Ask HN: Is Software Getting Worse? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Is Software Getting Worse?

#41

Post by Gordonjcp » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 11:31 AM UTC

an_aparallel wrote: post #11

you gave 2 large companies as examples. There's SO MUCH incredible software out these days...better than anything thats come before it...software is getting better - media harvesting is getting worse. So...support good companies, and make a point of not supporting the ones which do this. It comes at a cost - but - that's life. for creators, particularly in music - we've never had it better... PAID -Ableton blows my m…

DaVinci Resolve. Proper video editing, VFX, and colour grading software as used on stuff you've seen in the cinema and on telly.

Free, if you don't want the clever "neural engine" stuff or >4k timelines.

Oh, you do want that? That'll be 300 quid then, and it's yours for life. They have never even charged for the updates, either.

Of course, they make their money on cameras and control surfaces.

Re: Ask HN: Is Software Getting Worse?

#42

Post by d23 » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 11:32 AM UTC

Definitely feels that way. Not sure if it’s No Country for Old Men phenomenon or not.

In that vein and as a counterpoint: I remember thinking software like VLC and irfanview were great back in the day. Now, I find them both to be incredibly frustrating. I wonder if the bar for quality software has actually gone up.

That being said, I never remember basic websites of the 90s being as buggy as the ones I run into on a regular basis today, so who knows.

Re: Ask HN: Is Software Getting Worse?

#43

Post by newswasboring » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 11:32 AM UTC

negative_zero wrote: post #18

To me as a user, what's in decline is UI, UX and trust. Lots of software these days is just outright hostile in very "in your factface ways" and subtle ways. Even software I pay for seems to try to screw me at every turn. "You paid for me? Have some ads! I'll scan everything you do and sell it off to the highest bidder! No you can't copy and send this image to a friend, but here's a link to try and lure them into the…

> data rape

No. Just, No.

Re: Ask HN: Is Software Getting Worse?

#44

Post by throwaway4good » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 11:34 AM UTC

No. Software is getting better and developers are more productive than ever.

It is just that the goal the developers had is not what you assume (to let you view video as easily as possible) but instead onboard you as an active user of the app.

If you try and use Facebook without being logged in you will have a similar experience.

Re: Ask HN: Is Software Getting Worse?

#45

Post by vanviegen » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 11:34 AM UTC

dzek69 wrote: post #38

Almost nobody cares about the value to the user anymore. Value to the owner/seller of the product is what matters. This results in poor UX, apps spying you constantly, useless features and easy to fix bugfixes that aren't fixed in years. As a software developer I'm disappointed in this approach. If I can I try my best to produce the best experience for the end user, but in the end I can only get satisfaction in open…

I'm curious which OSS project you're referring to. That doesn't sound typical at all.

Re: Ask HN: Is Software Getting Worse?

#46

Post by transcriptase » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 11:34 AM UTC

The year is 2036. I sit down at my 128 core 7 GHz computer with 1 Tb of DDR8 memory on my 10 gig fibre line.

Discord and MS Teams still take 30 seconds to open.

Re: Ask HN: Is Software Getting Worse?

#47

Post by johlits » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 11:34 AM UTC

It's because we don't know when to stop.

Re: Ask HN: Is Software Getting Worse?

#48

Post by an_aparallel » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 11:35 AM UTC

Gordonjcp wrote: post #41

an_aparallel wrote: post #11

you gave 2 large companies as examples. There's SO MUCH incredible software out these days...better than anything thats come before it...software is getting better - media harvesting is getting worse. So...support good companies, and make a point of not supporting the ones which do this. It comes at a cost - but - that's life. for creators, particularly in music - we've never had it better... PAID -Ableton blows my m…

DaVinci Resolve. Proper video editing, VFX, and colour grading software as used on stuff you've seen in the cinema and on telly. Free, if you don't want the clever "neural engine" stuff or >4k timelines. Oh, you do want that? That'll be 300 quid then, and it's yours for life. They have never even charged for the updates, either. Of course, they make their money on cameras and control surfaces.

here.. more free software which rocks:

OBS Screen Recorder, Obsidian Mind Mapping Software, Mock Mechanic (free engineering sandbox), Ranstads Circuit Modelling JS site, Inkscape - getting better and better

Re: Ask HN: Is Software Getting Worse?

#49

Post by Havoc » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 11:36 AM UTC

Both of those are more web experiences than "software" in my books though the two are blurring.

Web in general seems to be getting worse yes. Partly due to dark pattern-y BS but also because it's a hard problem. There are just so many combinations of configurations that it's hard to cover it all. See also those fingerprinting sites showing you're unique (your configuration)...that's effectively a measure of that diversity.

I don't mind the latter. There is certainly a movement towards intentional user hostile designs though which is annoying

Re: Ask HN: Is Software Getting Worse?

#50

Post by tm-guimaraes » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 11:38 AM UTC

The issue is rent seeking behaviour that spawns across our current capitalist systems. (No this is not a rant against capitalism or a pro communism statement, just a problem description)

Basically our current capitalism system incentivises not "value creation" as an utopian version of capitalism would incentivise, but actually "rent seeking" aka "build a moat, capture users". Everyone is after guaranteed recurring revenue, and it is done by shackling you to the service being provided, check "right to repair" issues, check compatibility in software ecosystems.

Someone builds a very good product, people migrate to it, they pay you money, maybe even pay you to keep using it (subscription), but how to you guarantee that they are not switching to something else? Add as much lock in as possible, or make it free so you can sell user data/put adds. All of these are not connected to the quality or "value" you are providing to customers, but rather into ways of keeping your moat / stop competition from rising.

tragedy of the commons (and similiar issues) means that we can never have the utopian capitalist/free market world. Regulation is always needed to avoid such issues, but at the same time regulation can also backfire and instead create these moats/rent. The utopian Capitalist world, just like the utopian Communism cannot exist. And the end of the day, there can never be purity, and systems need continuous engineering/maintenance effort.

In your example, TikTok want you to use the app, website is not a priority, they can't gather as much info there, it just exists so that someone using the app could send a video to someone without it. Also, it still needs a ton of bloat to still get as much info from you as they can. So, with less resources and with still wanting to spy on you as much as they can, it's normal that the video player might not work in all browser/OS/device combinations.

Same shit across every product, now add things like speed of delivery of new features or new ways to spy being more important that performance/quality, and you get trash software.