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Ask HN: Software you hate but can't replace?

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Re: Ask HN: Software you hate but can't replace?

#91

Post by hotpotamus »

verandaguy wrote: post #54
JCWasmx86 wrote: post #7

MS Teams: What makes it bad: First of all, it uses Electron, thus it is laggy and wastes too much resources. Maybe it is just a pet peeve of mine, but I hate , if an application does not look native on my GNOME Desktop and does not follow any HIG. Another factor is the proprietary nature of MS Teams. If it was open, there would probably be some other client/some way to have a real native client. My preferred alternat…

I use Teams on Mac, and frankly while I started off just disliking it because of the Electron lagginess, over time that's been overshadowed by a bunch of other stuff: - It's basically a Skype reskin, so it has a lot of visual elements and quirks that carry over from that — most of them haven't aged well. The reacts alone are taken straight from Skype, and they never seem to sync up if people react to a comment in qui…

I don't think anyone chooses teams - Microsoft uses their monopoly power to bundle it in with Office, which people do choose. And why pay a bundle for Slack when you've got Teams included?

Re: Ask HN: Software you hate but can't replace?

#92

Post by aledue »

qsort wrote: post #60
remus wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of interest what do you not like about the whatsapp app? The core functionality seems pretty solid to me.

Lack of granular settings for notifications, wonky integration with the desktop client, groups, your id is your phone number. There isn't much that's wrong per se, but when compared to e.g. Telegram it's much worse.

> when compared to e.g. Telegram it's much worse

To be fair Telegram, privacy and security concerns aside, is a pretty high bar. Surely Facebook has the resources to make an exceptional app, but apparently they don't think it'd be worth it for them. I really wish something like Matrix had clients as good as Telegram's!

Re: Ask HN: Software you hate but can't replace?

#93

Post by majewsky »

remus wrote: post #28
qsort wrote: post #12

Whatsapp. It's a garbage app, made by a garbage company running like garbage on a garbage protocol. There is no realistic alternative because friends and family expect you to have it.

Out of interest what do you not like about the whatsapp app? The core functionality seems pretty solid to me.

If you refuse to upload your entire phonebook to Meta, the app will HATE you for it. You will not be able to initiate any chats, the other party needs to start chatting you first. Also, instead of names, only phone numbers will be shown. (I cope by looking at avatars and inferring identity from the previous few messages.)

This would all be easily fixable. You could be able to start a chat by entering (or, more realistically, copy-pasting) a phone number. And instead of a phone number, you could be shown the other person's profile name (like in Telegram).

Re: Ask HN: Software you hate but can't replace?

#94

Post by lawlorino »

hprotagonist wrote: post #16

fucking jira. because $work decided and so here we are.

What's bad about it? I've somehow avoided using it in my professional career so far except to make some trivial support tickets occasionally with other teams. It seems fine to me from this very limited experience, but I would be interested in hearing from someone more experienced with it. A lot of other teams in my company use it and our new TL has expressed interest...

Re: Ask HN: Software you hate but can't replace?

#95

Post by majewsky »

drcongo wrote: post #57
digianarchist wrote: post #11

Zoom. Sick of this app hijacking the audio channel of my Bose headphones when I'm not in a call.

As much as they try to hide the fact, it is actually possible to join a Zoom meeting in your browser. That way you don't have to install a sketchy app with root privileges and directory traversal bugs.

I initially tried this when my language learning course had to go remote and the teacher insisted on using Zoom. But I ran into a dealbreaker issue with the web view: It does not have the grid view of all participants' cameras, and (to my knowledge) it also does not allow selecting the camera of a single person manually. This is an issue when I need to see a flash card that the teacher is holding up, but someone else is speaking, so the camera switches to them.

I'm currently working without this by using a device issued by my employer, where the Zoom app is pre-installed by the IT dept. and therefore using it for the language class does not make things worse.

Re: Ask HN: Software you hate but can't replace?

#97

Post by guessbest »

drcongo wrote: post #78
guessbest wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, I'm always taking notes whether work or business. I have notes that go back to 2005 on my home computer dealing with rental payments, college transcripts, gas payments and bills when calling up 1800 numbers for support, etc. It isn't that I don't trust my memory, it is just that if I am being pressured to do something it is a lot easier when I can look at the outcome/promise from the previous conversation.

That's what I meant! Having a written conversation about X means the notes are all already there for you. I've worked with so many people, both colleagues and clients, who use phone calls / in-person meetings as a way to essentially pass the buck while hiding any evidence that that happened. An auditable paper trail is preferable to me in every way.

This can be achieved through email much easier than instant messaging which is usually too vague.

Re: Ask HN: Software you hate but can't replace?

#98

Post by gaws »

qsort wrote: post #12

Whatsapp. It's a garbage app, made by a garbage company running like garbage on a garbage protocol. There is no realistic alternative because friends and family expect you to have it.

> There is no realistic alternative because friends and family expect you to have it.

Didn't we learn in school not to fall for peer pressure? You have a choice here.

Re: Ask HN: Software you hate but can't replace?

#99

Post by tacostakohashi »

bsuvc wrote: post #70

For me it’s Azure DevOps. We’re required to use it for the project I’m working on. Some things I hate: * Project backlog is a mess UI-wise. Lots of fields, with little to no explanation of what they drive. Generally a bad UI for working with stories. * Reviewing large pull requests is very laggy performance-wise. * Compare branches is broken - I have to start to create a PR, then cancel it, if I just want to compare…

All of these things may be true.

Still, have you ever used Jira? Jenkins? Fisheye? Bitbucket?

Re: Ask HN: Software you hate but can't replace?

#100

Post by octobus2021 »

Quicken (tracking personal finances). Has all the functionality I need, viewing individual transactions, reports (spending by category/account), tracking investments etc., and is local. When I bought it in 2008 it supported integration with financial institutions (e.g., I could download transactions for my credit card/bank account into Quicken installed on my local). Then they forced customers to pay for this feature every year, I refused and its stopped working. I enter transactions by hand now, once a week or so. Now they force users to buy license annually, otherwise software (installed locally) stops recording transactions (you can still open your data and see historical data though). My old 2008 version still runs for now. I looked into the options (local, I don't want to put my finances in "the cloud") and couldn't find much :(
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