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From: Earle Martin Date: 20:16 on 25 Feb 2007 Subject: Dragging to the Taskbar in Windows XP Good God but this is stupid: http://downlode.org/Pictures/Stupid_Software/Windows_XP_Drag_to_Taskbar.png How did this even make it to release? Didn't the fact that this situation evidently occurred often enough in testing that someone had to implement this incredibly verbose and annoying message suggest that maybe they should ACTUALLY IMPLEMENT THIS BEHAVIOR? Sigh.
From: Earle Martin Date: 19:52 on 25 Feb 2007 Subject: Copying text in Adobe Acrobat Reader SSBoYXZlIGEgUERGIGRvY3VtZW50LiBJdCBpcyBvcGVuIGluIG15IGJyb3dzZXIgdmlhIEFjcm9i YXQgUmVhZGVyLiBJCndhbnQgdG8gY29weSBzb21lIHRleHQuIFNvIEkgY2xpY2tlZCB0aGUgInNl bGVjdCB0b29sIiwgaGlnaGxpZ2h0ZWQgYQpwYXJhZ3JhcGgsIHJpZ2h0LWNsaWNrZWQsIGNob3Nl ICJDb3B5IHRvIENsaXBib2FyZCIuIEluc3RlYWQgb2YgYQpjaHVuayBvZiB0ZXh0IGFib3V0IHBl cmZvcm1hbmNlIHN0YW5kYXJkcyBmb3Igc2FmZXR5IGdsYXNzIGluCmJ1aWxkaW5ncywgSSBnb3Q6 CgooW1NIVVdWA1pSVU5MUUoDUlEDV0tIA1hWSANSSQNWRElIV1wDSk9EVlYDRFFHAwpWRElIV1wD U09EVldMRlYDTFEDRVhMT0dMUUpWA0xRA1dLSAM4UUxXSEcDNldEV0hWAwpGUlFGT1hHSEcDV0tE VwNEA0ZLTE9HA1pITEpLTFFKIBQTEyBPRQMLFxgRFhkgTkoMAwpGUlhPRwNVSERWUlFERU9cA0VI A1VISkRVR0hHA0RWA1VIU1VIVkhRV0RXTFlIA1JJAwpTSFVWUlFWA0xRWVJPWUhHA0xRA0RGRkxH SFFXVgNaS0hVSANKT0RWVgNSVQNTT0RWV0xGVgMKRFVIA0xQU0RGV0hHEQM2WEZLA0QDRktMT0cP A0xJA1VYUVFMUUoDRFcDSVhPTwNWU0hIRw8DCldLSFJVSFdMRkRPT1wDR0hZSE9SU1YDREVSWFcg FCATExMgLQNSSQNOTFFIV0xGAwpIUUhVSlwDRVhXDwNFSEZEWFZIA1JJA0dMVlNIVVZMUlEDUkkD SFFIVUpcA0RXA1dLSAMKV0xQSANSSQNMUFNERlcPA1dLSANERldYRE8DTFBTREZXA0hRSFVKXANM VgMKRlJRVkxHSFVERU9cA09IVlYRCgpUaGFua3MgYSBsb3QsIEFkb2JlISBUaGF0J3MgZ29pbmcg dG8gbG9vayByZWFsbHkgZnVja2luZyBncmVhdCBwYXN0ZWQKaW50byBteSBlbmdpbmVlcmluZyBj bGFzcyBhc3Nlc3NtZW50LgoKCi0tIApFYXJsZSBNYXJ0aW4KICAgICAgICAgICAgaHR0cDovL2Rv d25sb2RlLm9yZy8KaHR0cDovL3B1cmwub3JnL25ldC9lYXJsZW1hcnRpbi8K
From: Earle Martin Date: 15:54 on 09 Jan 2007 Subject: Applications that shuffle tabs around when you click on them Dear $application_programmer, I'm sure you found it very satisfying when you wrote the part of your tab-handling code that makes the the tab that the user has just clicked on - in one of multiple rows of tabs - jump up to the top, and rearrange all the other tabs. However, I have to use this "feature" on a daily basis and it is moronic, as it totally fucks the little part of my brain that subconsciously keeps track of where I have to click to move between $things[1] and $things[2], and so I have to spend valuable seconds sweeping my eyes around the screen to find where that tab I just switched out of has gone to. HATE.
From: Earle Martin Date: 14:06 on 18 Dec 2006 Subject: Enterprise MRM: mangled CSV output I've been given a CSV file produced by something called "Enterprise MRM"*. Every line looks something like this: "Foo","Members List Report","00003816","Somebody Incorporated23B Snibbits Building69 Foonly StreetLondonFO0 8AR+44 20 7123 4567","a couple","of other", "fields here","Report Run Time: 05 Dec 2006 at 10:53:50","Page -1 of 1","Company Name Snipped ","Enterprise MRM" Firstly, note the four totally useless fields at the end of every line. They're identical every time. Then direct your attention to the fourth field, which has a name and address with all the linebreaks removed. It's my job at the moment to parse this and turn it back into a usable address. Which means a big pile of munging code filled with special case exceptions (international address formats, anyone?). No, they can't give us the data in any other format. HATE. HATE. HATE. * http://www.enterprisemrm.com/: "Membership, Charity, Golf, Leisure, Retail and Schools software. Fully integrated with Sage and Pegasus Accounts."
From: Earle Martin
Date: 10:34 on 06 Nov 2006
Subject: yum and its stupid config files
Yum. The Fedora package manager. Feature of hates past and surely
hates future. Today, it is my hate.
A Linux distribution has many thousands of files. Nevertheless, they
are generally organised in reasonable groupings [1]. Yum, however, has
its configuration files organised as follows:
/etc
|-- yum
| |-- pluginconf.d
| | `-- installonlyn.conf
| `-- yum-daily.yum
|-- yum.conf
|-- yum.conf.bak
`-- yum.repos.d
|-- atrpms.repo
|-- dag.repo
|-- dries.repo
...
Yes, although there is an /etc/yum directory, the yum.conf file (_and_
backup copy) float next to it in /etc itself; and then there is
_another_ directory, /etc/yum.repos.d, wherein yum's knowledge of
repositories resides. The net result is that I can't easily
tab-complete the path to various parts of the yum config and have to
remember how it's arranged, which is fucking stupid. Would it have
been _too_ hard for whatever team of monkeys filled with crack it is
that writes this application to have put everything in /etc/yum? IS
THAT TOO FUCKING OBVIOUS FOR YOU?
Talking of /etc/yum.repos.d (proof of my point: my fingers just tried
to type /etc/yum/repos.d), it contains one file per repository,
because they are written in what appears to be .ini format and are
INCREDIBLY VERBOSE. Here's a snippet:
[core]
name=Fedora Core $releasever - $basearch
#baseurl=http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/$releasever/$basearch/os/
mirrorlist=http://fedora.redhat.com/download/mirrors/fedora-core-$releasever
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora
file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY
Yes, it's doing some kind of crap involving interpolation of variables
from who-knows-where. Note the nice use of an "enabled" flag, but also
a line being commented out. What does that mean? I haven't got a clue.
But what I do know is that you're fucked if you expect to be able to
add repositories with a single line of text, apt-style. CRAP FOUNTAIN.
[1] Or not? Place your hates now!
From: Earle Martin
Date: 23:55 on 05 Jul 2006
Subject: Windows XP
The software you are installing for this hardware
$SOFTWARE_NAME
has not passed Windows Logo testing to verify its
compatibility with Windows XP. Continuing your
installation of this software may impair or
destabilize the correct operation of your system
either immediately or in the future. Microsoft
strongly recommends that you stop this
installation now and contact the hardware vendor
for software that has passed Windows Logo testing.
[ Continue Anyway ] [ STOP Installation ]
...and repeat TWO DOZEN FUCKING TIMES. Because Microsoft is TOO FUCKING
RETARDED TO PROVIDE A "DON'T ASK ME AGAIN" button. And it's a modal fucking
dialog, so I can't do anything else until the install has finished.
As if that wasn't moronic enough, the message sounds like it was written by
an amateur lawyer. "Destabilize the correct operation of your system"?
"Either immediately *or* in the future"? WTF? And add to that the FUD factor
of what the message is implying.
Hate. Hate. Hate.
From: Earle Martin Date: 12:13 on 05 Jun 2006 Subject: apt-get and some crypto thing root@pulsar:~$ apt-get update [ some output nusked for brevity ] Fetched 38.5kB in 4s (8510B/s) Reading package lists... Done W: GPG error: http://ftp.uk.debian.org unstable Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 010908312D230C5F W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems Hmmh. Okay. man apt-get. search for 'gpg': "Pattern not found (press RETURN)". Search for "signature": "Pattern not found (press RETURN)". Search for "key": "Pattern not found (press RETURN)". Same results for "man apt". YOUR PROGRAMMER DIES NOW
From: Earle Martin Date: 17:04 on 20 Dec 2005 Subject: Adobe Reader again This software just gets better and better. I have a PDF open in a tab in Firefox. In ANOTHER UNRELATED NON-PDF-VIEWING TAB, I do Ctrl-W to close it, and I get a modal dialog: +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Adobe Reader | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | This action cannot be performed from within an external window. | | | | [ OK ] | | | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ Three words, my friends: This. Is. Retarded.
From: Earle Martin
Date: 21:48 on 15 Dec 2005
Subject: Adobe Reader (and Winamp) / No, I don't want to upgrade.
On #perl on irc.perl.org today:
< clintp> Winamp-- Checks for new versions, even if I don't want it to.
Claims "security issues". Bullshit. If I have an old version,
and I want to keep it, that's my problem. STOP ASKING ME.
This reminded me of Adobe Reader. Every time it launches because I've
encountered a PDF [cf. hates passim] somewhere on the web, it brings up a
modal dialog telling me I should download about 5MB of "upgrade" because
there's a new "feature" that, er, lets people add background sounds to PDF
files. Er, what the hell? That's one of the most retarded ideas I've ever
heard. If they're "portable" documents, then that means they should work
cross-platform... including on machines that don't have sound cards. Like
the one I'm typing on right now.
The worst thing is that it doesn't give you a "no, I don't want your stupid
update" button. Just "install now" and "install later".
< clintp> Same genre of bullshit. Any programmer that bows to the wishes
of managment and only gives "YES" / "ASK ME LATER" options needs
to be killed. And then anally probed with a jeep.
Concur.
From: Earle Martin Date: 18:54 on 19 Oct 2005 Subject: Abacast Streaming Media Click on a link to hear radio. Popup: "Abacast streaming media software currenly [sic] only supports the Windows Operating System. To manually connect to the stream, open http://www.abacast.com/media/pls/filmmusic/filmmusic-bb-64.pls with your favourite asx file interpreter." Points: 1) It's not ASX, it's AN MP3 STREAM. So you've got off to a really bad start here. 2) Stop trying to be fucking smart. You're actually being a moron. Let the user's browser deal with whether they have the right helper app or not. 3) You're asking me to copy and paste FROM A DIALOG BOX. HELLO? THAT TEXT IS NOT FUCKING SELECTABLE. Or perhaps you just expect me to painstakingly transcribe it, letter by letter? "Demand Abacast Technology from Your Service Provider!" Um, no, I'll pick software that isn't retarded, thanks.
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