home/Professional/Server/Home Server/Small Business.....Seriously make one and expose the functionality that I need when I ask for it, don't charge extra for it.
2. Weak add-in software like Windows Movie Editor, if you are going to bundle software make it good. iLife is a great product that people pay yearly to update, you would think by now M$ could at least compete with one of those apps.
3. DO NOT CHARGE FOR WINDOWS 7! We all know it's Vista XP, we all know you screwed the pooch with Vista, you forced us to buy it with new hardware, why should it cost me to upgrade your mistake.
4. .Net is getting ridiculous, why are their so many versions, why are there service packs? Seriously you guys need to figure it out, it's a real pain in the arse to have to download all this stuff.
5. I love Vista Media Center, I use it daily, why did you ship it half baked? Why aren't you creating add-ins? There is so much potential in Media Center I don't know where to start. You didn't make the UI re-arrangeable, you made it virtually impossible to skin. Music management is a joke. Why didn't you include a "store" so I can spend money buying content and add-ins. Oh right, Xbox360, that thing, you put it in Vista for free but you left out all the stuff it really needs to make people use it. No offense M$, but just take it out if nobody is using it, or sell it as a stand-alone product and put some effort into it. I would love to have chat, email, web browsing, weather, movie management, games, "real" music management, pay-for media (tv, music, movies), and I would like to do it all from Media Center. You already made the software, just port it over already. Maybe people will actually use it.
corfmajJan 29th 2009 11:12AM
I had to install Microsoft Entourage on a Mac OSX computer the other day at work (for those who haven't heard of it, Entourage is the Mac equivalent of MS Outlook). It took about 20 minutes to install. Then it immediately asked (well, maybe "demanded" would be a better word since there didn't seem to be any way to say "no") to check for updates. So I did.
It found a 60 MB update, which it then had to download and install.
When that was done, it asked to check for updates. This time, it found a 14 MB update, which it proceeded to download and install.
When that was done, it asked to check for updates. This time, it found a 13 MB update, which it proceeded to download and install.
When that was done, it asked to check for updates. This time it found a 15 MB update, which it proceeded to download and install.
When that was done, it asked to check for updates. This time, it finally didn't find anything.
I might point out again that this is an email program. I don't know how much it initially installed, but it downloaded 102 MB of updates, and it didn't even do it all at once. In all, it took me nearly an hour to get to the point where I could start putting in the email account information.
I get really tired of updating the updated updates to the original update.
dpJan 29th 2009 3:53PM
Firefox. Annoying in so many ways. Enough to populate a website.
#1: Finds extension updates but requires manual intervention to install them.
#2: Requires another manual intervention after extension update.
so annoying.
laeroJan 29th 2009 5:26PM
I second everyone speaking of drivers. No I don't want HP Screen Capture Utility or HP Print Utility. I want to be able to print a single page. Thats it. No resizing, duplexing or whatever.
Second off, why do I need to download (and probably violate the EULA) and run som third-party patcher to be able to theme windows. I mean comon, I'm not gonna sue you if it breaks...in fact it have even done that a few times already.
sum1Jan 31st 2009 9:43PM
Firefox really needs to implement dynamic plugin loading. My ff memory footprint shouldn't be twice the size for plugins I only use once every couple weeks. I really shouldn't have to shut down the browser just to disable an addon. This is a design consideration neglected in most software which employs plugins but it really shows up with FF since I use it more than any other software and extend it more than any other. And while we're at it ff needs to implement some freakin aggressive garbage collection. The memory leaks are out of control. I realize most mem leaks in ff are due to poorly written plugins but it's possible to implement an architecture which makes such leaks difficult to create, and it doesn't help that mozilla offers so little in the way of tutorials and best practices for plugin makers.
qwertyblueJan 30th 2009 9:40AM
Only thing I can think to gripe about is software registration reminders. The software I got with my lg blu ray player asks for registration at windows start up and every time I load power dvd - I registered with vista but now I'm using 7beta theres no way to disable the pop up so it doesnt bother me again unless I register again. Who's idea was this?!