What software programs have left you feeling conned?

[0Hz]

I agree on Panel, I don't get the point of it. It seemed like it may have applications for remote control of smart things around the house but that I don't need.

As for streaming music files around the ole homestead, I have used JR DLNA with good results, streaming to 4 devices including a rpi3 for a DAC/headphone amp combo, and another win 10 as well as my cellphone using the JRemote (2) which now can receive even hi rez files over wifi from the NAS.

I'll be honest I don't understand the whole "Roon Core" concept, but I think I'll need to invest in hardware of some form to make it works like JR does with what I have already. Roon only allows one copy, has no app for a phone even but uses Squeezebox, which I don't get at all either.

DLNA won't work for out of the house streaming. Like streaming your music library to your mobile phone in the car, etc. Especially in bad signal areas. AAC-HE @ 64kbps or Opus @ 96Kbps would help a lot vs MP3 @ 128k which sounds downright horrid, AAC-LC fairs slightly better but not by much. There is also the benefit to data plan limitations for those who might stream a lot of content from their home library to their mobile devices when on the go or out of town a lot.

 

[Alobar]

Conned? I don't think ever in 30+ years. Norton and McAfee were good at one point in history.

In this context, conned meaning software that turned out didn't or doesn't fulfill its own hype.

I put Roon on the list because as a software program thats just raised in its price from $500 to $700 it is rather anemic for that kind of money. Their big price jump probably saved me from buying it! I'm now seeing it as a year to year audio expense that I will cancel at some point. They made a big deal about how they were "discouraging" people from the lifetime option, and yet when I signed up up they sure did seem like they wanted to sell me the lifetime package! Sort of a con I thought. Don't get me wrong, Roon isn't really a software package at all, but a service and as such is probably worth the $10 a month. But I have seen Google apps with far more effort put into the software end of it. I am underwhelmed by that aspect of Roon, yet I am giving it a go anyway.

 

[0Hz]

Anyone else feel like the way the software industry is heading as a whole is a con?

All this software-as-a-service monthly/yearly subscription stuff is ridiculous.
I can't believe people still give Adobe money after some of the things they've pulled on users since discontinuing perpetual licenses.

The whole premise for these services coming out of large billion dollar corporations is as disturbing as it is laughable. This is something you would expect to see from an independent developer model, someone you would expect to have problems with steady cashflow selling to a niche market or specific userbase.

Not Adobe, or Microsoft, et al

 

[loopstick]

Not really conned - just obsoleted. Sorta. Ad Block. It's free. So it's not a ripoff. But they got outfoxed and sites now require you to turn it off to view their pages. So it still acts like a pretty good filter. I end up rejecting about half of them, and the other half I'm in and out.

That's the best I could come up with. On Linux everything I use is FOSS. And I carry zero anti-virus bloat.

 

[FONSguy]

MS Windows.

 

[Alobar]

Anyone else feel like the way the software industry is heading as a whole is a con?

In the subscription model, definitely yes. What I hate most about subscriptions for software is that there are always little hooks hidden that once you start using it fully you have become invested in it in some way or another. Most subscriptions are this way, it's why they went with that model in the first place, to keep you paying, keep tapping your card or else a lot of the users time gets wasted. Files no longer open, or if they do, the work that went into them is no longer accessible. Or with say Norton Security, if you start using their free password utility, that's a big hook for them come time to pay for another year. Sure you can go through it all and write or copy paste all your passwords but they know it's just easier to remain a lifetime subscriber (for some).

When I signed up for Roon I made the decision right up front that it wasn't going to be a lifetime deal. Since I do quite a bit of tagging work (in jriver) I didn't want to repeat all that work so I'll be hooked to Roon from year to year. So I'm not going to use it like I would any non-subscription media player. It's just a streaming front end, no tagging work, just a few playlists that I use for saving albums and tracks that I am interested in buying. I am only interested in Roon radio for discovery purposes. It would have been nice to have Roon as a all in one strwamer/media player, but until they start putting some beef into the software, JRiver will continue to be my media player for now. For now at least I won't have to upgrade JR if I don't want but I always do as it's only $20 a year when taking advantage of the sale price.

I have enough bullshit monthly and yearly charges im forced to make, and I'm not going to keep adding new software subscriptions to that unless they truly are a killer app! And that means software that doesn't look and act like a teenager wrote it in his parents basement.

 

[Mystic]

MS Windows.

Somone had to write it!



I'll augment it with another: Apple iOS @ 'puters, tablets, phones, and (esp) iP(l)ods. Y'know, the mess that runs these exceptionally sexy devices.

 

[0Hz]

Not really conned - just obsoleted. Sorta. Ad Block. It's free. So it's not a ripoff. But they got outfoxed and sites now require you to turn it off to view their pages. So it still acts like a pretty good filter. I end up rejecting about half of them, and the other half I'm in and out.

That's the best I could come up with. On Linux everything I use is FOSS. And I carry zero anti-virus bloat.

I don't run antivirus on windows either, haven't for years.. usually windows defender is enough these days, unless you are being specifically targeted by someone for some reason.
I'll try to keep this tangent short... but I could write a brief paper on why FOSS (as sold to the user) is somewhat of a scam for end users (power users fare slightly better, and grandma that just needs basic email, browsing, and word processing escaped unharmed)... I've tried to jump to Linux about half a dozen times over the past 15 years, my longest stint was about 3 months I think. lol..

As far as apple goes, it's not really their software that's the scam, or the eco-system they enforce. It's the proprietary but not-quite-anymore, locked down, 10x inflated cost hardware that they sell. And they just have overall terrible business practices.
I still bought an iPhone. Why? it just works (mostly), doesn't slow down and I've factory reset it a total of once in the 4 years I've owned it. With android phones I was always, always tweaking something.

 

[loopstick]

I don't run antivirus on windows either, haven't for years.. usually windows defender is enough these days, unless you are being specifically targeted by someone for some reason.
I'll try to keep this tangent short... but I could write a brief paper on why FOSS (as sold to the user) is somewhat of a scam for end users (power users fare slightly better, and grandma that just needs basic email, browsing, and word processing escaped unharmed)... I've tried to jump to Linux about half a dozen times over the past 15 years, my longest stint was about 3 months I think. lol..

As far as apple goes, it's not really their software that's the scam, or the eco-system they enforce. It's the proprietary but not-quite-anymore, locked down, 10x inflated cost hardware that they sell. And they just have overall terrible business practices.
I still bought an iPhone. Why? it just works (mostly), doesn't slow down and I've factory reset it a total of once in the 4 years I've owned it. With android phones I was always, always tweaking something.

I've had problems (solved) looking for (Linux) drivers, and I'm a huge fan of Visual Studio C++. PowerShell is cool. So I kinda wish I could like Windows 10 more - OTOH I lean towards Linux cuz of the hobbyist vibe, and it's my default OS for web surfing and streaming.

 

[Alobar]

I've had problems (solved) looking for (Linux) drivers, and I'm a huge fan of Visual Studio C++. PowerShell is cool. So I kinda wish I could like Windows 10 more - OTOH I lean towards Linux cuz of the hobbyist vibe, and it's my default OS for web surfing and streaming.

The only Linux I have is the raspberry flavor and all that does is run JRiver on a RPi for my headphone amp. I agree about the drivers, finding the right one for my schiit DAC was a fair bit of trial and error, primarily due to the very non- descript names.

I do have to say however that little RPi is the most reliable computer I have ever had. It often times runs nonstop for a few months without having to reboot. They don't take well to sudden powers failure so I keepit on a ups, but just 5 watts it doesn't make sense to shut it down .. Been running like that for a few years now.

 

[BobbyBluz]

I haven't paid for any software in over 15 years. Doing IT had some very good perks. Last week I was "gifted" a legit activated copy of Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC. It's a totally gutted Enterprise version of Windows 10 intended for corporate use where all apps are installed by companies IT people. I've only been playing with it on a test rig for a few days and so far think it's fantastic. It's not for n00bs though and the layout is different from all other versions of Win 10. Gamers love it as do people who do A/V production work. http://woshub.com/faq-windows-10-ltsc-explained/

In IT we considered Norton and McAfee to be viruses. The anti-virus industry is flooded with crapware aimed at paranoid users. Windows Defender works very well as does Windows firewall for most folks.

 

[TalYWaun]

My nomination - OrCAD. I learned PCB design with Altium and used it for years. Then the company I was working for got bought out by a multinational that had standardised on OrCAD.

With Altium everything is encapsulated within one program (and is a joy to use). OrCAD is split into two main programs (schematic and layout) with separate programs for everything else that needs to be done and scripts for the nice to have’s (which crashes frequently and then restores to a very old version of the design just to add to the annoyance factor, without even offering to save the current version of the design).

Altium – designed by engineers for engineers. OrCAD – cobbled together by kids on work experience for accountants.

 

[0Hz]

I haven't paid for any software in over 15 years. Doing IT had some very good perks. Last week I was "gifted" a legit activated copy of Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC. It's a totally gutted Enterprise version of Windows 10 intended for corporate use where all apps are installed by companies IT people. I've only been playing with it on a test rig for a few days and so far think it's fantastic. It's not for n00bs though and the layout is different from all other versions of Win 10. Gamers love it as do people who do A/V production work. http://woshub.com/faq-windows-10-ltsc-explained/

In IT we considered Norton and McAfee to be viruses. The anti-virus industry is flooded with crapware aimed at paranoid users. Windows Defender works very well as does Windows firewall for most folks.

I was running LTSB for a while back when it was still called that. But I wanted a few things.. Meant to go back to LTSC when they started getting stuff like WSL and such. I've also setup a pfsense box since then, and really need to start looking into just blocking all this telemetry stuff at the router level

 

[loopstick]

Not sure how this relates, but ...

On my home PC I had to do this little dance to permanently disable Cortana - rename a file, or something like that, within a very narrow time window. But at work I lacked the permissions to do this. So I wrote a PowerShell script that every ten seconds would kill processes that would automatically start up to support Cortana. So every ten seconds (or less), Cortana would get strangled in the cradle.

 

[Alobar]

Not sure how this relates, but ...

On my home PC I had to do this little dance to permanently disable Cortana - rename a file, or something like that, within a very narrow time window. But at work I lacked the permissions to do this. So I wrote a PowerShell script that every ten seconds would kill processes that would automatically start up to support Cortana. So every ten seconds (or less), Cortana would get strangled in the cradle.

Wow! What a relationship the two of them have! She tries to speak and powershell kills her.. They need counseling..

 

[FONSguy]

Enterprise PKI.