Flight tickets booking system that refuses long names or special characters. Now we can check-in with QR Code and facial recognition, yet the ticketing system has not been upgraded ever since SABRE (are they still using SabreTalk?)

I stuck retro on my original post...but since we're going modern.....I will only expound if replied because I have a lot to say on all of these....and a lot of gripes with modern tech due to poor implementation.....

- Microsoft Windows Update
- Microsoft Edge
- Windows 11
- SaaS
- Web 2.0/3.0
- Roku remotes
- The slowness of Smart TVs
- The Cloud (and it's operators)
- Social Media
- Ink Jet Printers
- Apples Planned Obsolescence
- Apple Magic DVD slot load drives
- Apple Style Keyboards
- Can't repurpose an iPad with Linux
- over sensitive Touch Screens
- Modern "customer (dis-)service"

creepingnet wrote on 2024-07-18, 20:44:

I stuck retro on my original post...but since we're going modern.....I will only expound if replied because I have a lot to say […]
Show full quote

I stuck retro on my original post...but since we're going modern.....I will only expound if replied because I have a lot to say on all of these....and a lot of gripes with modern tech due to poor implementation.....

- Microsoft Windows Update
- Microsoft Edge
- Windows 11
- SaaS
- Web 2.0/3.0
- Roku remotes
- The slowness of Smart TVs
- The Cloud (and it's operators)
- Social Media
- Ink Jet Printers
- Apples Planned Obsolescence
- Apple Magic DVD slot load drives
- Apple Style Keyboards
- Can't repurpose an iPad with Linux
- over sensitive Touch Screens
- Modern "customer (dis-)service"

If we include modern choices, I could go on forever. The biggest one for me is the transition from menu based software/OSes to icon based. I found older versions of Office far easier to work with. If I don't exactly know where something is located, it was easier to find it in a drop down menu.

Don't get me started on Windows.

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2024-07-18, 21:16:

The biggest one for me is the transition from menu based software/OSes to icon based.

Exactly!
Replacing text with pictures looks like kindergarten, or Idiocracy.

Grzyb wrote on 2024-07-19, 00:28:

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2024-07-18, 21:16:

The biggest one for me is the transition from menu based software/OSes to icon based.

Exactly!
Replacing text with pictures looks like kindergarten, or Idiocracy.

The more they make software to target the computer illiterate the more difficult it becomes to use for power users. I see this very much in audio recording software.

Shagittarius wrote on 2024-07-19, 00:44:

Grzyb wrote on 2024-07-19, 00:28:

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2024-07-18, 21:16:

The biggest one for me is the transition from menu based software/OSes to icon based.

Exactly!
Replacing text with pictures looks like kindergarten, or Idiocracy.

The more they make software to target the computer illiterate the more difficult it becomes to use for power users. I see this very much in audio recording software.

And more often than not you find that the problem was behind, rather than in front of, the keyboard in the first place.

Shagittarius wrote on 2024-07-19, 00:44:

The more they make software to target the computer illiterate the more difficult it becomes to use for power users.

Yes, but it's 2024 - hard to believe that computer illiterates still exist...

Grzyb wrote on 2024-07-19, 00:51:

Shagittarius wrote on 2024-07-19, 00:44:

The more they make software to target the computer illiterate the more difficult it becomes to use for power users.

Yes, but it's 2024 - hard to believe that computer illiterates still exist...

Well without trying to offend anyone lets just call them computer hillbillies , (technobillies?). They don't have computers just cell phones and tablets.

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2024-07-18, 21:16:

creepingnet wrote on 2024-07-18, 20:44:

I stuck retro on my original post...but since we're going modern.....I will only expound if replied because I have a lot to say […]
Show full quote

I stuck retro on my original post...but since we're going modern.....I will only expound if replied because I have a lot to say on all of these....and a lot of gripes with modern tech due to poor implementation.....

- Microsoft Windows Update
- Microsoft Edge
- Windows 11
- SaaS
- Web 2.0/3.0
- Roku remotes
- The slowness of Smart TVs
- The Cloud (and it's operators)
- Social Media
- Ink Jet Printers
- Apples Planned Obsolescence
- Apple Magic DVD slot load drives
- Apple Style Keyboards
- Can't repurpose an iPad with Linux
- over sensitive Touch Screens
- Modern "customer (dis-)service"

If we include modern choices, I could go on forever. The biggest one for me is the transition from menu based software/OSes to icon based. I found older versions of Office far easier to work with. If I don't exactly know where something is located, it was easier to find it in a drop down menu.

Don't get me started on Windows.

I use office 2000 for my everyday office work, solid, fast and clean interface

Shagittarius wrote on 2024-07-19, 01:44:

Grzyb wrote on 2024-07-19, 00:51:

Shagittarius wrote on 2024-07-19, 00:44:

The more they make software to target the computer illiterate the more difficult it becomes to use for power users.

Yes, but it's 2024 - hard to believe that computer illiterates still exist...

Well without trying to offend anyone lets just call them computer hillbillies , (technobillies?). They don't have computers just cell phones and tablets.

Without sounding too offensive, there is also a particularly impenetrable class of office worker that, despite using the software for DECADES, cant do their jobs without thier 'cheat sheets'.

Those websites that have audio or video clips with a player designed for touchscreens where you cannot change the volume (or anything else) because the developer thinks only phones and tablets have access to the Internet.

In general, designs assuming that a phone is the only way to access the web is something I find terribly irritating.

Grzyb wrote on 2024-07-19, 00:51:

Shagittarius wrote on 2024-07-19, 00:44:

The more they make software to target the computer illiterate the more difficult it becomes to use for power users.

Yes, but it's 2024 - hard to believe that computer illiterates still exist...

Nowadays we call them iPhone users.

Grzyb wrote on 2024-07-17, 02:13:

OS/2 In 1987, IBM released their first 32-bit PC, based on 386. At the same time, they released the next generation operating sy […]
Show full quote

OS/2
In 1987, IBM released their first 32-bit PC, based on 386.
At the same time, they released the next generation operating system, intended to replace DOS.
But... the new OS was still 16-bit, designed for 286.
And so heavy that it was impossible to run on brand-new 286 machines in stock configuration, and even on many 386 machines.

In short: doomed to fail.

So doomed to fail that, after launching in 1987 it had 3 subsequent releases until 1996 (arguably 4 until 1999, if you count 4.50) and every one of them is far, far superior to any contemporary OSs in the market at the time.

2.0: Amazing multitasking, virtual 8086 mode to multitask DOS programs
3.0 Warp: Basically a superior Windows 95 in 1994, Internet&TCPIP ready out of the box, ran Win16 software better than Windows
4.0 Warp: Windows 2000 in 1996

OS/2 being (mostly) 16-bit is a result of having to run in 16-bit protected mode on 80286 PS/2s, on which the OS was designed to run. This was fixed in 2.0 and 32-bit protected mode and virtual 8086 mode was added, in 1990 as I noted above, which coincides with Windows 3.0's release. Granted Windows 2.0/386 had this in 1987 but I don't know of anyone who used it at the time.

So, in the end, I'm sorry but I strongly disagree..

creepingnet wrote on 2024-07-18, 20:44:

I stuck retro on my original post...but since we're going modern.....I will only expound if replied because I have a lot to say on all of these....and a lot of gripes with modern tech due to poor implementation.....

- Microsoft Edge

All right, hit me. What's the problem with Edge?
I've just made the move from Chrome (10+ years) after finally getting fed up with their braindead UI changes and other bullcrap, and must say I'm liking Edge so far (after successfully making a bunch of adjustments).

Edge *IS* chrome, in a microsoft wrapper, that gets pushed harder than weed at playgrounds in the 80s.

• 3dfx and Creative being too special to write .INF files like every other hardware vendor
• AMD breaking their graphics drivers so badly that they don't work on Windows 8
• Apple gluing batteries and soldering RAM starting with the Retina MacBook Pro
• Applications that would have run fine on an 80286 not supporting it
• Creative's decision to make the Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Digital use glorified Audigy drivers, breaking Windows 95, 98 FE and NT 4.0 support
• Crippled DisplayPort/HDMI support on Nvidia's Windows XP drivers
• FreeBSD's impending drop of 32-bit x86 support
• Intel's decision to restrict parity/ECC support to Xeons
• Lacking OpenGL performance on Intel GMA drivers for Windows XP
• Microsoft's decision to restrict windowed MS-DOS applications to 80386+ systems starting with Windows 3.0
• Nvidia's decision to drop Windows XP/Vista driver support early for their laptop GPUs
• Nvidia listing Windows NT 3.51 as supported in the spec sheet for the Riva TNT2, yet no compatible drivers are available
• Nvidia Optimess
• systemd's binary journal format
• The lack of Windows 95/NT drivers for the ATi Rage Fury MAXX
• Windows 7, 8, 10 and 11's user interface regressions

Grzyb wrote on 2024-07-19, 00:28:

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2024-07-18, 21:16:

The biggest one for me is the transition from menu based software/OSes to icon based.

Exactly!
Replacing text with pictures looks like kindergarten, or Idiocracy.

Yes, I hate it, I can read (cnt wrtie tho) so parsing text is quicker for me than deciphering icons that vary between programs, platforms, GUI tooltiks, web dev frameworks....

But icons are cheap and international, which is why proprietary vendors do it. No need to translate UI elements, just have icons. Looks childish, but the publishers eyes are doing the spinning $ thing, of course 😀

With icons-only everyone in the world has to learn a design language, one that is part of the brand image and so will be fucked with constantly so that they can try and re-sell effectively the same thing over and over (cf. the arc of the MS Office business model).

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2024-07-17, 02:48:

Even though IBM's focus was on the business side, PCs could have been a lot better for gaming during the 80s. PC speaker sound and CGA graphics (especially the palette) were a big setback. Would it have been that costly to have gone with something like Tandy sound instead? The Covox was a really simple device. While it used up CPU resources, PCs could have had way better sound if something like it had more widespread adoption.

Yeah, definitely a pet peeve of mine as well. And why wasn't the 3-voice PCjr/Tandy sound compatibility also offered as an optional add-on, for instance in the 15-pin joystick adapter card? Didn't it make perfect sense to add that (fairly cheap) chip to joystick controllers, since gamers were the target audience of such cards? And to add insult to injury, IBM made the choice to repurpose I/O port C0h for the second DMA controller that they introduced in the PC/AT, making it impossible for such systems (and later systems) to be expanded with a card that could offer backwards 3-voice PCjr/Tandy sound compatibility.

I can understand to some extent why the original IBM PC design team in Boca Raton left out decent sound quality, given their focus on office and home business use, but why not at least retain the option of having the same sound capabilities of the much cheaper PCjr be made available as an optional add-on for those who wanted it?

I'm glad this thread was started, because I have quite a few more of these pet peeves about historic missed opportunities and regrettable design decisions, which I'll be happy to share here later.

appiah4 wrote on 2024-07-19, 08:33:

So doomed to fail that, after launching in 1987 it had 3 subsequent releases until 1996 (arguably 4 until 1999, if you count 4.50) and every one of them is far, far superior to any contemporary OSs in the market at the time.

And after 1987, DOS had 5 subsequent releases until 2000.
No matter how superior, OS/2 failed to achieve its primary goal: to replace DOS.

ran Win16 software better than Windows

Unless that Win16 software was using VXD.
Yes, using VXD in applications was an ugly kludge, but still was pretty common - exactly due to the lack of a viable 32-bit OS.

OS/2 being (mostly) 16-bit is a result of having to run in 16-bit protected mode on 80286 PS/2s, on which the OS was designed to run.

In 1987, all PS/2 machines with 286 were sold with 1 MB of RAM - ie. unable to run OS/2.
And it's hard to find any 286 computer model - at any time - that was sold with more than 1 MB.

OS/2 was designed to run on hardware that didn't exist on the market!

This was fixed in 2.0 and 32-bit protected mode and virtual 8086 mode was added, in 1990 as I noted above, which coincides with Windows 3.0's release.

OS/2 2.0 was released in 1992.
And even in 1992, an average brand-new computer still wasn't ready to run OS/2.

Worst technologies and standards. Closed monopolies. Abandoned good stuff.

8088 vs 68k.
CGA extention fiasco.
Microsoft vs everybody else.
Regional standards eg. Tandy 1000 in n.America vs Amiga in Europe, some obscure things in Asia.
Direct3D vs OpenGL
There are so many good things that went to obscuiruty only because of big bussiness or missmanagement.