dr_st wrote on 2021-02-02, 09:46:Agree completely. I think it's best to offer both options, because each has their own advantages. It is clear why distributors w […]
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Zup wrote on 2021-02-02, 07:22:
Another trend I'm surprised nobody mentioned... web installers everywhere.
Agree completely. I think it's best to offer both options, because each has their own advantages. It is clear why distributors would like to avoid offline installers - it is both more work for them and makes it impossible to quickly retract/update something by changing the back-end.
Zup wrote on 2021-02-02, 07:22:Also, bloated driver installations... a typical driver should only offer connection to the device, not automatic ad windows every time you're running out of ink or a new device is being released.
Yes, this is very common in the printer area. But also GPU drivers with the "GeForce experience" etc. are getting into that domain.
Shoot, I'm shocked I did not think of these since both bug the heck out of me.
What bugs me about the installers is embedding other programs with the one I want to install. Look, I downloaded your program because I wanted to use THAT program - not PDFArchitect, not Cinemaforge, not Bonzai Buddy - I just wanted this one little wimpy 25KB utility and you want to throw 3.3GB more of crap on my hard drive - well, devs, it's MY Hard Drive, not yours. But what's more annoying is people will install this stuff and just keep clicking "Next" - which is what they are hoping for. On one hand, I get it, Karma for impatience and not reading, but I also kind of do hate how technology prays upon you in that way - like being expected to read 9 pages of an EULA and actually remember and understand all that 100% of the time. That's a big reason I've been sticking with Open Source stuff.
And bloat bugs me no matter what. With drivers, they've been doing that since Windows 3.1 though. I have drivers for my NEC's and my 486 Desktop that have this big fancy installer that makes the drivers take up 2 floppy disks because it's "easy" or "E-Z", but I can do the install using the OEMSETUP.INF file the manual way and it works just fine - I'm looking at you Chips & Technologies SVGA! But today it's horrendous. HP printer drivers are notorious for this, and they have figured out techies like me can get around their advertising and attempts to trick you to opt-in on their ink delivery service or whatever....not me. That's why I'm at a point that when I buy a new printer, it either needs to be like my Canon, and install the drivers that are stored ON the printer, or it needs to be like my old HP LaserJet 4L was - corporate drivers all day long that are just an OEMSETUP.INF and a handful of driver files - about 10KB total - click click boom d-u-n done!. I don't need a "Driver Wizard" to hold my hand, that Driver Wizard can go take the #FFFF00 brick road right to the Recycle Bin for all I care.
Then there's the NVIDIA Graphics drivers on Dell Precisions that whine for some APPX Package for the "NVidia Control Panel" - mind you these are professional enterprise laptops that use the NVDIA card as an accelerator for the built in intel video. APPX stuff looks unprofessional enough as/is, a lot of companies block it, and I don't blame them, so why make us use a "new style app" for a silly little graphics control panel that could be just as well suited with a *.cpl applet.
I'm finding this thread a good place to vent about this stuff. I've been kind of cranky lately, and some of these "most hated trends" have been to blame both from a personal and professional standpoint.
To me, my ideal computer is one I can reign in all the control to myself. I choose the ports blocked, I choose what apps I want to see, I choose what takes residence on my hard drive, I choose if I want to just let a device hang with no driver installed, or if I want to install an older driver that offers more control....
Oh yeah, and that's another one. One of my biggest fits was Sound Cards without hardware loopback, what's hilarious, a lot of those cards DID have it, but the drivers would not install it if you were using a newer operating system IE Windows Vista or Windows 7. I'd take that same card, put it in an XP or Windows 2000 machine if it had drivers, or put it in my Linux Box - boom, hardware loopback. This was a big deal back in the day when I was doing Digital Audio Production on PC's in the 2000's and video productions and using DSP re-routed monitoring lead to sync issues, so I'd use hardware loopback. Made a lot of albums of original music with a SoundBlaster LIve 5.1 on Windows 2000 Pro and Windows XP dual boot with 7 and VIsta back in the 2000's.
