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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?

#241

Post by KolenCh »

bjourne wrote: post #114

Latex. 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 agree. I can never work effectively in LaTeX deal to the global namespace and in general very stateful behavior.

LuaLaTeX is quite fast nowadays though. Unless you need special glyph support, it’s better than XeLaTeX speed wise.

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

#242

Post by KolenCh »

adamleithp wrote: post #6

Adobe suite. After effects, illustrator, inDesign etc Adobe in the above fields of design are industry leaders, and have the features & functions we’ve come to rely on. Adobe’s pricing model has become very aggressive, and quite unaffordable for lots.

This is something I hate to love and love to hate. I can avoid MS Office, but I can’t avoid Adobe like Lightroom that is my 2nd nature and hard to completely replace (too much is tangled together.)

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

#243

Post by hadrien01 »

vanilla_nut wrote: post #117
hadrien01 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Non-cloud Jira as a workflow manager is pretty good. It’s intuitive, powerful, quite fast (again, on-premises version only). But my current company uses the cloud version as an agile project management tool, and it’s awful just because it is soooo slow. And they keep changing the UI, sometimes with good ideas, sometimes not, but because it is so slow nobody wants to use it to update their progress. For example I upda…

I have used cloud JIRA and non-cloud JIRA. They both have the same (99%, at least) awful UI and UX. They both routinely lag out performing even the most basic operations. They both crap out on me if I leave a tab open overnight and try to do something in it the next day. They are both miserable to use. On-premises is not some solution.

Here’s an on-premises instance of JIRA hosted by Atlassian: https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRASERVER

It’s way faster than any cloud instance I’ve used. Sure, it’s just public browsing, and most features are hidden behind login, but good luck getting that performance from the cloud version.

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

#244

Post by KolenCh »

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 also do this on macOS with Chrome, but I found that if I join mega Zoom call (say hundreds of people) then the video will suddenly freeze after some random amount of time. That makes it unreliable and especially nervous when giving a presentation this way.

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

#245

Post by KolenCh »

b215826 wrote: post #86

Mathematica. Clunky interface on Linux, requires that you use the Notebook interface for most things, terrible to run headlessly on a server, need to be happy with the defaults that Wolfram provides, etc. However, it's still the best CAS around and open-source alternatives e.g., Sage, have a long way to catch up.

It is a horrible language, I think some called it a write-only language.

But what it can do is powerful. For something there’s no alternative.

They have provided a Python interface and I always want to use the Python interface more to work around the language problem. Also Sympy has a way to read Mathematica expresssion I think.

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

#246

Post by Wilem82 »

MacOS. Project scripts and software are hardcoded for Mac. The alternative is Windows, but making the project dev environment cross-platform takes time. I dislike non-standard keyboard shortcuts for everything, lack of FAR Manager (using Midnight Commander has the same problem as all the different keyboard shortcuts), its constant annoying notification popups that covert part of my windows, its problem with handling non-Apple mice (have to jump through many hoops to make mouse movements sensible, put mouse wheel in the proper direction etc), its windows rounded corners that cut at the application's view area (run Alacritty without status bar, the rounded corners at the left bottom corner will obscure part of the shell prompt), its support for Linux that is significantly worse than in Windows and probably more that I cba to remember.

The other thing that I dislike but can't get rid of is JVM. Mind you, Python, Go, Javascript and so on is worse, but JVM is what I have to work with, unlike the rest of them.

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

#247

Post by prometheon1 »

rg111 wrote: post #217
riidom wrote: post #123

Discord. I basically don't use it, avery few months I'd say, but I still hate it, because it drains all the good Q&A's from the internet and puts it into its chatlogs, with a mediocre search ontop. Discord for gaming ramblings and chitchat may be okay, but I hate when software projects misuse it as a support channel. Give me some forum instead, I know many ppl here on HN dislike discourse, I don't get it though, for…

> Give me some forum instead That's exactly why Discourse [0] exists. Try it. [0]: https://discourse.org

The post you are replying to specifically talks about Discourse ~9 words after your quote

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

#248

Post by oz »

twalichiewicz wrote: post #161

I noticed most of the replies in this thread refer to mobile / desktop software, but nothing compares to the hell that is car infotainment system for me. Using the Audi MMI is painfully clunky, inconsistent, and riddled with subscription-locked features. At this point I just immediately wait for CarPlay and avoid touching anything in the car’s native OS. Honestly they could probably just save a lot of development tim…

For some reason, I can't get wireless CarPlay to work on my '21 Q5. Only wired.

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

#249

Post by anthk »

riidom wrote: post #123

Discord. I basically don't use it, avery few months I'd say, but I still hate it, because it drains all the good Q&A's from the internet and puts it into its chatlogs, with a mediocre search ontop. Discord for gaming ramblings and chitchat may be okay, but I hate when software projects misuse it as a support channel. Give me some forum instead, I know many ppl here on HN dislike discourse, I don't get it though, for…

Try linking Discord's protocol against IRC with Bitlbee, you can use IRSSI, sic, Hexchat... whatever.
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