Fill in the blank: The WORST software I ever used was
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thats interesting, because i prefer office 2007 to the old version. I find it a lot easier to use and more intuitive, i suppose its down to what you've used before really.
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Word 2007 is freaking me out- what was wrong with drop down menus? Now we have to choose which damn tab we want to work in at a time. I want to work in ALL of them, ALL the time. It looks way over designed (I still have XP running in Window's classic mode)- I don't care what a GUI looks like, my favourite programs are based purely on what they can do and and how easily I can make them do it.
The worst software I've used? Probably Maxwell- renders results are good, but the UI (which looks quite good) is so poorly thought out- you have to manage 4 different file types (SU export files, material files, render settings files and Maxwell's own HDRI file type), material editor is so complex it beggars belief... and it takes weeks to render an image on a single machine.
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My problem with Office 2007 is the interface - it's alien to any previous version, and it's difficult to find things. Can't even find the HELP menu.
Another problem with MS Office (all versions) is the lack of documentation - you spend all that money, and they don't give you a manual so you know how to use it?!
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@daniel said:
Can't even find the HELP menu.
LOL- I didn't want to admit that cos I thought it was just me who couldn't find it!
Where the heck is it?!! -
jackson and daniel, its in the top right hand corner, just below the red (close window) x. or you can press F1.
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@remus said:
jackson and daniel, its in the top right hand corner, just below the red (close window) x. or you can press F1.
LOL, so it is! It's well hidden though. -
I had to cry when Paul noted 'Prime Medusa'. I had almost forgotten about that torture! Now I fear the nightmares will return. Thanks Paul!
When Mike puts 'Windows' on his list, clearly he never faced software like Prime Medusa! Another nightmare I remember was trying to go through a tutorial on an early version of ARRIS a cad program. (It cost something like $15,000). The tutorial was several big binders and each page had just a few words on it. It would say things like "now type in the command line ">zbash.ff/flat//yes<" and press enter". Thousands of such criptic entries, page after page, was supposed to teach you something. There was no explanation at all and all the entries were without any context. You'd enter the command, proceed to the next page and enter its command and then eventually, after four or five such entries, you'd finally see some offset or something happen on the screen.
But at least Arris had a screen, the first 3d modelling program I used (same generation as Prime Medusa) had no screen. You entered all coordinates and commands using a lineprinter keyboard. You could then process your data and have the model generated and printed on a little thermal printer. A simple model would take several hours of entry and several hours to generate. The same thing in SketchUp would take two minutes.
So Windows should not be on this list.
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Hands down... Vista.
Check out my blog. http://vistasucks.wordpress.com -
Jason
Thats kinda defeating the point now, as you are a Mac user thats anti PC / Microsoft by definition.
Trying to provoke a Mac vs PC debate?
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@solo said:
Trying to provoke a Mac vs PC debate?
No. I'm just saying that I think it's so bad that it converted a former Mac hater/PC fanboy (me) into the exact opposite. I used Windows for 15+ years and disliked Macs all that time.
Now that's saying something about Windows. I feel like an idiot for not switching sooner.
Mind you XP isn't as bad as Vista. -
Windows Vista, which you need to de-vistaize in order to get something productive out of it... Im on a mac now, and like it, but as someone else said before, xp and win 2000 are not bad at all.
Office 2007, nuff said....
3DStudio Max, while powerful, i never liked the whole parametric thing...
Itunes on windows. On a mac is ok, but on a pc is slooooowwwww
Windows Media Player. You have to right click to find how to do something simple, actually anything...
Archicad on teamwork. While regular archicad is ok, the whole teamwork thing makes no sense...
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I think im going to have to make a bit of stand for vista. I really dont find it that bad, definetly an improvement on XP, at least in my opinion.
I think the problem most people have with it is they expect it to be an upgraded version of xp, which it isnt, things have changed and things have been moved. For the most part these thigns have been moved into much more accessible locations. As with pretty much any new piece of software it takes a bit of time to get used to, but i found it on the hwole to be far more intuitive than xp, which has useful things hidden left right and centre.
As for it being slow and buggy, any computer less than 3/4 years old should be fine. In the year that ive been using it, i dont think ive had a single crash, all the drivers have been fault free and i cant think of anything thats gone wrong.
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If Public Beta Counts, SU_Layout has been the most challenging for me.
Charlie
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@anssi said:
A Pinnacle external USB digital TV tuner had a terrible "media manager" that wanted to overtake my whole computer so I scrapped the whole thing. I would only have wanted to watch some TV occasionally...
Anssi
Holy crap Anssi!!! I was going to keep quite on this thread but the whole time I was thinking that the EXACT SAME SOFTWARE you mentioned as the worst I've used in a looooong time!!! It would blue screen my XP, and caused endless reboots!
Wow, that's funny! ...oh, and this wasn't Beta Release software either...
- CraigD -
@unknownuser said:
I think im going to have to make a bit of stand for vista. I really dont find it that bad, definately an improvement on XP, at least in my opinion.
Vista isn't terrible, but its Microsoft's attitude of "yeah vista won't do that, accept it" that annoys me.
Vista made most of my software, (which was only a few years old) obsolete. I've got a lovely new machine but I can do less on it than I could on my old machine that runs xp. Only Microsoft could survive the release of a product that is so restrictive.
The most positive thing that has come out of me using Vista is that I've made an effort to find free software because I can't afford loads of new apps. My 5 yr old Ms Office wouldn't work on Vista so I installed Open Office which is superb, reads and writes Ms formats and its free.Also I've started experimenting with linux. If you want to see a well designed O.S. look at ubuntu or dream linux. I think Microsoft will soon have serious competition from the open source arena.
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@unknownuser said:
Only Microsoft could survive the release of a product that is so restrictive.
apple have released a lot of very restrictive hardware in their time...
Anyway, i see your point and i suppose i was just lucky to not have been treated to the vista spiel, and also very fortunate that i didnt have any specialist bits of software. the advantages to being a student
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I found that the worst software I've recently used was Sony's hanycam suite. Its slow and really hard to use. Also the files are locked so if you want to edit them in something decent you have to burn them to DVD and then rip it. Also the software isn't mac compatible and so my mate who is editing a load of footage I took can't with out me burning 3 DVDs full of footage.
Haven't really used Vista yet so i can't comment
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Revit 1.0 and Revit 2.0 were awful. AutoDesk paid a hot-shot parametric expert to teach a class in my M.Arch. program centered on Revit. They gave us free copies of 2.0.
First class, "S." (let's not get him sued!) showed up, opened up Revit, spent fifteen minutes showing us how it couldn't do various things (battered walls, etc.), made it crash deliberately a few times, and then announced to us that the program "sucked" from the "get go", although we were welcome to keep our copies (I did, and I did try to use it for various things, quite unsuccessfully).
S., on the other hand, spent the rest of the semester teaching us how to crazy things with Java, Processing, and dxf libraries.
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SOFTPLAN by far...
Our office uses AutoCad, Sketchup and Softplan.
If you want to turn grey, learn how swear profusely or feel like murdering someone then Softplan is the key to get you in the mood.Even simple things like selecting an item on the drop down menu's often invokes the command for the item listed on the menu under the one you selected.
If you wish to trim one line using another, often you will get a fillet instead. If you then undo the command and zoom in or out a bit more, it usually works.
Dimensions are a pain - if you want to move them a bit, say further from the drawing itself, you can't just window it like in autocad and move it. In softplan, you can block move it but ALL the leader lines stay put - you have to adjust each and every leader line to where you want it.
Thats only scraping the surface on this package - there is HEAPS wrong with it.
I only use it at work whenever I really have to - and very reluctantly at that. Wish our work never purchased 3 licenses.
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