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Ask HN: Software you hate but can't replace?
221–230 of 328 posts
Re: Ask HN: Software you hate but can't replace?
#222Grafana. Most of our dashboards are parameterized and half the time, using the dropdown to select a different value for a variable doesn’t work. The menu just closes and the variable doesn’t update. The “stacked” option when displaying multiple series is a super dangerous footgun; it will show you numbers that aren’t actually occurring. If you accidentally make a too-heavy metrics query the entire page becomes sluggi…
And: scrolling in Grafana.
The scrollbars are tiny so you can't really grab on to them and drag.
OK, so you use the mouse wheel or trackpad instead. If you've got lots of lines on a graph the key area itself has a little mini-scrollbar. So as you're scrolling down, all of a sudden your mouse is over that little area and it starts scrolling instead. It probably doesn't have much content to scroll but it doesn't matter, the page won't scroll while you're over that area so you have to move your mouse to some other part of the screen and try again.
OK, so you think you'll put your mouse in the navigation area on the left or something and use the trackpad there, as there won't be any little scrollable areas going by there. But if you place your mouse on the left-hand navigation pane, that doesn't scroll the window. So you really have to place your mouse in the actual content area to scroll using the trackpad, and just deal with the above "sticking" effect.
Infuriating. (Using macOS Chrome with a mouse with a scroll wheel and trackpad)
Re: Ask HN: Software you hate but can't replace?
#223All search engines. They are all horrible and getting worse by the day. All the results are spam, they ignore words and can't do basic things they used to be able to it.
Whats u r reference point
Re: Ask HN: Software you hate but can't replace?
#224Re: Ask HN: Software you hate but can't replace?
#225Latex. The document object model is stupid. The Latex language's syntax and semantics are weird and idiosyncratic. Every Latex package uses its own weird conventions. It's slow. But there are thousands of packages out there for almost any conceivable problem you might have. And that makes Latex very very useful. But it is not well-designed software.
I have used LaTeX “forever”, basically since it was first created. As so many longtime LaTeX users, I have a love-hate relationship to it: I love it for what it allows me to do. Nothing else comes close. And yet, the number of hours wasted swearing at it while debugging something or other is beyond count.
There is an interesting ongoing project to replace it, though: Namely, finl (“finl is not LaTeX”) by Don Hosek, himself a longtime TeX/LaTeX user and developer.
That is a very ambitious project though, and not one finished in an afternoon. Se we will be stuck with LaTeX for years to come.
Re: Ask HN: Software you hate but can't replace?
#226My Windows Vista VM that runs on my homelab, for the sole purpose of keeping my HP LaserJet 3390’s scanner working with modern software. I got this thing for free on Freecycle and it works amazingly well mechanically, and the printer worked out of the box. No matter what I tried though, getting the scanner to show up as a device and be interfaced with any modern hardware required me to set up this virtual machine to…
The installation software probably just copied some files to the wrong places, especially when it was written for a 32 bit system. It happened to me once with the drivers for my CANON scanner.
Re: Ask HN: Software you hate but can't replace?
#227Latex. The document object model is stupid. The Latex language's syntax and semantics are weird and idiosyncratic. Every Latex package uses its own weird conventions. It's slow. But there are thousands of packages out there for almost any conceivable problem you might have. And that makes Latex very very useful. But it is not well-designed software.
Yes, I spent several months lovingly creating an open source LaTeX tool in the last few years. And yet... yes, you're right of course. I hate those stupid PDF "manuals" that each package has -- they have to be one of the least successful media for teaching anyone how to use anything!
I guess it is a case of eat your own dog food. But LaTeX and PDF have existed for longer than any more flexible format suited for the task. And last but not least, if the documentation is to actually show you the typeset result using the package, it is hard to get around the PDF format. (Though you can always embed images of typeset excerpts in documents of a different format.)
Re: Ask HN: Software you hate but can't replace?
#228Hate is too Sterling for these gripes, but this is relatively the best fit: Windows 10, useful for some games with friends, because of the “nudges” to change my behavior, like asking if I really want to keep using that program, the magic-fingers messages on installation (suggesting I just blindly trust), and the difficulty to install without an online account, among other things. I can’t replace it yet, but the day w…
I'm astonished by how user-hostile Windows is. I'm excited when there's a new MacOS or iOS update with new features, but I only trust Windows updates to jam my computer for an hour or two without asking, break a few things, and sneak in unwanted changes against my best interest.
I would be wary of dating a Microsoft employee, because they don't seem to understand what consent means.
Re: Ask HN: Software you hate but can't replace?
#229Re: Ask HN: Software you hate but can't replace?
#230Zoom. Sick of this app hijacking the audio channel of my Bose headphones when I'm not in a call.
I used https://meet.jit.si/ for a language meetup.
I opened one tab for the group which had 10 people some sharing video I then opened 3 more tabs for specific languages (English, German, and Russian)
The quality was still good. It was the same as being in a crowded area a train station, but it worked.
I have had interviews with zoom and teams, these were not as good. With less people.