Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The rise of user-hostile software

den.dev

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 303 posts

Re: The rise of user-hostile software

#41

Post by selfhoster11 »

zksmk wrote: post #34
TeMPOraL wrote: post #26

Agreed on all points. Interesting to see this: > You can argue that all of this has existed for a very long time, back from the days of all kinds of toolbars and extensions that created multiple levels of address bar nesting in your web browser and taskbar. What I find ironic about the whole situation is, back then it was universally known that those toolbars and extensions are distributed by assholes. The whole soft…

>Something weird happened over the past decade. I blame it on social media monopolies, or at least effective monopolies, oligopolies, and the network effect. Once everyone was sucked into these silos and unable to leave they could do whatever they wanted with the user experience without repercussions. And once everyone was used to it and took it as a given it was only a matter of time before it leaked even into deskt…

I blame it on web development, pure and simple. The relentless drive for analytics and advertising is what brought the acceptance of spying.

Re: The rise of user-hostile software

#43

Post by Aeolun »

mosselman wrote: post #39
nicbou wrote: post #2

With all the praise Brother laser printers get for being just a damn printer, I wonder what the end game is for some of those businesses. I can understand that monetisation and user well-being can be at odds sometimes (e.g. with free apps and services), but surely a generic hardware manufacturer wants to ensure a generic experience? This is why I tend to buy things that use generic, open standards. I don't trust some…

I hate my brother printer. Now I have to do some weird black magic that involves pulling out the power cable and paper tray and inserting the cable while holding some buttons in order for it to even turn on. A year earlier it suddenly stopped being able to print wirelessly and, as with all cartridge printers, the ink is crazy expensive. A month ago I bought an HP printer with an ink reservoir for my mother and it is…

Or just buy a laser printer and never have the issue again?

Re: The rise of user-hostile software

#44

Post by greatgib »

This article is globally so true, but there is a major error:

It is not "needs of developers" the problem, but the "needs of product manager, marketing, c-level asshole".

Like for telemetry, most of the time the business side "can", so they do.

And again, for specific app and co, most developer would complain and not like release such user-hostile software but they are forced by business to do it.

Like this stupid project manager that thinks that his product/software is the most important in the world and there is no reason why a random user would not want to install it and also that the user computer belongs to him and to the company because he is using the product, without shame.

Re: The rise of user-hostile software

#45

Post by denton-scratch »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #33
ajsnigrutin wrote: post #29

This flowchart is true for many things... even webpages: How many users actually wanted to subrscribe to your newsletter the first time they visited your page, before they even read the first article there? How many first-time visitors actually want to donate money? ...

How many users want to have to have the inconvenience of paying for the software too!

If you want users to pay for your software, put a price on it, and stop pretending it's free. Nagging pop-ups -> Close tab.

Re: The rise of user-hostile software

#46

Post by dvdkon »

anovikov wrote: post #42

Natural selection will quickly weed out everyone who tries to follow the suggested path. Simply due to cost of traffic becoming lower than revenue.

Cost of traffic for a hardware monitoring/config utility? Not everything needs to be a service, and this is also a perfect example of why some things shouldn't be services, just plain old downloadable software.

Re: The rise of user-hostile software

#47

Post by FranksTV »

nicbou wrote: post #2

With all the praise Brother laser printers get for being just a damn printer, I wonder what the end game is for some of those businesses. I can understand that monetisation and user well-being can be at odds sometimes (e.g. with free apps and services), but surely a generic hardware manufacturer wants to ensure a generic experience? This is why I tend to buy things that use generic, open standards. I don't trust some…

Printer companies make money band over fist. It's a razors-and-blades recurring revenue model.

Re: The rise of user-hostile software

#48

Post by jerome-jh »

I wish the article would be a little more documented, however matching its definition of hostile SW those two examples come to my mind:

- Origin, the game distribution system of EA, forgets the user's credential if she declines to upgrade

- at work, a piece of software contracted from a well known three-letter German multinational always warns the user she may lose unsaved work when quitting, no matter she just clicked "save" a second ago.

Re: The rise of user-hostile software

#49

Post by DaiPlusPlus »

Aeolun wrote: post #43
mosselman wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate my brother printer. Now I have to do some weird black magic that involves pulling out the power cable and paper tray and inserting the cable while holding some buttons in order for it to even turn on. A year earlier it suddenly stopped being able to print wirelessly and, as with all cartridge printers, the ink is crazy expensive. A month ago I bought an HP printer with an ink reservoir for my mother and it is…

Or just buy a laser printer and never have the issue again?

Better yet: get rid of all printers. Stop printing. I haven’t needed to print anything in the past 28 months. When I do need to print something it’s a 5 minute walk to the town library where I can print 100 sheets for free every month.

Re: The rise of user-hostile software

#50

Post by denton-scratch »

flyinghamster wrote: post #36

Hear, hear! My disillusionment with tech is at full boil at this point. It's gotten to the point where I trust tech products about as much as I'd trust a wild chimpanzee. Unfortunately, one person boycotting hostile tech is like one person trying to bail out the Titanic with a teaspoon.

> one person boycotting hostile tech

So I don't try to boycott; I assume I'm an outlier, and my choices won't make much difference to the supplier.

I just stay away from stuff I don't like or disapprove of. Of course, I hope that others -ercing the supplier is a path to unhappiness.will share my views, and that the supplier will notice and change; but it doesn't usually seem to happen.

But I'm not upset. I'm just exercising my preferences. Trying to use your preferences as a way of proving a point or coerce the supplier is a path to unhappiness. Exercise your preferences, and be happy that your preferences are satisfied. If your supplier receives a signal, so much the better - but that's the cherry on the cake.

Post reply on HN