Jesus Diaz at Gizmodo has called for a revolution against the beta culture -- the idea that it's OK to release buggy unfinished software and apps so long as you slap a beta star burst on the top of it.
I couldn't agree more. As part of what I do for this blog, I download a variety of things to test onto my PCs -- work and home. And I am getting GD tired of crap that locks up my machine, misfires, offers very little or no documentation, and just plain screws up my mornings.
THEN! You try to delete it and find you have to do it the add or remove programs way instead of clicking on an uninstall icon in your programs list. Then! It makes you restart.
I have been extremely forgiving of new offerings on this and other scores, but suffice it to say those days are soon going to be over. As of 1.1.09 I am going to call a crap a crap if "beta" really means sloppy. That doesn't mean I won't forgive the odd problem, but these pieces of dysfunctional half baked crap help no one, and more or less ensure that I will not use the offerings on an ongoing basis.
Now, there are those cynics out there who will correctly point out that you get what you pay for -- when you download a free app, you shouldn't expect something magical.
That is bullpuckey. If the engineers of the world want to create a culture of free, they need to ensure that free doesn't mean broken.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Because people have been abusing the comment platform to place phony links to deceptive sites, I am now moderating all comments. If your comment is legit and contains a relevant link, it will be published.