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The idea of software is changing a lot, with big apps becoming bloated, tiny apps making money on mobile devices, everything being sold in an app store, and webapps taking the place of desktop software. Some trends may be good, some may be bad. What worries you the most about the way the software world is changing? What do you think is the worst current software trend?Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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1. There’s so much smuggling in of unwanted spyware and bloated services
2. Updates and patches which require extensive user interaction: Apple, Adobe, Java, …
Apple Software Update in particular
A couple of times recently when it’s popped up with an update for iTunes, it also has automatically ticked the boxes in the New Software section to install Safari and Mobile Me. I hate that.
1. Mobile apps which promote functionality and productivity which are really only very basic do one thing only and not very well.
2. iOS. Why place so many restrictions on every bit of software and what can and cant be done? Open up just a little. ..
3. Let iOS have a file structure.
Rushing out software that is no not finished and letting the poor sap that bought it do the testing. :[
Bad install default settings, like auto update and toolbars.
With 1 or 2 programs maybe acceptable but with 100+ phoneing home and jamming on first net connection of the day, every piece of software arrogantly assumes all resources are for it. Resently made a slipstreamed install cd basically 80% of the extra programs put in had to have custom installers.
The Cloud has got to be the worst trend. I’m old enough to remember buying services and music in the past only to find those services disappearing. Also some music I purchased can no longer play because they can’t be authorised.
The Cloud means you have no control. Flexibility and freedom perhaps, but no control.
And if you have limited quota on your broadband or if you rely on mobile broadband, you won’t always be able to run your cloud based application.
We had this in the sixties and seventies, everything on a server. The introduction of the personal computer changed all this and gave us immediate access and control. Please keep it (mostly) local. Some cloud services are handy though, but I don’t want it to be the be and end all.
The terrible porting larger companies do when creating a port from Windows to Mac\Linux. A lot of smaller companies seem to do a far better job of porting software across platforms that the larger companies.
It just smacks of utter laziness.
It goes both ways. iTunes has enough bugs on the Mac, without adding another apple-basket full of issues on Windows. Apple refuse to respect platform and UI conventions on Windows. If they want to beat up on Microsoft and others for not being Mac-like then they should provide some “by example” leadership.
Device software that installs a “service” that starts up every time you start your computer because we’re obviously too stupid to start the software manually when we plug our devices in…
e.g.
iTunes
TomTom @ Home
Leapfrog
Software that runs services in the background that do weird things for no apparent reason.
My girlfriend’s version of Quickbooks holds onto USB flash drives (including ones it has nothing to do with) and it took a long time to figure out, now whenever she wants to removed a flash drive, she has to stop the Quickbooks service from running in the background.
Further to this, why does Quickbooks even need a service running all the time?
Would you like a toolbar with that?
No? Too bad, I’m giving you several anyway!
The Cloud. The recent PSN breakin has (IMHO) vindicated my preference for keeping my data local.
iTunes. It’s really starting to be a major misnomer, not to mention FRAKIN’ QUICKTIME!!
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