I’ve become increasingly frustrated by the repeated failure of many gadgets and internet-based services. It appears that everyone is racing to release their next product with all the gee-whiz features thrown in, yet they have not been fully tested.
I’ll preface this by saying I work on a PC (a super powerful PC, but that’s beside the point) and have owned a bunch of Apple products in the past. Currently use an iPhone 5 and it works very, very well. Apple products are supposed to “just work,” or so say the fanboys. If that’s the case, then what on earth happened with the Apple TV? I have 3 and they are always showing incredible delays when trying to watch a rented movie, lose connection with network and are always needing to be updated. They never “just work.” I went to great lengths when building my house to have it fully wired with Cat5 cables so that everything had a direct connection. It was all a waste of time and energy as nothing ever seems to work correctly.
The point I’m trying to make is that these systems are supposed to communicate to one another and work seamlessly. From what I’ve seen, that’s hardly the case. Companies are throwing everything up to the cloud because that’s the latest buzzword. Look at what Adobe has done with their Creative Suite, now subscription based. All of these services rely upon consistent and fast internet connections. I think we can all agree that the U.S. in particular has a pretty awful network of internet providers. Slow speeds, dropped connections, throttled downloads, etc.
Companies should NOT be basing everything on the internet because it still isn’t reliable enough. Until there is a consistent wifi connection for nearly everyone, we should not be using it entirely. A DVD will be around for a long time but if you decide to use Amazon over iTunes (oh wait, can’t have those both on the Apple TV!), then you could lose the movies you’ve purchased. It’s all in the cloud, this vapor that holds nothing tangible.
So that’s my rant. Just wish everything wasn’t solely internet focused because when it goes down, you’re completely out of luck.
Agreed! I’m particularly disappointed with Adobe and the new internet only/creative cloud subscription model they’re forcing on to everybody. Long live box products with perpetual licenses is what I say! (the all encompassing VR cloud future can disappear for all I care - although I realise it’s here whether we like it or not). I don’t even employ an mp3 player as I prefer to use cd’s and ye olde minidisc. Ah yes, I suspect very shortly these will be ‘the good ol’ days…’
Sorry - my dinosaur rant is over. (I just couldn’t help myself)
wallflower do you reckon the “internet only” model will replace the licence? I’ve been quite out of synch with this but what will happen if you want to work from a computer with no internet connection? (apart from being burnt for sacrilege)
How is it virtual fascism if you’re paying a fraction of the total cost? If you stop paying for any service, do you expect to keep getting that service? Cable TV, cell service, etc?
Back to the Apple TV, I’ve never had an issue on my Roku. And the next device I get will likely be a Chromecast so I can display websites with embedded video, and push YouTube videos to my TV.
6ix - I feel like I understand the general tone of your rant, but after reading your OP a few times, I’m not sure exactly what you are having issues with. I have a Apple TV, not a very new one either, and it works pretty well, 98% of the time. If it doesn’t, the simple “IT” fix solves it - unplug, wait 10 sec, fire it back up.
Re: Adobe CC, it seems to cause people a lot of heartache, and our IT managers really took a hit when they updated everyone to CS6 only a few months before CC rolled out, and Adobe gave us ZERO credit for the previous purchase. But I installed CC on my personal MBP, and haven’t had any problems.
Any more examples of “things that aren’t working properly”?
How about Sim City 5? One of the most anticipated PC titles goes damn near belly up at launch. Not only was their server architecture not properly load tested, but the game had critical flaws in its code that the developers tried to cover up with GUI disguises. This title was no doubt ambitious, but as is usual, when EA acquires a studio the suits ram-rod their titles to market foregoing quality.
I never really got the point of Apple TV when you could just use a cheap MAC or PC as a streaming base server for any format or streaming service…
The reality is most things have greatly expanded in complexity but most development cycles are expected to be the same or faster. That tends to leave certain quality issues out to pasture. The computing industry doesn’t make it any easier, 300 trillion permutations of hardware, drivers, and software means that bugs will pop up. I worked in IT long enough to know that the vast majority of times that people had problems, it was due to some little widget or other software interfering with things. I myself am guilty, I had random issues with Acrobat for years before discovering it was due to my multi-monitor software.
Anything based on Wifi too will always be sketchy depending on your router, apartment, etc.
When things do work the way they are intended, it’s pretty nice though. It’s a real first world problem when you’re having issues having your Xbox streaming content from your PC in the office because your Wireless N signal isn’t quick enough for your 1080P stream. Still beats driving to Blockbuster and spending $7.
Well, I might have put it a bit harshly, but If I am being forced to have an internet connection in order to work that’s akin to forcing a gilette model on the market. Why not offer both subscription and old fashioned “one off” models?
In any case I don’t see how it’s comparable to cable or cellphone at all, because those are providers of content, not software, and while software needs to be updated, that can be done once a year or two.
Is all this examples of ‘Agile’ not working? Get it out then get it fixed?
Are any ‘internet only’ models actually reliant on the internet, or is it a control function?
I wouldn’t mind paying for an ‘internet always connected’ service if processor heavy functions were sent to a cloud super computer (like a render) and saved me a lot of time, but if there is no benefit to it, is it for customers benefit or not?
This all reminds me of a conversation I have with my Mom about American Girl Dolls. They’re grossly overpriced (subjective opinion). My Mom wants to buy stuff for my daughter from their store but typically can’t unless it is a special occasion (Christmas, etc.) because of said pricing structure.
She complains about it bitterly. I tell her to stop worrying about it and just not buy from there.
Kind of the same thing here. There’s a lot of complaining about Adobe’s structure or other products…going as far as calling it fascist. Return the poorly functioning product and/or don’t buy the product. You don’t NEED it. You want it. It is what you want. So you complain about it.
I see what you are saying, and I’m all for using products which are not mainstream, but I find it difficult kind of difficult in this case.
This was not a comment leveled only at Adobe (although mainly), the fact is if this will be the future of software pricing as someone suggested, you know that as practicing designers we sort of do need certain software. Yes you can re-learn another software which might be inferior in its functions, but if you work with clients and need to send files back and forth you do need certain software (this is truer for cad software).
This definitely opens the door to other software providers with more flexible pricing structures, but adobe having so many patents this will not be such a problem I imagine.
You take them on their promise. If they don’t fulfill that promise, they go out the door.
But then there are cases where you can take advantage of bad technology.
I had Comcast. Due to my neighborhood filled with old-growth oak trees and the position of my house relative to them, I could not get satellite TV. For the first few years, I could threaten Comcast that I would leave for satellite TV if they didn’t give me a deal. After a while, they called my bluff and I was stuck.
Several years later, along comes Uverse. I dump Comcast and get a deal from Uverse. While Uverse’s internet sucks, I could live with it. But mostly, it gave me leverage. Now Comcast comes crawling back with a deal on internet/tv/phone that is less than what I was paying 15 years ago.
The capitalistic system allows American Girl to charge whatever they want, but as soon as American Girrrllzzz (or whatever this ficticious company is called) opens as real competition, capitalism takes over again for your benefit.
2004/5/6 in the house, ahhh the golden years of corofloaters !
i picked up a new 3d tv recently, not that i particularly wanted the 3d feature, i liked that it was a 47" smart tv with all the other bells and whistles that cost $750. i watched the 3d versions of avatar, tron, life of pi and startrek and while they are all great movies in their own right, i felt like the 3d effect while impressive at first starts to wears off quickly.
i dont know if 3dtv is still a burgeoning technology or if it has reached its saturation. it seems that with the needs and advances of ux and 3d, a breakthru technology like tele-immersion like hollowdecks or similar are the next better step from 3dtv. i wouldn’t be surprised if nvidia and apple crack that nut, could be an interesting combination.
