Comments on: Technology's 10 most inexcusable failures

ZDNet's David Berlind has his dander up about half-baked technologies that still don't do what they're supposed to.

User interface

With the advent of VRML and other 3d programming languages, why is our desktop still look like windows 3.1. This is true of almost all OS's including mac. Virtual desktops was nice but why not have a landscape instead of a desktop. I have been out of school for quite some time and I am tired of staring at a "desktop", let me have recess and go play in the yard.

[JoBrad]

Great Article

I have been very frustrated with the lack of simple innovations within existing software. It's really cool to have new features, but I want the existing ones matured enough so they are usefull to me.

[JoBrad]

And my pet peeve

Outlook should know when it's downloading duplicate emails, and either not download them, or delete them, based on your preference. This should also be extended to Contacts and Calendar items. I use Outlook with my school's POP3 email, and I don't see any reason why it can't store my sent items in the sent items folder on the pop server, and then retrieve them to let me know that I've sent an email to this person.

[Hobyx]

Your top ten list is very narrow, I was hoping for more.

Your top ten list is really only applicable to someone who does
what you do every day, using your software choices, making as
much money as you do and very likely... only being a white
yuppy.

Try thinking about the world outside of email, scheduling and
cell phones.. all the gadgets you can afford. Try that and see
what your top ten list can look like.

[Asu]

Why do I have to manually set the time and date on my cell phone?

Why? Why??????? WHYYYYYYYY???????????

[Steve Jordan]

Because...

... you need a new cell phone... or a new provider. I've never set the time and date on my Motorola phones, running on Verizon, because the moment you turn it on, it gets the time and date over the cell system from Verizon. (Of course, you have to assume Verizon really knows what time it is. But does anybody REALLY know what time it is? Does anybody really care?...)

[jeffhughes1]

Program cell phone time?!

WHAT?! My word man, what brand of phone and provider are you using! I've never had to do that on the last 5 phones I've had. Every time it powers up, the tower (synchronized with atomic clocks) tells my phone what time it is where I'm at.

[dotnetpro]

THE BIG ISSUES

Like the failure of technology to free us from Microsoft's monopoly? Or it's failure for letting us get into that spot in the first place.

The failure to remedy global warming.
The failure to eradicate disease.
The failure to eradicate hunger.
The failure to eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels that destroy our environment.
Nuclear energy - now we're talking about building more?! Talk about fubar technology.
The failure to place solar cells on every roof instead of asphalt shingles.

A smaller issues:
Remote control proliferation.

Anyway, I sure hope you get your vCard thingy fixed.

Right On!

Thanks for adding a suitable perspective. Especially about the remote controls.

Inexcusable Errors

I agree with "big issues". When I read the heading "technology's 10 most inexcusable errors" I was thinking about errors or subjects that really mean something, not the type of mosquito bite irritations he listed. There are major failures of technology in our society, but he didn't list any. "Big isssues" spoke of persistent problems of our society, not really technological issues. Let me suggest a few of those: 1) failure to devise a workable/producable/affordable fuel efficient and clean car; 2) failure to provide near universal and affordable broad band and wireless net access (and I don't mean over priced cable modems requiring subscription to cable TV service or even DSL) and industry resistance to public efforts to provide those services; 3) failure to devise a smooth and user friendly and easy to use computer operating system for all computers -- not just Macs -- that operate with the same kind reliablilty we would demand from any appliance or car; 4) broad availablity of energy saving fixtures and appliances at reasonable prices -- not the premium prices charged now; 5) major progress toward elimination of fossil fuels as the primary source of energy in our society -- alternative technologies have been starved for development support and, yes, tax support built in to our system for our older fossil fuel sources and technologies -- these technologies exist but they have been deliberately marginalized by industry groups; 6) development of fast, efficient and affordable rapid transit systems that can be installed in the vast majority of urban/suburban localities -- current subway and heavy rail systems are simply too expensive for broad scale application; 7) development and wide scale availablity of inexpensive, quality modular/manufactured housing systems to reduce needlessly burdensome cost of home and apartment construction. These are just a few technologies that could dramatically improve our lives and the society as a whole. There are obviously more examples. We need to wake up and get rolling. No more excuses.

[Que.Ball]

Simple DVD Player

We all thought it was cool when DVD's first came out and the first really nifty DVD movie menu systems showed up.

But why are all the DVD players on the market still hard to use? Why do they have a separate button for every advanced feature the player is capable of? And now that the VCR is dead, who is making the DVD player that you can give to grandma and grandpa?

Sure, keep the fancy features but spend a little less time working on the big feature list and a little more time working on the user interface (remote). Do we really need a separate button for changing the audio when you can change it on the DVD's main menu? Bury that junk in a setup menu somewhere.

[Que.Ball]

Universal remote: Oxymoron

Have you ever used a universal remote that costs less than $150 that can actually replace all the remotes that is claims to replace? If you are lucky it supports the most basic of features on your devices. This isn't to say that it lacks a button for the features you want, those buttons simply don't work.

Good example. I have a TV and DVD player from the same manufacturer. The TV's remote is the generic universal type where you hold down a button and then punch in a code from the booklet to program the satellite, vcr, and dvd modes. The arrow keys to control the same manufacturer's DVD player don't even work, only the play, fast forward, rewind, and menu button. Of course without arrow keys, the menu button is pointless. We still need to have 3 remotes to watch a movie and enjoy any extra features on the disk. I need the TV, the stereo, and the DVD players remote.

[Eggs Ackley]

XML Address Book

If ever XML had an application, it's for a universal standard address book file format that you can import/export/sync with any calendar or email app on any platform INCLUDING, AND ESPECIALLY, YOUR %#&*ING CELL PHONE!!

[mikelaaron]

Cingular fixes Issue #1

Cingular Wireless alreay has a great fix for your first irritation-
When you dial 411 from a Cingular phone, you get the option of having the number dialed for you, as well as being sent to you as a text messge (so you can keep it in your phone's address book).
Also, if you call back the service will ask you if you'd like to call the same number as the last one (i called 411 to get the number to my local CompUSA. cingular dialed the number for me. after suffering thru the message tree at CompUSA, i hung up in frustration. when i called 411 back, the voice answered and said "would you like to call CompUSA again?")

Biggest Technology Failures....?

What a disappointment. The title of the article implied a list affecting the entire technology community, instead it is mostly a myopic rant about one individual's problems.

Technology Failures?

So, where's YOUR list, already?

[Cuto]

Agreed

I agreed. This story is about technology failure, not a bout someone having problems doing what they want. Geesus. Get a real editor to really write the story.

[aabcdefghij987654321]

lol

looks like someone is bitter about being late cause of DST

RE: Right On

I'm sorry to disagree, but you seem to be overlooking a fundamental problem with your suggestion. There is not just 'one' piece of software that runs the entire phone system. Telephone switching hardware/software comes in a variety of makes and models (hint: Nortel makes more than routers). Further, there is equipment of vastly different ages and degrees of automation. Changing the base behavior of the landline phone system is a process of years, not of weeks.

[markdoiron]

I Suggest You Rethink This One, David

"If I owned a Dell notebook and the company made it possible to migrate to a new Dell notebook by attaching the two to each other and pressing one button, I'd think long and hard before buying a competing laptop."

if, in fact, that happened, then i suspect that your next top-10 list would have you complaining that you couldn't buy a different brand laptop and migrate the applications/operating system between them without a great deal of pain.

also, i found your list really little more than a bunch of little nits with limited (ie, business) applicability. my list has such things as:

1. too many different standards. what standards? take your pick: tv-video, tv-audio, file documents, encryption, music-audio, cf/mmc/sd/md/etc, dvd+/-/ram, ad nauseum.

2. computer keyboards. they're terrible. only two computers ever came with a decent keyboard; the original ibm-pc and a select few nec's. the keyboard i still use today came from an old nec-386sx. the worst part of this is the impact on productivity. i know that today's typical "mushboard" dramatically slows down my typing speed. and since i type and compose at the same time, the inability to keep up with my thinking while struggling with a "mushboard" sometimes causes me to lose my train of thought. how much is an idea worth to a company if it's creator loses it while struggling with one of today's keyboards?

3. software programmers who think they know where i store my files. i don't want "my computer", "my documents", "mv video", "my e-books", "my pictures", etc! a sort by file type lets me quickly find those types of files. i chose to file by projects. this means a folder will contain a mix of images, text, spreadsheets, cad drawings, etc, that pertain to that project. and i really find it annoying when, as i'm inserting an object into a document, the application first creates the file folder that the software programmer thinks i should store that file in, then asks me which file i'd like to select from this empty (duh!) folder! come on programmer: it's EMPTY!!!

mark d.

mark d.

Set gas purchase amount

How many years have we had the capability to pay at the pump and we still can't set our purchase amount from the keypad. I'm prompted for my PIN and wonder why I can't enter the dollar amount of gasoline to pump. The attendant in the store can do it from a couple of dozen yards away but I can't do it between prompts for PIN, receipts, and a car wash? Everytime I hear talk about getting news and weather right there on the pump I wonder how this goes unchecked.

[TV James]

Easy... business

If you set your dollar amount, you'd spend less.

And for people like me who always fill it, that would be pretty frigging annoying to waste time with that extra prompt every single time.

Get a Mac!

The sort of intuitive things you want in a computer are only
available on the Macintosh platform, Microsoft doesn't get it...

Hmmm.

Well, while I agree that Microsoft lacks in the intelligence department, they do have a rather large selection of software.

Mac's are definitely getting the picture about user friendliness and linking your digital life to your physical life, but I doubt we're the only ones who have such tools available. Sure they might be free, and easy to use, and very, vERY rarely fail us, but we're not the only ones.

The iSync software, for example, is great with some cell phones, but doesn't hit home on some important features. For instance, the Motorola V600 doesn't have support through iSync with photos and to-do lists. Just contacts... That to me says that standards haven't been met by either Apple or Motorola. But, it's still probably a giant leap ahead of most software for most platforms.

A common thread

You know, there's a recurring theme here, and it's one software devs ought to pay attention to....


Are y'all listening??


Stop giving us "more". Give us "more that works". Keep your gadgets and deliver on the promise you made two years ago. Forget adding a camera to the silly phone and spend some time making it easier to operate with that torture device you call a keypad.

Sending Video over the internet

I have a 20 mb video of my kids I want to send to my parents (who are not technologically adept). Currently it is difficult to send over the internet. I know i could have them download some peer to peer program that will load adware all over my computer. There needs to be a simple computer to computer file transfer solution, that includes resume download. Also, I dont want some program that opens up a directory that anyone in my family can download content from, i like to keep my porn to myself.

use aim

aim has a good file transfer tool, which is a program most everyone has, its simple to use, and you can resume downloads. It also has a standard download directory so its easy to find. And if you're worried about people finding your porn, delete it, or hide it better.

[Steve Jordan]

Format Hell beats out 5 of your gripes right off!

If I have a PC, a PDA, a cell phone, and my wife has a Mac, I can be sure that a single document or file of mine will have to be in 4 different formats to be used on each one! For example, if I put a Word document from my PC on my SD card, then plug the card into my PDA, it must be converted into Pocket Word to be read, and vice versa. The conversion process loses formatting cues... what use is that?
We can fit a GB of memory on a postage-stamp-sized chip now. It's time we engineered these devices to use the same apps, and read the same universal formats.
(By the way: An intelligent guy like you, and you use Outlook for e-mail? You, sir, are INSANE. You might as well just save yourself the trouble of all these computer problems, and shoot your PC right now.)

[mikegraham8]

MS Outlook

I keep reading all the comments about why the author is a moron for using MS Outlook. What is it the rest of you use for synching contacts and calendar dates with your Pocket PC?

I dislike MS Outlook for e-mail, but I don't have a choice about using for PocketPC backups do I? The author may be under the same impression.

[Jahntassa]

Environment

People need to learn to face it. Outlook is here. It's going to stay, and you need to stop whining about it. Sure, there may be half a million other email applications out there, but I doubt there's 1 with the flexibility that's needed to replace it. Take the other comment, for example. PocketPCs need it. Other Office applications need it. Do you want everyone to switch back to Lotus?
Plus, nevermind the IT departments. How many of them want you running Thunderbird on their systems? How many will let you? Stop complaining about it and find a way to fix it, because there's no other working solution.

Microsoft's Paste (formatted?!?)

Come on, 98% of the time we do *not* want to paste text with an alien format, which is like pasting a brick into a greenhouse

this is such a simple, small thing (yet occurs dozens of times a day) that could be so easily fixed

o microcruft, please let us override your stupid paste mode default

[markdoiron]

Here's What I Do Larry . . .

Larry--

if i understand your comment, what i do when i'm pasting into word (or whatever by ms) is first paste it into a text editor (notepad) where all formatting is lost. then i paste it into the final destination, where it usually assumes either the default or currently active formatting.

mark d.

[205guy]

One word: Viruses

Can't believe everybody is so use to them that you overlook them. Goes along with those security and quality real-issues that some others mentioned.

I have to agree with the criticism about this article: "Lions, Tigers And Bears, Oh My!" said it first and said it best. If we're just talking pet peeves, you can add this TalkBack interface to the list.

I hope I still get some free gadgets though.

[TV James]

Interface... and ads

Or when you're reading forums on some website complaining about pet peeves and you click to read a new post and it loads fine, and then the ad loads and the whole browser crashes.

I'm tired of stupid bloated ads that ad no value and have no real enticement to click, but are just buggy enough to crash a browser.

(I have a pretty decent machine.)

Cell phone standard

OK, how about having the cell phones in the U.S. conform to the same standards as the rest of the civilized world. I would like to travel to Southeast Asia with my cell phone (or Europe too) but can't due to different technologies. I don't always think one size should fit all but in this case I do especially where there technology is superior.

Lets flip the script

I had the same problem. The solution for me was to buy a phone in Asia tha would work in the US. Easy and simple, the bonus was I got to cheat the US carriers out of their profit on cheap phone manufactured in Asia.