I am evolving, at least, in technology. You see, in less than 1 month, my place is evolving from wifi-less, uni-computer to wifi-equipped. Moreover, now I am boasting the proud owner of two computers. Think about it, I have enough computing muscles to rival the super computers forty years ago! But wait, did I say I am proud?
I am not proud at all. As my loyal reader, you may recall I outlined my struggles with the WRT54G router, which until this day, a pain in my butt. Now, to make my life even more interesting, my newly bought LiteOn DVD writer (Model Number: SHW-160P6S) can't even recognize the software CD bundled together with it. I went to the website of the manufacturer and found there is a firmware upgrade for my device with a cryptic note "To recognize more files". I guess my device is still in learning stage. After flashing the firmware, things remain the same. I am looking forward to yet another upgrade to save the day. Talking about software upgrades, I used to have a habit of updating all the software to the latest and supposedly, the greatest, but after working in InHell for a few years, I change my mind and stick to a well-known saying "If it aren't broke, donna fix it". In case you are wondering, I am typing up this blog while downloading all those enhancements and fixes and the best and greatest software. Earlier when I first installed the Windows XP home edition, it reported it needed to download 62 patches (yes, I got the original version of XP, I am always a law-abiding guy. ;) Sometimes I keep on thinking why I dow out so much money, but I still need to pay for broadband access and time + energy to deal with such crappy product? While M$ yells unfair through the roof for piracy, for legitimate users like me, it is even more unfair to get such mediocre product. Imagine if a car needed a firmware patch every month, most probably that car company would be out of business long long time ago. Maybe the society is very lenient to software guys, so I am lucky in this way.
Ok, next time if you were in any emergency situation but found out your beloved big M walkie-talkie suddenly goes dead, please accept my apology. You know, it happens (try turn off and on again). I promise I will send you the latest firmware upgrade, free.
4 comments:
Software are complicated things. Try putting a * in front of a variable and the whole system's behaviour changes.
Therefore, it's not surprising that not many companies can spare the time to write and debug good software since customers accept the mediocre.
Roll out a leaky but acceptable product, clinch the market deals then patch it a few weeks later makes good marketing sense.
Software development is more than just pure indulgence in the perfection of form. It involves many other things: marketing strategy, human relationships, making money, drinking coffee, telling story...
Perfect softwares that don't address other issues well tend to disappear very quickly.
The trick is to write good software with limited time and budget and paying the engineers cheaply. <-- a strategy that seems to be gaining ground (6)
In order to fight for market share, companies nowadays really can't care much about product quality. Products are rushed out the door and just document defects in errata (it gives me an impression errata section is a dumping ground for whatever unresolvable issues). As consumers we should have the right to demand more usable products i.e. a router must route traffic reliably. If a product can't even perform its core functions properly, it's pointless to add whatever bells and whistles on top of it. The same goes to the optical drive which can't read a normal CD. But complain as vehemently as i could, i still need to stick to these broken products. Sigh....
The businesses have no obligation to produce good products.
If you remember economics, it's the threat of its competition gaining your business that will move a business to produce higher quality products.
When there's no competition... -_-;; consumers gotta stick with eating crap.
Sounds familiar? (6)
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