User-unfriendly software...a small rant.

[daveza]

I have been in the trade for more years than I care to remember, so I know my way around a keyboard and a menu bar.

But every so often a piece of software comes along which is determined to make things as difficult and confusing as possible.

Have you ever tried to install the free afrikaans dictionary into MS Word ? The instructions are more than a page long in tiny print ! Does it really have to be so complicated?

My other unfavourite is ITunes.

Sheesh - a client just wants to clean his Ipod which has some songs his daughter put on from her library and replace them with his top-rated songs.

But he has more top-rated songs than the size of the Ipod will allow. Would it have been so very diffiult to allow a simple copy and paste? Now I have to wade through the options of synch and manage on your own and multiple libraries and making sure I dont actually delete stuff by mistake etc etc.

Sigh - thanks for nothing Apple.

 

[Devill]

I have been in the trade for more years than I care to remember, so I know my way around a keyboard and a menu bar.

But every so often a piece of software comes along which is determined to make things as difficult and confusing as possible.

Have you ever tried to install the free afrikaans dictionary into MS Word ? The instructions are more than a page long in tiny print ! Does it really have to be so complicated?

lol...saw the instuctions and quit right there

100% agree with you!

 

[LazyLion]

Is this another thread about Vista?

 

[daveza]

Well I suppose Vista could be termed user-unfriendly, but no, that wasn't the original intention.

 

[Ecco]

iTunes! I hate it!

 

[SanchoP]

I don't have any reason not to like iTunes. I have about 16gb of music which nicely fits my 30gig iPod. I can see how it might be frustrating if you have more music than can fit and when it wants to start doing things automatically. But for me it's fine. I tried WinAmp for a while, but came back to iTunes...

 

[TiredOfWaiting]

I have been in the trade for more years than I care to remember, so I know my way around a keyboard and a menu bar.

But every so often a piece of software comes along which is determined to make things as difficult and confusing as possible.

Have you ever tried to install the free afrikaans dictionary into MS Word ? The instructions are more than a page long in tiny print ! Does it really have to be so complicated?

My other unfavourite is ITunes.

Sheesh - a client just wants to clean his Ipod which has some songs his daughter put on from her library and replace them with his top-rated songs.

But he has more top-rated songs than the size of the Ipod will allow. Would it have been so very diffiult to allow a simple copy and paste? Now I have to wade through the options of synch and manage on your own and multiple libraries and making sure I dont actually delete stuff by mistake etc etc.

Sigh - thanks for nothing Apple.

Amen!

I once tried to copy +/- 200MB worth of MP3's onto my girlfriend's mom's iPod...

First I tried to copy + paste it in there, like I do with EVERY other MP3 player that I've used before. Unplug the device, go to the relevant section. 0 Songs. Mmm, let's delete the directory I just made and copy the songs directly on the device's root. No joy either.

Then I decided to consult the little pamphlet that come with the R3000 device...

Mmm, apparently I HAVE to use iTunes to get the songs on there. This sounds VERY suspect to me, but I'm up for the challenge. Pop the disc that came with it into my DVD-ROM and wait for the autorun to do it's thing. This is where I almost lost it. The *%#&ing thing wants to connect to the internet so that I can register to buy songs from some online shop before I can continue the installation! I DO NOT have an internet connection at the moment, but this brilliant piece of software won't let me continue without it.

So, I decided to explore the disc and run the iTunes setup.exe file directly and avoid the annoying autorun. At least this works. It installs something called "Quicktime" and the "Apple Software Updater" with it, but at least it installed something this time.

So, I run iTunes and add the songs to the library. After copying about half the songs to the iPod, it just dies spectacularly. No problem, Apple isn't really known for their amazing software prowess, so I decide to try that again, to give them another chance. Except this time iTunes won't open up again. I get a "This program has performed an illegal operation and has to close. We apologize for any inconvenience." message. Restart the PC and try it again... same story.

So, I try uninstalling and re-installing the whole thing (which installs from 1 installer, but requires me to run 3 uninstall programs to remove ). No joy. After doing this for 3 or 4 times, I decide to manually purge this software from my system. A few dozen registry edits later, I managed to remove any and all trace of this prime-evil scourge. Still no joy!!!

I had to re-install Windows to get that hacked-up piece of rubbish known as iTunes to run again!!

Needless to say, I was not exactly impressed. In my 17-odd years of using software I have NEVER had this much trouble with a single device/application combo. Locking their clients into using iTunes must have been the single most idiotic thing that Steve has ever done!

There is no end to the amount of hatred I feel for Apple and their brainchild known as the iPod. Rant over!

 

[kayvee]

iTunes! I hate it!

+1

 

[Lydon]

Zune Software rocks I love the user-interface. But I use iTunes because of the iTunes Store (free account lol).