A message to tech companies from a long time techie - WTF are you thinking?

[The Straight Story]

I have been on computers since the HP punch card days. I played games where there was no monitor, just a digital decwriter to interface with.

I like change, I really do.

I have owned or worked with trs-8 model 1, sinclair 1000, Amiga, Apple IIe/c/Mac, Sun 6800/e450/V480, Attala, Atari, TI, and many more.

When dancing demon (see pic below) and death maze 2000 came out on Trs-80 I was in awe of it.

But seriously, do you have to change things almost every freaking week now? I am not talking the tech side so much here - I am referring to the interface and such.

Facebook, Windows Vista, Google, Office, etc. Can't something look and feel the same for a spell? What about "hey I like this" don't you understand?

Do you have some people locked in a room who just keep finding new ways to move things around (Youtube of late comes to mind) without thinking to themselves 'Hey, people like this lets keep it the same and do some tuneups under the hood and offer them the ability to change things around'?

Okay, done ranting :)

[CrispyQ]

1. After working with it for almost a year,

I still hate Microsoft Office 2007 & their stupid little ribbon bar.

[glowing]

4. Oh that is soooo freaking annoying. I hate it too.. I looked for some way to get

rid of it and make it look like it used to.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

23. There is one.

http://www.openoffice.org

[Sentath]

49. You realize of course

that the very existence of that program is why M$ had no choice but to completely and utterly rework their interface paradigm to something that could be copyrighted and 'protected'.

(the above should be read in tones of great disdain and sarcasm)

[kentauros]

25. I was given a little exe file by another DU-er to change them back.

I haven't used it yet since I don't have 2007 at home (I did at the last place I worked, but wasn't about to change their software on them) so I don't know if it works or not...

[WeDidIt]

5. I prefer the new interface

The old interface was clunky.

The only redeeming value to the old interface was I knew where everything was.

[csziggy]

14. That is why I mostly use WordPerfect

Their menu bar has not changed since version 6 - and if you want, you can choose to use the WordPerfect 5.1 interface. Their keyboard shortcuts are the same as they have been since DOS.

I wouldn't mind if they would allow the user to select which interface they use. It shouldn't be all that hard to do that.

On the other hand, you can customize the MS Office 2007 tool bar to a certain extent - click on the MS Office logo at the upper left, then on Word Options. Then go to Customize - you can add all the icons you want from that dialogue. It's the only thing that makes Office 2007 usable in my opinion.

[tbyg52]

48. Ooooh, WordPerfect 5.1! I remember it like it was yesterday.

And I still remember my first 386 - last fast computer I ever had....

[MicaelS]

18. Disgaree, the ribbon is much better, IMO

Not having to drill down through all those menus is much easier.

[kentauros]

21. AutoCAD 2010 also uses the ribbon bar instead of menus.

However they do include the ability within the options dialog box to shut that function off and return to 'normal' menus. I'm very happy they give me that option as I do turn it off.

Now if I can only get them to understand that when you use a program every single day in the course of your work, that having to hunt down those functions that used to be in one menu and are now in another, it does not make for a productive day.

[left is right]

27. i like office 2007 except

I haven’t figured out how to replicate the repeat action that used to be the top line under edit and help seems to be limited to online

[kentauros]

31. If you mean "Repeat Typing" that would be "Ctrl-Y"

with "Undo-Typing" (or any other previous action) as "Ctrl-Z" :)

[Control-Z]

51. Ctrl-Z

Who could guess, it's my favorite shortcut. :rofl:

[kentauros]

54. Just imagine if you had picked the nickname "Undo"

:P

[nadinbrzezinski]

32. And if you go from 2007 to oh 2008

aka the Mac version... trust me I have... it is like going from one world to the other.

I will give them ONE thing though... if you use it to do some page layout... THEY WORK... Desktop Publishing has never been that easy...

<--- scribus... OY

[madokie]

2. delete by me

I get it now, sorry

[htuttle]

3. Software has fallen under the same marketing spell as all other products

Paint the box red, slap a sticker that says NEW! on it, and raise the price.

[elleng]

6. Like cars, 'new' model every year????

[The Straight Story]

9. More like the New car moves the speedometer and gear shift

"Just because"

[htuttle]

22. That's what makes it 'New'

It's a lot easier to move interfaces components around than fixing bugs and stuff.

[BrklynLiberal]

7. Yep. I wholeheartedly agree.

I started working on IBM System 30 /missed the 1400 by a few months/..Punch cards, object code in cards, patch areas in source code.
Assembly Language, removable disk packs

[bluerum]

8. too many prima donna designers want to leave their 'mark' on the world

They don't design for people - they design for their egos.

[LiberalAndProud]

10. It's irritating, and it impacts office productivity.

The last thing employers want to do is retrain employees to use applications they've been using for years. If it's not easier and not more intuitive, DON'T DO IT.

Thank you. Your rant is mine.

[WillyT]

11. Gave Up The Punch Cards, Took Up Photography...

Got more girls...

:hide::evilgrin::hide:

[slackmaster]

12. The IIS 7 interface was designed specifically to torture me to madness

OVER 10 YEARS with basically the same interface, and it worked fine.

WHY DID THEY CHANGE IT SO DRASTICALLY?

[The Straight Story]

13. It's all Obama's fault, he brought up the whole 'change' mantra

:rofl:

[jgraz]

15. Dude, that's my job security you're talking about!

If these companies don't put out new, even more annoying interfaces, I don't get paid. Your pain is my gain. :D

[The Straight Story]

20. Mine too (well, when I finally get a new job) :) but that is a rant for later.... (nt)

[jgraz]

46. Hint: learn to code for the iPhone

That market is blowing up right now.

[Nay]

16. Dang, can I relate. I am on the computer at work all day long, and

just for the hell of it, I'd like NOT to have to learn another fucking piece of software just because it's new and blew somebody's skirt up.

Not only is it annoying, it really cuts into everyone's productivity when they have to constantly learn changes and tweaks and whole new programs to do their work. Part of productivity is being able to work quickly AFTER the learning curve is complete. If we are always thrown into learning curve mode, we don't work fast or efficiently.

I can hardly wait to retire.

[RoyGBiv]

17. People locked in a room ...

...yes, they do. Unfortunately, they've unlocked the doors lately to let them roam around and start trouble.

They're "interface designers" and need to justify their continued existence.

[Kablooie]

19. And the changes aren't often to make something easier to use. It's to squeeze more ads in.

[drm604]

24. YES!

As someone else who works in IT, started with punch cards (and loved Dancing Demon), YES YES YES. I like PC's, I like GUI interfaces, but enough already. They don't change things to make them more convenient or more powerful. They change them so that everyone will have to replace everything every year or two. I'm always one or two models or OS's behind because I refuse to replace things that still work. I'm on XP now and Vista will probably be completely obsolete before I upgrade.

I'm also annoyed by the Youtube changes. I don't see the point.

[Oregone]

26. With a few exceptions (MS Office 2010 for example), I agree with you

The new office is badass. It eliminates all the lag and crap of all the other Office versions for the last decade. Quick load up...no wait. Its great (64 bit vers on 64 bit OS).

[pnwmom]

28. There's a method to their madness.

In the case of sites like Facebook, they want you to spend more time logged in and looking around. It helps their statistics. If you're having to look around, you might also notice some app you've been in the habit of ignoring. They're trying to break your habits and get you to explore. (Grocery stories do the same thing when they rearrange all their shelves.)

In the case of Office, they're trying to make you believe the old expensive product should be replaced by the new expensive product. So it has to look completely different, so you think you're getting more value than you really are.

[Control-Z]

29. Well, I'm talking programming!!

Let's add as may new languages as we can, as often as we can, that all do pretty much the same damn thing. Let's make sure they can't be translated or integrated with any existing language, at least not without requiring yet another language that will communicate between them.

And, instead of improving on what already works - streamlining, making sensible changes, improving capabilities, working out bugs - let's write a whole new version of the language, as often as possible, that makes all the prior versions obsolete.

And I'm not even talking the complicated stuff. I'm referring to web programming, like ActionScript.

I find the interface changes almost fun in comparison (not that I like those either). And don't even get me started on cell phones. 6 months after buying the latest and greatest, it is on sale, free with a contract, or no longer even being made, the technology is so old.

[The Straight Story]

30. Do you prgram in PERL by any chance ?

:) Love it myself. But yeah, seems like there is a new language out every few months (hello Solaris - Aikido? Really?).

[Control-Z]

44. No. No PERL for me - yet.

HTML, css, JavaScript, XML, but mostly ActionScript, Flash's programming language. I'm pretty much the Flash pro - or at least I used to be - designing, programming and teaching. But I haven't mastered 3.0 and feel like I'm back in kindergarten. To be honest, I haven't really tried all that hard to learn 3.0. With 2.0 I don't have to think. With 3.0 I literally have to get out the books. I can't use any of my custom templates without making changes, or use a lot from my library of scripted assets. Even when I decide to script in 3.0, I end up mixing in 2.0 without thinking. Then I spend hours fixing the bugs - which always leads to creating new and different bugs. Blech.

At this point, I'm waiting for 4.0 so I can skip right over 3 to what will inevitably be yet another complete new language (I'm guessing). lol.

[ChromeFoundry]

37. Oh and what a racket Visual Studio is...

Oh sure, 2010 adds some nice new features to interface with the .Net 4 Framework... but at a cost.

It's not backward compatible with VS 2007, and VS 2007 is not backward compatible with VS 2003. The solution and project files from all lower versions need to be "upgraded" in order to be read into the new version... Ummm, they are XML files!!! Couldn't they just define the attributes for each version in the desired version schemas and support backward compatibility!?!? WTF...another plot to have you fork over more dollars to upgrade an entire developer team, as well as having to have 3-versions installed to support legacy code.

You'd think that MS would be smarter... there would be faster adoption of the new versions by corporations if they new they could support their legacy code-base with the "new" version.

[Control-Z]

45. Exactly..

Backward compatible - nevah!! There would be no need to immediately fork out money for the new version. This is a constant gripe with my students. What kid (or parent) is going to buy the latest version of Flash just to do homework?

'You'd think that MS would be smarter... there would be faster adoption of the new versions by corporations if they new they could support their legacy code-base with the "new" version.'

Isn't that the truth. I haven't upgraded to CS4 yet because the new features (and the price) just aren't worth that headache to me.

But, it's always about the money, isn't it? I guess they must make more forcing the purchases. IIRC, Adobe came out with CS3 less than a year after the prior version, 8, had been released - right after they bought out Macromedia. They added some filters. Big Whoop. They also added some very annoying glitches.

[ChromeFoundry]

33. Amen, Brother!

I'm really sick an tired of having to find where the hell they put things in MS Office... The Ribbon Toolbar is an abomination of a user interface!

[The Straight Story]

34. I am using Open Office and LOVE it

Started using it back in my Solaris days and have stuck with it. Free and flexible.

And GIMP is still one of my fav image programs, and my 9 yr old is a whiz at it.

Open source seems to be more in tune with users.

[kentauros]

36. However, for users like me,

if the learning curve on any of these open-source programs is greater than five minutes, then I get pissed and go back to what I know and don't have to "re-learn" ;)

[The Straight Story]

38. I get that, but

They change the UI a lot less - once you learn it you don't need a course on next release on how to use it :)

[kentauros]

41. However, I'd only be using it at home.

Once I'm working again, I completely expect the workplace to be 100% Microsoft, as always. I've gotten in trouble for using Opera as my browser, even when the IT guy agreed with my reasons for using it (faster, almost no security holes, like IE.) But most corporations don't understand that anything but MS exists and refuse to allow access to anything but.

Why learn two different systems (open source and MS) if I don't really need to?

[ChromeFoundry]

39. When the latest version of OpenOffice

supports the Office 2010 formats... I'm going to switch (at least at home). There were so many compatibility issues between Office 2007 and OpenOffice the last time I tried to switch, that I couldn't. I hear the latest version is much better with the 2007 formats... and that is excellent news!

[Odin2005]

35. I tottally agree. I the kind of person that HATES changing things for no good reason.

I'm the same with anything. My mom always gets after me when she stays at my place because I NEVER rearrange furnature. What is the fucking point? I like everything where it is.

The last facebook facelift really pissed me off!

That's a big thing I like about DU, few useless cosmetic changes.

[ChromeFoundry]

40. Agree...

I liked Windows Control Panel how it was... "Add & Remove Programs" is now.... ummm... Damn, I can't find it, again!!!

:wtf:

[Shanti Mama]

42. You have explained it in your OP

Your age (and mine) does not necessarily need/want constant change. The new users of tech thrive on tech change. We're dinosaurs now and they're not thinking about us. I wonder what the average age is of a Youtube content maker.

[nilram]

43. did you go to lunch? did you go to lunch, dude?

Keep up. Never go to lunch. Never.
gotta go.

[JCMach1]

47. Office 2007- What a POS

I hate hate hate the interface...

I refused to upgrade as long as humanly possible until I got my new work laptop. Now, I am stuck.

[chillspike]

50. Why do you hate America?

j/k

[MkapX]

52. Vista

Well Windows Vista needed to die, it was a horrible OS that eats up way to much ram...Win7 reverts back to the XP structure. It was funny how mircosoft was trying to sell it with those "Mocha" commericals in which they get some guy off the street who hates vista and then they show him some cool things and the guys is like "this is vista...wow". I agree with some of your argument though, Microsoft released Windows Server2008 which is not much of a different from Server2003 except some security feature But it's going force every certified IT to eventually get their server08 certification

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

53. Facebook is the absolute worst in this respect.

I swear, I can't tell from week to week how to do simple things like post a link with an image or upload photos. I use it almost exclusively from my mobile phone now, since they can't change that.

Also, since you've name-checked about every 80s computer in your post, you might enjoy this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygN8H3kI1qE