Software Upgrades are sometimes System Degrades

In today's ever growing market for better software and faster and better hardware, suppliers and manufacturers don't always get it right.

Mostly, it is a personal choice rather than immediate necessity to get the latest and greatest whiz bang upgrades. Sadly though, some software is reviewed by the manufacturer with blind headstrong goals, and oblivious to responses by the general public such as via Beta/Trial versions etc. For a lot of cases it is the $ and sponsorship factors too.

Hold on to your hats for the no-holds barred mumbo-jumbo.

The biggest recent boo-boo has got to be Vista. Notwithstanding the few ardent followers, it was not received well, especially later when Microsoft forced the system via new PCs. Many reasons abound to it's unpopularity such as driver issues, program compatibilty, enhanced but tedious security protocols, bloated and resource hungry, personal distaste and confusion about too much change at once. Yeah, these can be debated till the cows come home. Still, it's blatantly overwhelming in favour of the dislikes whichever way you cut it.

I suppose bloatware is becoming the most common problem, growing at an exponentially faster rate than which PC's are getting faster. The list is almost endless, but I will mention a tiny few only.

Nero. From Verson 7 onwards, it just got HUGE. I note that many Nero users are downgrading to Version 6 due to stability, but mostly size, although some tweaking features are great on Versions 8 -10. Of course there will be some ardent version 7 and upwards supporters that will swear otherwise. I think Version 7 was the Vista of Nero?

Our favourite of all hated bloatware - Adobe PDF formats and its annoying updates, slowness and the SIZE. OK, it obviously is great for some people. Mostly, for the average Joe like me, it's just a reader. You can do that with Notepad, Wordprocessor or any other other simple program. Just get rid of it and use a simpler free PDF reader. They are generally faster too. Now for my next trick, to rid all the WWW sites of PDF?

Well, I suppose it is not confined to just one Operating Systems manfacturer, so here goes one for the fruity Apple. Slowtime - oops, QuickTime. Not what I would call a great all-rounder as media software goes. It's good at what it does, but that ain't much. And if you want extras or want to download streaming content, ya gots ta pay for da upgrade!!! OK OK, WMP is not much to rave about too, but at least WMP, with its limited codecs, can do a heap in comparison. Just add the QT codecs and presto (sure), your WMP bloatware is ready to burst at the seems. But with WMP, no need to separately purchase something that should be included, unless you want to.  And if you want to, please send Blank Cheques to my postal address. Cash works too.

Major Freeware generally keeps its nose clean. There are the exceptions such as some mainstream P2P and chat programs, and GOOGLE almost everything, which can be a bit too over the top, or just plain annoying. There's a few others. But considering what we get for free, I reckon we generally have a pretty good compromise.

I am  bit sorry to see some freeware is now shareware or purchase only now. Also, I know they need to make a buck, so a bit of NagWare everynow and then is the price I am willing to pay for quality Free stuff. Unfortunately lately, some Freeware has become a bit too loaded with initial Adware and add-ons. Annoying? At least most give you an Opt Out option (Imagine adding every toolbar and BHO that came with software) Always say Pooh-Bah to an extra Toolbar. AlZip is just one prime example of good freeware gone commercial and where the free version is still excellent.

So, I often revert to an older software version just to keep my system a tad cleaner and leaner, that is, if it still does what I need. (Thought I'd just mention that as this line looked a bit empty).

It makes sense to see what you need, and for the future, before upgrading to possibly a more complicated, incompatible or almost unusable or bloated  version of what you already have.

With a bit more time and thoughtpower, I could mention many, many examples of the above issues. Just bear in mind, no-one sees exactly the same thing in the same way.  This is just : -

Food For Thought