h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My personal hate is a product called "Artemis".
It's a time recording/management program that is so slow and cumbersome it actually makes your life less managed.
Main niggles:
* It's slow
* It doesn't use the standard interface
* You can't print landsacpe, so you need 2 pages per week.

So - do you know something worse?

Lotus Notes. It just verges on being useful, then ruins it all by being rubbish.

Now you used the word "ever" so two from the past.

MultiMate 4 - release when Word for Windows 2 was out, this DOS package sucked big time, one review said "if this was the only WP package, I'd use a Bic"

Also from the same period AND STILL USED TODAY WHERE I WORK a package that is a crime against humanity:-

DataEase 4.x

Simply the worst database package ever, no command, line, no nice interface, horrible user configuration, confusing nested menus, I could go on. If this was the only database I'd use a card index.

And from the current day, a world leader in GIS (http://www.h2g2.com/A313264) ArcView by ESRI, unstable, bug riden, unconventional interface (you hold shift down to multi selct instead of Ctrl for eg) fustrating, time consuming, slow, and generally not worth the effort. Of course these are my own views and can be backed by example just in case their lawyers are about.

CH

I'll go with something a little bit more recent and say Netscape 6, see who else agrees with me and have you're say at http://www.h2g2.com/F19585?thread=94427 Also any version of DirectX. fabbers

Add to that any version of Windows past Win 3.1 and ignoring WinNT Series.

I clicked onto this thread as I have a real stunner for you, but was then a bit put off as everyone seems to be quoting recent software. Seeing as the original post said worst EVER, I will continue anyway and log mine, which is the game "Nibble the Cheese" which was a program written in BASIC for the Sinclair ZX80 and was printed in the instruction manual accompanying the machine. Those users who took the time to actually type in the 30 or so lines of code (it was slightly too complex to see what it did just by looking at it) and press RUN were rewarded with a rectangular block appearing on the screen. Each successive press of the ENTER key would randomly make part of the rectangle disappear until, after 50 - 100 presses, there would be nothing left. That's it. Nothing else. It didn't even say "game over, you took 72 goes". Nothing. Just a blank screen, leaving you to press BREAK to get out of the program loop. I think it must have been a Friday when they wrote that. My personal idea of Hell is to be locked for years in a room with a ZX80 and a copy of THAT GAME.

Hey unfair, I listed two packages from early 90s DOS days.

I also think it is unfair to list Windows, it may not be everyone's favorite, may have loads wrong with it, and there may be technically better OSs but it has opened PCs to the masses.

The two DOS packages I mentioned, MultiMate and DataEase, probably put off 1000s of PC users from WordProcessing and DataBases for ever, they were that bad.

I would also like to list one application I wrote that is still in use where I work, but as that would reveal too much about me I cannot actually name it, just to say it is shockingly bad programming, and incedibly flaky, however the users still seem to like it.

CH

I have to put in a vote for Lotus Notes. The worst thing about it is probably that it's still being used.

I also wish to mention Netscape 4.* for UNIX and similar OSs (like Linux). It's awful. Even the current development version of Mozilla (0.7) is better! Mind you, Mozilla 0.7 is better than Netscape 6 (which isn't hard). I think Netscape 6 is the worst web browser ever - not because Internet Explorer 1 was better, but because there's so much it's cracked up to be that it just isn't. At least the Mozilla team admit the browser's not finished. Netscape don't - they just package it up and release it to beat Microsoft. Not mentioning, of course, that they never had a version 5 browser anyway...

Bad software,bad marketing and bad tech support make for p****d off customers so why do software companies still do it.

Because people are stupid.

I have two: Something called Powersolve, where a window pops up at one point and you close that window by clicking a button in ANOTHER window. The other one is Academy, which purports to be a database type application. It's just complete shite. It gobbles up storage like there's no tomorrow, the tables duplicate information, it doesn't talk to other database apps and although it uses Ingres, it doesn't make use of a standard Ingres installation, so you can't use other Ingres apps on the same workstation. (I'm not too fond of Ingres, either)

Netscape 4.72 for Linux.
Unstable as an egg. The blasted thing crashes when one closes a window or checks for e-mails. What's the bloody good of that? I'm just waiting for Opera 5 to come out.

I agree with AA Silly Willy about Windows. Sorry to disagree with you C Hawke. I've used DataEase and it's a bit quirky and I've heard people complain that it's unreliable. Perhaps I've been lucky. It's an oddity but the DOS versions I've used have worked.

Windows 95 and 98 on the other hand, are a horror and a nightmare. I use 4 different computers: 1 with 3.11, 1 with 95 and 2 with 98. The only one that doesn't fall over several times a day is the one running 3.11 and even loses it's marbles from time to time if I'm switching out of a DOS accounts package.

The very worst software I've ever used was Sage Financial Controller for Windows. It was a few years ago but I'd never use Sage software again after my experience with their help line service. I'd used the DOS version for years with no problems. The Windows version turned our accounts to kak and the help line person at Sage just said we'd have to wait for the next version, for all the reports and balance sheet routine to be fixed. Unbelievable - as though your company accounts weren't very important.

Sal

I think the difference of opinion is in Microsoft speak , the difference between - "This behaviour is by design" and "This is a bug"

The former (my egs DataEase, MultiMate4) worked exactly as designed, they had few bugs, just shockingly thought out bits of software

Windows on the other hand is, if it was bug free, a very good design, things are intuitive and consistent, and things are *supposed* to all link together.

What would you rather have a very reliable Lada (USSR built car) or a TVR (UK Sports car) that had persistent electrical problems (which they do)?

Me I'd go for the TVR and live with the problems.

CH

There you have it C Hawke. I have an unimpressive car that gets me to work every day. I like it. My brother has a TVR that often fails to get him to the next village so he's frequently having to call people out to rescue him. I'd choose my reliable, non-descript motor any day.

We have a job costing routine in DataEase. We're used to it. It works. It doesn't cause much cussing. Windows, on the other hand, turns the air in our office blue with language I wouldn't repeat to you.

I suppose it depends on what's important to you. My brother is on his 3rd or 4th unreliable TVR, so he must just like the damn things. I've only ever had one sporty car and it had so many problems, I don't plan have another.

Sal

OK accepted that Dease when set up by someone who has the skills to do so is very reliable, however it was so unlike all other packages at the time (FoxPro 2, dBase 4, Access 2) that most database users had a huge culture shock, turn the air blue - the air was so blue when I tried using it I was given a formal warning, I threw the manuals out of the window, had to be restrain from throwing the PC with it, and if I had found where the developers lived I would have torched the place to the ground.

Last metaphor wasn't to good - how about this? what would you rather have a reliable car that you had to drive backwards, indicate left when you want to go right, use fuel that was only served at 1 location and was not "compatible" with the roads, or a normal car that had a few unplanned for problems?

CH

I'd rather use a car that I, or someone with the skill who feels like it, can change without having to contact the manufacturer first. Unfortunately, Linux isn't ready for the mainstream yet. Doesn't stop me using it though.

I know what you mean C Hawke. It must be 10 -12 years since I first used DataEase. I was trained to use it. If I'd had to rely on its manuals alone, I'd probably have hated it too. Still, I don't think you can underestimate how important it is to people to have reliable software. Ok, DE is different and not remotely intuitive. I can live with that if the alternative is software that doesn't work properly, is full of 'undocumented features', intuits wrong, interferes with other software, takes up too much memory, works too slowly, freezes etc. Windows and all its little goblins and gremlins might be just great if they worked properly, but they're a nightmare when they don't - especially if you're trying to run a business with them. Like your original car example, if you only use your car/computer for leisure pursuits and it lets you down occasionally, you can live with it. If your livelihood depends on it and it lets you down, well, that's more serious.

Sal

Points taken. Please don't think I am defending MS. I don't use Outlook, have no hotmail address and only use IE cause Netscape have lost the plot.

The point being, is the bad software in design or execution? I believe the design of Windows is the single most important thing ever to happen to PCs. I remember DOS and before, and Windows 3.0 opened up the PC like never before. All the problems are in the execution.

I hate many aspects of Windows, I spent all afternoon 2 weeks ago re-formating after Directx8 and IE 5.5 killed my PC.

However I would still swap DE for Access 2.0 anyday, as as a developer if I can create something that the end users can support themselves, then my work is cut. DE databases continue to haunt me as I am one of the few where work wih any (little) knowledge. Access 2 (and beyond) things I have created for others have, like children, flown the nest, and are being brought up by their users. I can step back.

My FoxPro stuff however also continues to haunt me, but I'll (irrationally) defend VFP to the end.

CH

Well, it's probably not the worst, but we used BPCS at my last job. It just seemed to change data at will, but that may have been because too many busybodies had access.

We had great fun making up acronyms: Big Problems Coming Soon being the only one I can think of off hand.