software

May 05, 2010 11:30

Why does software get worse the more advanced/successful it becomes ( Read more... )

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Comments 10

bertine May 5 2010, 16:33:19 UTC
I was just thinking that today. I used to love Trillian but the last couple of years they have made it way too complicated when it didn't need to be!

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ludomancer May 5 2010, 16:49:10 UTC
It feels like a movie that has 2 sequels too many.

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megatronbomb May 5 2010, 16:42:28 UTC
We use CS3/4 at work. My job involves printing and it drives me insane that the print dialogs aren't the same across the different Adobe apps even though they install as part of the same package! It's incredibly annoying!

On the Mac, Preview works wonders so there's no need for Acrobat Reader... though I do have the full version of Acrobat installed and use it occasionally.

I wonder if VLC is better in its PC incarnation? I've never been overly impressed by it.

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ludomancer May 5 2010, 16:53:46 UTC
Adobe changes my default printer every time I open it. Weeee....

PC VLC is pretty slick since torrent porn comes in such a variety of formats wait what?

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megatronbomb May 5 2010, 16:55:10 UTC
since torrent porn comes in such a variety of formats

That's the only reason I have VLC!

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dajoey May 5 2010, 20:02:36 UTC
vlc is pretty flawless on the PC. And it has a handy little web interface option so I can control it with my phone.

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richie73 May 5 2010, 18:30:53 UTC
I couldn't agree more. Acrobat reader is just horrible. It's slow to start and has a tendency to crash my browser. Winamp - oh yes.

I guess feature creep is all that's left to do once you've basically perfected a product.

ACDSee is another prime example of a program that used to be known for its speed and small size and is now bloatware.

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ludomancer May 5 2010, 18:57:02 UTC
I love how the P in PDF means portable and yet I scramble for an app to view it.

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shoubushi May 6 2010, 15:16:28 UTC
I suspect the primary problem is that when you initially design a program, you are aiming at a single function or tightly connection combination of functions. Once you have a significant userbase, then that userbase may demand more loosely connected functions which leads to the bloating aspect that popular programs tend to get. If you don't implement these functions, the perception (but likely not the fact) is that you risk losing that userbase. Huh, I'd have thought risk-averse companies would have less features in their software... (maybe my analysis is wrong?)

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