I am completely sick of paying money for software that is basically crap. Freeware, Shareware I have no problem with and understand bugs may creep in and possible limited test time etc. That naturally comes with that form of product development, but to be honest, I am seeing better code these days in that format that I am seeing off the shelf. So case in point (and the reason for being so upset that an immediate post was needed to vent) – I had some free time tonight and decide to install and load up a gift my dogs got me for Father’s Day. This gift was a digital photo ball from Senario and looked pretty cool – my wife was on me for not having enough photos on my work desk so this is going to come in handy. So I finally make through the extremely annoying plastic mold packaging, find the directions and USB cable and figure I am good to go…. but no, it has software that has to be installed to manage the image download. After literally looking for 10 minutes as to where I put the disk when I opened the package, I finally figured out it was in a mini-cd disk between the packaging cardboards. I slap the disk in and the first thing the dialog asks is where I want to install it. I NEVER install software in the Window’s defaults in order to keep my drives organized, so I changed locations with the browse button and complete the install. As I would expect, an icon is placed on my desktop, but it had a default icon which I thought was odd. I clicked the newly created icon… and I get the Windows Missing Shortcut Error Dialog. Sure enough, they didn’t bother to set the Vue-Me software desktop shortcut to the LOCATION I SPECIFIED FOR INSTALL in the initial install. This is absolutely pathetic and immediately tells me they did not once bother to test out the install to a non-default directory even though their software clearly provided that option. If I provided this lack of quality to my end customers I would be laughed at (yes, I’m in the IT business which is why this bothers me so much). If you are expecting me to actually pay for your software, then take the time to test it – I’ll keep this gift because it was the thought from my dogs (okay, my wife for the dogs), but don’t expect me to purchase anything else from Senario in the future.
Tag: Service
Wal-Mart Pain
Ironically after recently titling a post in a positive light for Wal-Mart, I fall victim to one of the stupidest processes I have experienced in awhile. For my birthday, some friends of mine went in together and bought me BioShock for the Xbox360. Thanks again for that kind gesture! Anyway, we were playing Rock Band all night and didn’t get a chance to play it. This resulted in a bonus as it turned out they bought the game at Wal-Mart and an advertisement came out the next day from Best Buy for $20 less. I figured I would take it back to Wal-Mart and have the ticket adjusted and therefore save my friends some money (it was on a credit card, so the money would simply be added back on to that account).
A day or two later I headed over to Wal-Mart at lunch to complete the adjustment. There was even a printed sign on the door how they honor competitor sale ads. This should have been a walk in the park, but things quickly derailed when I went up to the service desk.
Yeah for Wal-Mart
Something incredible was happening to Peoria on December 4th 2007. Were we welcoming home our military cargo/transport heroes home from Iraq.. nope. Were we completing our multi-year revamp of one of the oldest sections of I-74 to enhance the driving experience for our visitors.. nope. Hold on to your seats now…. Michigan State’s glorious basketball team was coming to play our Bradley Braves. I know, I know you’re giddy just thinking about it. So, Michigan State, representing their 46,045 students ,was coming to take on the Bradley Braves with a 2006 enrollment of 6,127. Truly a David and Goliath moment. It was so big that ESPN was going to carry it. We’ve hit the big time now. The big night came, the lucky ones got tickets to Carver Arena to witness the historic event in person, while others popped their popcorn, poured their drinks and settled into their favorite chairs. It was a close game, but the Braves fell short of toppling the mighty Spartans 66-61. …. and then things started taking an ugly turn.
Survey Says…. Bad Timing
Work today ended up being a tad more stressful than usual due to the all to common lack of requirements coupled with well defined timelines. I only mention that to help frame my mood when my truck hiccupped on my way home. Probably in the same manner that individuals who live next to train tracks eventually become accustomed to the daily wheels on rails, I pretty much have the rhythm of my truck’s engine tucked deep in the subconscious. I would be interested in getting some feedback from someone in the train situation, but the microsecond my truck produced a sound that didn’t fit the standard cadence… it jumped up and took front and center in my thoughts. I somehow managed to instantly block out the non-related sound – no more radio, no more buzz of surrounding cars nothing… just the sound from my engine. It was matched up now, the pistons were firing in sync, the drive shaft was spinning under my seat… this lasted for a few minutes and then it happened again.
Would You Like Any Y’s With That?
Work is back in session, so I have to tackle some quicker ones. I had a strange experience the last time I was at Panera Bread that still leaves me wondering. I stepped up to the counter and gave the cheerful cashier my standard turkey sandwich and soup takeout order. The lady then asked me for a name to call out when the order was ready. Rather than go my standard route and give a name of a rock singer I went with my real name “Brian”. The cashier then asked me if that was with a ‘Y’ or an ‘I’. I tried desperately to process exactly what this actually mattered in the context of calling my name over the intercom. Unfortunately, I couldn’t rationalize it and was just about to ask her a probing question regarding the impact it would have on my food delivery when she added “You must not be asked that very often” …with a chuckle. She was note entirely correct since I am often asked this when dealing with text documents, but within this type of spoken scenario she was totally correct, I had never been asked that question… ever. In fact, the more common mistake is using an ‘AI’ instead of an ‘IA’ – which, by the way, generally brings a smile to my face and if in an email, goes in my special ‘Brain’ folder for future reference. I honestly replied “no” and decided to satisfy the original question with the appropriate “I” – as a note, I never get this problem when I use my standard approach and go with Jagger or Ringo. I was still thinking this over in my head and trying to decide what I was going to do when they called me name (“did you call Bryan or Brian?….) when I noticed I had pulled out a single dollar instead of a five dollar bill from my wallet. I stopped my payment motion, alerted her that I needed to get the right amount and took out my wallet to exchange the bills. Then the kicker came when she said “That’s okay, I do stupid things all the time too”. I personally preferred to classify it as a basic mistake brought on by the distraction of a previous incoherent statement, but if stupid does then stupid is fits her assessment then I will simply leave her with the positive feeling that she isn’t alone in the world. I picked up the order for Brien and went on my way.
Life Intrigued 