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Software Updates

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Re: Software Updates

#41
post #30
post #17

Software getting worse, just out of my head: - VS2019 removed at least two important features from VS2017 (export of profiler results and the concurrency profiler) - Firefox "new" extension API still means you can't remove the top tab bar from tree style tabs (best FF extension) without hacks - Current Dropbox versions are incredibly invasive. They popup when opening a word document. When pluggin in my Camera. And no…

Like the old Moore's Law of "don't do anything, your software will run faster in 1 year time", we could nearly apply this to software itself "don't touch anything and, by comparison, in 1 year time it will be awesomer than it is now".

I commend microsoft for maintaining older versions far longer than most. All the replacement apps from the windows 7 -> win 10 upgrade have been slower. Luckily , i still have the old ones.

Re: Software Updates

#42
2 Windows programs that I've been using for ~15 years have done a great job at avoiding the abyss.

They would be IrfanView[0] (image viewer) and foobar2000[1] (mp3 player).

Both programs are very minimal and have stayed true to their vision. Using them today feels similar to how it was 5 or even 10 years ago, but at the same time subtle improvements have been made too. Both are still under active development, so it's not a matter of them not being updated for years.

[0]: https://www.irfanview.com/

[1]: https://www.foobar2000.org/

Re: Software Updates

#43
post #17

Software getting worse, just out of my head: - VS2019 removed at least two important features from VS2017 (export of profiler results and the concurrency profiler) - Firefox "new" extension API still means you can't remove the top tab bar from tree style tabs (best FF extension) without hacks - Current Dropbox versions are incredibly invasive. They popup when opening a word document. When pluggin in my Camera. And no…

> Current Dropbox versions are incredibly invasive.

OT, but does anyone know if there is an API-shim for dropbox integrations? I use YNAB classic and that’s the only reason I have dropbox and it is utterly horrible.

edit: I just deleted dropbox. I’ll sync YNAB manually instead. Dropbox behaves like malware.

Re: Software Updates

#44

I just tried to fastlane a new beta version of my flutter iOS app up to the app store today. It got rejected by Apple because I was using Xcode 11.2, which was released on Nov 1st. Apparently, on Nov 5th Apple released 11.2.1, but still haven't put it in the App Store. I didn't know about it. Ended up being a 7.3gb download and about 10 minutes to extract the .xip file on my 12 core 2.9ghz macbook pro. The struggle i…

And if you want to be featured in the app store of your vendor of choice you have to implement the features they like. Dark mode, landscape mode, the many pay solutions they want to spoon feed the users... The struggle is real.

Re: Software Updates

#45
post #33
post #17

Software getting worse, just out of my head: - VS2019 removed at least two important features from VS2017 (export of profiler results and the concurrency profiler) - Firefox "new" extension API still means you can't remove the top tab bar from tree style tabs (best FF extension) without hacks - Current Dropbox versions are incredibly invasive. They popup when opening a word document. When pluggin in my Camera. And no…

> - The new Reddit layout is borderline unusable. They will lose the rest of the core users when they disable the old. subdomain While I agree with you here, there is also a point that it might attract new and younger users with its more 'modern' look. Personally I like sites like HN or the old style wikipedia for its information density and out of the way design. But that might just be the age talking here. People t…

Surely everyone likes a fast interface though.

Re: Software Updates

#46
post #17

Software getting worse, just out of my head: - VS2019 removed at least two important features from VS2017 (export of profiler results and the concurrency profiler) - Firefox "new" extension API still means you can't remove the top tab bar from tree style tabs (best FF extension) without hacks - Current Dropbox versions are incredibly invasive. They popup when opening a word document. When pluggin in my Camera. And no…

- Skype, everything

- Vizio Smartcast. I bought it as a simple display plus Chromecast. Later, updates turned in into a household ad billboard every time I turn it on.

Re: Software Updates

#47
post #17

Software getting worse, just out of my head: - VS2019 removed at least two important features from VS2017 (export of profiler results and the concurrency profiler) - Firefox "new" extension API still means you can't remove the top tab bar from tree style tabs (best FF extension) without hacks - Current Dropbox versions are incredibly invasive. They popup when opening a word document. When pluggin in my Camera. And no…

I’m slowly moving away from graphical applications and towards FOSS software. It’s a giant pain but once done, it’s done until I want to mess with it again.

Eventually I may get to the point where my whole operating system has a lock file. That would be nice.

Re: Software Updates

#48
post #36

Things i tried to keep using way longer than most: -windows 7 (upgraded only for widi support - and i miss them) - skype (i d never upgrade if i could) - photoshop standalone (still use it) - office 2007 ( still use it) - dropbox (no option there) - old reddit - iphone 6 - jquery (plan to avoid npm until it dies of natural causes) - windows movie maker / photos In fact it s getting harder to think of things that are…

> (Ironically, table-based HN has the best responsive behavior for reading text on mobile than any "responsive" site).

Until you have a certain nesting depth of comments, then they get condensed pretty hard.

Re: Software Updates

#49
post #25
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your point on phones is the odd one out for me, my fairly new $20 Nokia/HMD phone has really good audio even when making international calls.

Maybe it's a regional thing. I'm German and things are often shittier versions here than anywhere else. I haven't had a phone conversation that felt like a latency under .5 seconds in 5+ years.

It depends on operator, BTS etc. and which codec it would negotiate with phone.

Recently I noticed that in specific location 3G UMTS call quality is much worse than 2G GSM...

(and there is that weird VoLTE, but it apparently requires specifically supported phone by operator with branded firmware..why!?)

Re: Software Updates

#50
post #25
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your point on phones is the odd one out for me, my fairly new $20 Nokia/HMD phone has really good audio even when making international calls.

Maybe it's a regional thing. I'm German and things are often shittier versions here than anywhere else. I haven't had a phone conversation that felt like a latency under .5 seconds in 5+ years.

With fear of starting a fire here, are you using an Android phone?

I'm asking, because whenever I hear people complain about phone software that just breaks, it's almost always Android, and with good reason: They have to support a lot more phones than iOS, and Android is a lot more open.

So I just wanted to air the idea that you could try with an iPhone. iOS may lack some of the feature Android users are used to, but in my experience, it's just more stable, and I don't at all share the sentiment that "phones are unusable" or that the audio quality is bad or anything of the kind. If there's one device I can always count on working, it's my phone.

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