Saturday February 11, 2012 9:55 AM AEST

Atomic MPC > News > Geek > Entertainment > Top ten-ish most disappointing tech ever

Top ten-ish most disappointing tech ever

Unsurprisingly, Microsoft nabbed top spot.

Technology is something incredibly useful and in most cases astoundingly innovative, making you wonder how the tech we use today ever evolved from the greentext terminals of the seventies.

You start running into problems eventually however, as when you get good ideas they're invariably coupled with terrible ones.

They provide cannon fodder for the fanboys out there, but thanks to our sister site PC Authority you can have a read about ten (and two runner-up) technologies that aimed for the mark and veered a few kilometres west of it.

It's got everything from Biometric security, Linux distros, those who dared to challenge Google, Intel's leap too far and perhaps most amusing of all - Vista.

There's a lot to read, and it's all written in a relatively amusing way:

Hand on my heart, when I first heard Microsoft was going to be bringing out a media player to rival the iPod I was a little hopeful. Microsoft had the cash to really develop a system that would beat Apple.

Instead they seem to have given the design job to the same person behind Windows. What we got was a clunky player with all the elegant design of a road accident, and one that was loaded with so many lockdowns as to be totally useless.

Head over to the full article over at PCA, and post your thoughts on their choices below - do you agree with their Linux-bashing Bluetooth-dissing Vista-hating opinion?

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22 Comments

Trekker May 18, 2009 12:26 PM	lol, vista suckes ball ..win 7 we will see if a better "mod"
A Hitman May 18, 2009 2:19 PM	Vista is the most stable OS Microsoft every released.
Fenn May 18, 2009 3:36 PM	Tough to say it, but they're right to have Ubuntu on the list - I count myself as an 'average user', the kind Ubuntu is supposed to win over. But my Eee PC is back to running Xandros - what use do I have for an OS that doesn't adapt the size of the menu to the size of the monitor? sigh I was so excited about VR back in the day - in the mid-late nineties I got to play with some awesome tech at a uni and while it totally blew my mind, it wasn't the least bit useful.
AIMBOT May 18, 2009 3:40 PM	I totally agree with most on the list, but what I'm about to say also requires me to include that I have never liked Microsoft technologies in any way, shape or form; however, Vista is the best thing since ever. Now I’m using Server 2k8, with SQL 2k8 and VS 2009, and I’m happy as a pig in mud!
Fat_Bodybuilder May 18, 2009 4:26 PM	=S Vista was a huge disappointment? Seriously? From the article: "Vista's biggest problem, however, was its big appetite for hardware. Users who had grown accustomed to the low demands of XP were often shocked to realize how much hardware they would need to upgrade just to run Vista. Many of the high-end features out of the realm of even some brand new systems." If I bought a computer 8 years ago to run XP, I wouldn't expect it to run ANY software, including an operating system, 8 years later. And most of those 'brand new systems' are filled with so much bullshit trial software from the OEM companies that distribute them, making them slower than what they would be without. People constantly blame the OS for the faults of the asshole companies that want to make MORE money off you when you buy a $2000 computer off them.
Argotha May 18, 2009 4:57 PM	Pretty well straight behind you FB, I would reiterate the fact that many that complained about vista were upgrading from machines too old that should not have bene running it, but that would just be reiterating what I just said. But let us not forget that it was intel that wanted MS to create the "works with windows vista sticker" becuase a whole lot of their chips were deemed good enough for Vista.
hazarama May 18, 2009 5:23 PM	What a rambling piece of trash.
greycat May 18, 2009 6:39 PM	I'm sure I've read that article before.
SquallStrife May 18, 2009 7:12 PM	http://www.pcauthority.com.au/News/143771,top-10-technologies-that-burnt-early-adopters.aspx This article is a better read.
smakme7757 May 18, 2009 7:20 PM	I found vista problematic for the first 6 months but after that i wont touch XP for the life of me. Vista in my oppinion was a good OS, not the best but good. But if we put it all in perspective, my old DV9000 laptop from 2008 couldn't run vista that well it chugged even thugh it has 4gb of ram and a 2.2ghz processor. But it will happily run Windows 7 RC with more FPS in games and less 'chug chug'. Vista could have been better and in my oppinion it was not designed well enough for laptops but on my expensive gaming rig it works like a charm. But does everyone need an expensive gaming rig ?
Argotha May 18, 2009 7:31 PM	thats why there is 7 base flavours of win 7 (from my memory) and thats not inculding 32/64bit etc.
Sparky May 18, 2009 10:17 PM	wow fat bodybuilder never had an average system have you. :D My flatmate bought a package deal pc just after the release of vista. the machine came with vista it was a 2.8ghz p4 with 1gb of ram - fairly standard for the time. 2:30 it took to boot the system for comparision my p4 3.0 with 512mb was booting xp in 1 minute. Great OS MS.
fliptopia May 18, 2009 11:01 PM	To be fair sparky, if it was just after release it wouldn't have had much in the way of updates and fixes. But to my mind I never felt good using Vista. I've used it heaps but unless you have a reasonably ninja type pc it always felt a bit sluggish. Never the zip that windows 7 seems to have. I have to say I am still disappointed by vista, but number 1 of all time? that is a bit harsh. I'd maybe have RDRAM in the list before vista.
Achillesjg May 18, 2009 11:02 PM	And Sparky, you seem to have missed the fundamental arguments already posted here. Yes, Vista won't run well on the system you described. But, the fact that it was bundled with that system is a mark against the manufacturer, and MS for allowing it to be sold with that machine. It says nothing about the operating system itself. Sure, maybe at the time of release, the real system requirements of Vista were high, but that's not the case anymore. I'm yet to have a crash on my machine in over a year of running Vista, that wasn't directly attributable to a faulty DDR2 stick of RAM.
zebra May 19, 2009 9:30 AM	Sigh. There are some really silly statements made in this article. Sorry for anybody involved in writing it, or those close/have a relationship with the authors. 1. The statement about "No major manufacturer ships Ubuntu preinstalled". Yes, they do. Dell does it. Here now. Happy. Cool. Read. http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/linux_3x?c=us&cs=19 2. 10GbE. What the hell? Of COURSE a bottleneck exists back at the storage subsystem for consumer focused devices. Nobody ever said 10GbE was useful in that market. Nobody ever TRIED to make it useful in that market. What the hell? It's been used in the enterprise for SEVERAL years now as a mechanism for switch ISL's and in HPC, where, along with Infiniband, it goes great guns, and is like bread and butter. Since when did it fail as a technology and become disappointing? It bloody didn't. 3. Sigh. Vista. Cry cry cry. All hail windows 7. Bring on "better OS". We've heard it all before. This really is, to a point, following the sheep. Widely understood, vista really did suffer from public perception, more than anything. Vista wasn't that bad. :(. Sigh. z
Fat_Bodybuilder May 19, 2009 11:24 AM	Didn't Asus also distibute Ubuntu with their Eee? As well as some other mini PCs. If you wanted, you could get the one with XP but that would be a fair bit more. Weird article. Even weirder subtitle comment by JR considering his experience.
TheFrunj May 19, 2009 11:33 AM	I agree with a lot of the points raised in these comments, but wanted to get some discussion going - we get a lot more feedback in our comments section than PCA ever will, and I've pointed them at this post so they can check out all you've said. As for the subtitle, the Zune would've been my top pick. Weird tech that I was personally excited for before launch, then disappointed to find it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. -JR
Mademan May 19, 2009 3:16 PM	Yes, Vista uses far too much ram, and is loaded with a host of features I have no use for - Windows Defender, Media Centre, Windows Mail, UAC, Aero, etc. I was also peeved at the amount of old games that won't run on Vista, and that drivers for my printer, scanner and camera were unavailable. But this is largely the fault of manurfacturers not supporting their own hardware, hoping users would buy something new, and not the fault of Microsoft. And it has to be said that it is extremely stable, and some what secure too - something long overdue for Windows. I just don't see why Windows 7 isn't being released as a service pack for Vista - the changes are all for the better, but hardly radical or worth paying money for. Windows ME anyone?
Girvo May 19, 2009 7:21 PM	Why the hate on bluetooth? I really don't get that one. For the Mobile Phone world, it's a godsend.
Girvo May 19, 2009 7:23 PM	Also [I can't edit :P]: The Zune is brilliant. Seriously. Subscription music is a great idea in my mind, the Zune has some wicked tricks up it's sleeve, and the new UI is uber sexy. Too bad it's not in Australia :'(
Girvo May 19, 2009 7:26 PM	Oops and one more: "The most recent attempt was a claim that the iPod actually costs $30,000 to own and operate. When you have to make those sorts of outrageous statements about the competitor, you've clearly lost." No, they're right. If you were to fill an iPod Classic, it'd cost you $30,000 from the iTunes store. Of course, we have CD collections, etc. but they cost even more. $30k. Over the length of your lifetime, that's about $375 per year [barring the fact you may want to buy even more!]. That's over $30 per month. Compare that to the Zune's $15 per month unlimited WITH DRM-free tracks to keep... it works out cheaper and you get more freedom to get as many tracks as you want. Wipe your 80Gb Zune and put ALL new music on it? $15. Do the same with the iPod/iTunes? Well. It's why I think subscription music is a great idea. I also think this article was rather... oddly written. Just by the way. :P
Argotha May 19, 2009 7:59 PM	Quote: FB "Didn't Asus also distibute Ubuntu with their Eee? As well as some other mini PCs. If you wanted, you could get the one with XP but that would be a fair bit more. " Xandros. And the ones with xp home were a little bigger, a little more expensive, a hdd, less battery life but a little more grunt.

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Atomic Magazine

Issue: 133 | February, 2012

Atomic is a magazine aimed squarely at computer enthusiasts, gamers, and serious PC upgraders.

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