Reply to: Why is software so rubbish?

[expat]

I hate crap user interfaces and crap instructions, designed and written by developers with personality disorders for fuck-knows-who.

... I've had to follow step-by-step instructions where each step is 100 words long ... sometimes there isn't an action in there at all - despite it being a numbered 'step' ... instructions in the wrong order - for example, how to create a boot disk where the last step is "Don't forget to insert a blank disk before you start".

Similar problem: somebody thought tech writing was simple and could be done quickly by anybody.

[wendigo100]

I hate crap user interfaces and crap instructions, designed and written by developers with personality disorders for fuck-knows-who.

I've been asked to write guides for using dialogs that have unlabelled fields. And sometimes fields on the same dialog box with duplicate names.

I've had to use text fields that don't let you move your cursor to edit your content - you have to delete it from the end back to the point where you want to edit, then type it all out again (step forward BT-Yahoo for your Technical Enquiry form).

And I've had to follow step-by-step instructions where each step is 100 words long in which you have to read the life story of the action in order to work out what it is - often just "Click OK" or similar. And sometimes there isn't an action in there at all - despite it being a numbered 'step' - it is just the life story of some part of the system that nobody gives a sh1t about.

And instructions in the wrong order - for example, how to create a boot disk where the last step is "Don't forget to insert a blank disk before you start". I found one of those recently.

A lot of this crap is in home-brew or beta software, but much is publicly available, like the BT-Yahoo example above, and crap navigation like MacAfee's webtulipe.

[expat]

Why is software bad?

Over on Business / Contracts there is a request for an Oracle DBA to install software and train staff in Oracle DBA funstions. It is for "a day or two".

There is the reason: people who plan and buy IT think there's nothing to it.

[DaveB]

It should be pointed out that you don't need iTunes to use an iPod, so if your son doesn't like iTunes it's perfectly possible to use something else (though probably not if he's been downloading the DRM encumbered stuff from the iTunes music store - but then the blame for that goes to the recording industry not Apple).

As I said, he has an iPod but doesn't use iTunes. His music comes from the usual sources...

[Cowboy Bob]

It should be pointed out that you don't need iTunes to use an iPod, so if your son doesn't like iTunes it's perfectly possible to use something else (though probably not if he's been downloading the DRM encumbered stuff from the iTunes music store - but then the blame for that goes to the recording industry not Apple).

[DaveB]

a) well why the hell are you moaning?

b) They're only cool because they work. I bought mine because it works flawlessly and I don't have to worry about things not working (like most other players and particularly windows itself).

I'm not moaning, I'm pointing out the reasons Apple lost out in my choice of Music software which was relevent to the topic of the thread anyway.

So the only thing it has to do to be cool is work? My Mp3 player is a crappy £12.99 usb jobby from Woolworths. No-one in their right mind would describe it as cool but it works...

[TheMonkey]

A) I'm not.

B) The same reason everyone else is using one. They are "cool".

a) well why the hell are you moaning?

b) They're only cool because they work. I bought mine because it works flawlessly and I don't have to worry about things not working (like most other players and particularly windows itself).

[DaveB]

Well a) Why the hell are you using iTunes? b) Why the hell is he using an iPod?

A) I'm not.

B) The same reason everyone else is using one. They are "cool".

[TheMonkey]

I dont have an iPod. If I did I want to be able to select tracks by the criteria I mentioned before and download them to it. This is what I do with the Mp3 player I do have and it all works very nicely.

My son does have an iPod and he doesn't use iTunes either for exactly the same reasons.

Well a) Why the hell are you using iTunes? b) Why the hell is he using an iPod?

[DaveB]

There is a reason it does that actually. It's in that format for your iPod, which has a very optimised filesystem for small devices. No processing is required to load the iPod files and the iPod doesn't have to know about directory entries etc. It is very well thought out if you use the abstraction and not the data store directly (which is my point).

Same reason in unit testing - you test the public interface, not the implementation because it's all that matters.

I get the feeling a lot of people on here really are missing the target when it comes to software.

I dont have an iPod. If I did I want to be able to select tracks by the criteria I mentioned before and download them to it. This is what I do with the Mp3 player I do have and it all works very nicely.

My son does have an iPod and he doesn't use iTunes either for exactly the same reasons.

[TheMonkey]

Every other peice of music management software I've used, including Media Player, *shudder*, has taken the music files from wherever they are and given you the option to organise them by genre, artist, album, title etc in any combination. The issue with iTunes is that you dont get this, all it does is stuff all the tracks together in alphabetical order making it impossible to select a specific album or a specific artist quickly and easily when you want to.

Music Match is still the best music app I've used and one of the few I paid for.

There is a reason it does that actually. It's in that format for your iPod, which has a very optimised filesystem for small devices. No processing is required to load the iPod files and the iPod doesn't have to know about directory entries etc. It is very well thought out if you use the abstraction and not the data store directly (which is my point).

Same reason in unit testing - you test the public interface, not the implementation because it's all that matters.

I get the feeling a lot of people on here really are missing the target when it comes to software.

[DaveB]

Every other peice of music management software I've used, including Media Player, *shudder*, has taken the music files from wherever they are and given you the option to organise them by genre, artist, album, title etc in any combination. The issue with iTunes is that you dont get this, all it does is stuff all the tracks together in alphabetical order making it impossible to select a specific album or a specific artist quickly and easily when you want to.

Music Match is still the best music app I've used and one of the few I paid for.

[TheMonkey]

I will say to people that iTunes is total sh1t on windows. It works at least 10x better on MacOS X, mainly because the operating system natively supports the framework it's built on top of (Cocoa + Objective C) rather than having to emulate it. Not only that, the Mac has a hefty visual compositor for the UI (which is entirely drawn on the graphics card!) so it's going to be slow pixel-pushing GDI on windows.

Not wishing to sound like an Apple fanboy, but you need to chill out a bit think about things...

When you are using iTunes, you are knowingly relinquishing control over your music collection to a piece of software. It is working on the assumption that you have done this and you are entirely intent on letting it deal with the boring stuff like managing files. According to iTunes, you SHOULD be interested in looking for music, playing it and enjoying it, not what happens to the filesystem. If you want to use the filesystem, don't use iTunes - you have a playlist manager already so stop fecking whinging!

It's a screw and you're hitting it in with a hammer.

As for the issue of crap software. Several reasons things are crap:

1. Marketing drive.
2. Crap programmers.
3. Design by evolution
4. Developers not listening or understanding the HCI people becuase "they know better" - you bloody don't believe it or not!
5. Too many cooks.
6. Poor communications
7. Alpha techie dictatorships.

[expat]

...my personal favourite, was any approach to Doncaster from the South.

can't say I've ever had cause to notice that one

[curtainrail]

Software is rubbish because people are stupid. For every one competent person involved in the creation of a software product there are a hundred stupid ones. The input of the stupid dilutes that of the competent. I have found this to be the case in every company I have ever seen in my life. This is true of all companies, producing software or anything else. Everything is rubbish, nothing is worth buying, no-one is paid what they earn. There is no point trying. Its all bollocks. The western world is doomed. HTH