What grudges do you hold against tech/software companies and why?

[Curious Pineapple]

10 minutes ago, Sauron said:

I would actually, I'd rather banks be accountable to the public on what exactly the software in their ATMs does, plus it would avoid deprecation problems like what happened with Windows XP. Open source software is no less secure than proprietary software, in fact it's often more secure just by virtue of having more (and crucially independent) security researchers poking at it. Security by obfuscation is the least effective in most scenarios, encryption algorithms are just as effective even if you know what they're doing.

Security by obscurity does work when the hardware terminates itself with any attempt to gain access to it's internals. Try to read another applications memory? Hard reset.

 

Ingenico's Telium OS is based on Debian I believe, and very locked down. It's also secure enough for decade old designs to still be valid and certified.

 

I certainly won't be giving away the source code to my fintech back-end

[Anomnomnomaly]

3 minutes ago, Rohith_Kumar_Sp said:

Anything Epic

 

 

I'd like to add something I often say regarding the video streaming market... because I think it also applies here.

 

"You cannot continue to fragment the market and expect growth."   Streaming services are now so many, that users are being forced into the position where after years of success shifting people from pirating media to paid services... they are once again convincing people that the only logical thing to do now... is return to the old habits. because subscribing to more than a couple of streaming services is no longer cost effective. I pay for the two largest ones already... I'm not adding more... I have a finite amount of money to dedicate to entertainment.

 

I know what the solution is... I've been saying it every chance I get on which ever platform this conversation comes up... Either one universal streaming platform... or limited exclusives for a show/movie on the platform that produces it.. and after a set amount of time, it must be offered up for licensing to other platforms... and allow the other platforms to decide if they want it or not based on user demand for those types of shows on their service.

[Zando_]

2 minutes ago, Anomnomnomaly said:

if anyone can think of anything they have actually invented

Mostly executed extremely well (less well in recent years) and popularized. 

3 minutes ago, Anomnomnomaly said:

The smart phone... nope...

I'd credit them with this, the iPhone was the first modern "smartphone" and kicked off the whole chain of events that led to all the smartphone choices we have now. Nothing was really comparable at the time AFAIK. 

4 minutes ago, Anomnomnomaly said:

iPad... nope...

Again, AFAIK there wasn't anything comparable at the time. From what I'm seeing they were all clunky things with buttons and keyboards, the iPad was one of if not the first actual modern tablet (self contained, doesn't need a stylus to work, full touchscreen with minimal buttons), and the first to execute it extremely well. The original iPad is a damn solid device (I have one), though it is a little slow on iOS 5. 1st gen products usually are, the 2nd gen usually stays faster much longer (see literally every device Apple has made, the 2nd gen is usually a marked improvement). 

7 minutes ago, Anomnomnomaly said:

Jobs was a genius... at marketing...

That implies that the computers built under his direction weren't good? Have you ever worked with a Jobs era Mac? They're pretty damn gorgeous machines and very well made. 

8 minutes ago, Anomnomnomaly said:

a liar and a thief for almost everything else an unbelieveable narcissict and one of the most unpleasant people to work for apparantly

Don't know that he was a liar and a thief, but yeah from everything I've heard on him he was an ass to work with. 

10 minutes ago, Anomnomnomaly said:

airbuds... nope... laptops.... nope.

Do people actually credit Apple with inventing laptops and earbuds?

10 minutes ago, Anomnomnomaly said:

First mp3 player... the iPod...

Again, do people think Apple invented MP3 players? They made the most popular ones, but AFAIK similar devices did exist before the iPod. 

[greenhorn]

HP: I had the pleasure of having to open two HP laptops to clean the CPU cooler's fan. It was just a nightmare, I had to disassemble almost everything and even remove the motherboard just to get to that stupid fan. It took me around 45 minutes to disassemble and some more times to reassemble it. From what I could see, the build quality was not impressive. On other laptops, that procedure would probably take me about 10 minutes.

I also fought "wars" with two HP printers and their respective drivers and tools (which I consider bloatware). Everything seemed poorly designed, the diagnostic tools were useless. I do have quite a lot of experience with PCs and printers, but those HP models were really frustrating.

[Curious Pineapple]

4 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Again, AFAIK there wasn't anything comparable at the time. From what I'm seeing they were all clunky things with buttons and keyboards, the iPad was one of if not the first actual modern tablet (self contained, doesn't need a stylus to work, full touchscreen with minimal buttons), and the first to execute it extremely well. The original iPad is a damn solid device (I have one), though it is a little slow on iOS 5. 1st gen products usually are, the 2nd gen usually stays faster much longer (see literally every device Apple has made, the 2nd gen is usually a marked improvement).

There was the "Slate" with XP and resistive touch. Very clunky interface though.

 

5 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

That implies that the computers built under his direction weren't good? Have you ever worked with a Jobs era Mac? They're pretty damn gorgeous machines and very well made.

That they are, plenty of space inside, everything is socketed, no thermal issues and last longer than the newer machines. Except mine, mine are just broken.

[Anomnomnomaly]

Just now, Zando Bob said:

Mostly executed extremely well (less well in recent years) and popularized. 

I'd credit them with this, the iPhone was the first modern "smartphone" and kicked off the whole chain of events that led to all the smartphone choices we have now. Nothing was really comparable at the time AFAIK. 

Again, AFAIK there wasn't anything comparable at the time. From what I'm seeing they were all clunky things with buttons and keyboards, the iPad was one of if not the first actual modern tablet (self contained, doesn't need a stylus to work, full touchscreen with minimal buttons), and the first to execute it extremely well. The original iPad is a damn solid device (I have one), though it is a little slow on iOS 5. 1st gen products usually are, the 2nd gen usually stays faster much longer (see literally every device Apple has made, the 2nd gen is usually a marked improvement). 

That implies that the computers built under his direction weren't good? Have you ever worked with a Jobs era Mac? They're pretty damn gorgeous machines and very well made. 

Don't know that he was a liar and a thief, but yeah from everything I've heard on him he was an ass to work with. 

Do people actually credit Apple with inventing laptops and earbuds?

Again, do people think Apple invented MP3 players? They made the most popular ones, but AFAIK similar devices did exist before the iPod. 

When it comes to phones, I had a smart phone with a touchscreen way back in 2005... I had a couple in fact. Both Sony Ericssons... I forget the model numbers exactly, but the last one was the P990i I think. The main difference was the keyboard was physical on those, and the touch screen wasn't the same type... however, Samsung released a smartphone with capacitive touch screen and rounded corners at least 6 months before the iPhone launched. So as usual with Apple it's a case of stealing other peoples ideas, refining them in some way and then comes the marketing genius to convince the masses that it's their invention... You've be surprised at how many people who aren't as tech aware as the people on forums like these... swear blind that apple invented everything they've ever made... Because they've bought into the idea that apple is cool, it's fashionable, it makes you more likeable, it shows how successful you are... Now before anyone things I'm just bashing apple for the sake of it... I'm not... I'll happily sit here and slag of the 'idea of apple' all day long... and the fanbois/goils that buy in to the bullshit marketing (across any brand really). For those who enjoy the products because they offer a simpler approach to the user experience... No problem at all... I'm considering getting an iPod classic myself if I can find a decent second hand one because my current car has an ipod dock built in to it... but it only accepts the old style proprietary connection... But I've seen the prices people expect for stuff that's now over 10yrs old and all it does is reinforce my view that apple products and the fanbois/goils who worship them are insane.     But again... that's kinda true for many brands. Just take a look at how Linus gushes over anything razor and has had several of their laptops and still gushes over them in spite of the fact he's openly stated in videos that the quality and durability of those he's had is kinda garbage.... until he gets given the next piece of razor shiny and he goes... ooooh... shiny... want....  

 

So yeah... I kinda agree that they've popularised things... which is all down to the marketing. 

[Touch My Hamm]

I dont understand why all the love for steam. I guess alot of people dont have to deal with the refunds/returns or scammy people on their platform. Steam has a terrible way to refund products and they have a non existent customer service. If any other company did this they would be scrutinized everyday. Yet Steam is held as this god tier store when in reality they were just the first big one to create integration properly. Now people compare them to the other emerging stores and bring other online stores and communities down because its not steam. Valve as a company has had silly practices and have not listened to their community on multiple occasions yet people still think they are the best. This was the same for Bethesda and now everyone hates them, I wonder what Valve would have to do to become in the same boat? Maybe release a predatory card game that nobody wants and try to push it and lie about a 1 million dollar tournament that never happend? Dont get me wrong I use Steam and enjoy purchasing games and playing with the integrated friends list and communities. But lets not kid that some parts of their customer service side is abysmal and that should account for some opinion. 

[leo1798]

I have a grudge against ASUS even though I continue to buy their products. First, their customer support is absolutely abhorrent. They're a big company, hire some people who have the faintest clue about what they're talking about and who care even in the slightest. Every time that I've had an issue with them, they're slow to respond, completely ignorant, and sometimes even outright rude. My laptop experience was awful until I finally taught myself how to do a fresh install of Windows to get rid of their shitty bloatware (Back before I started learning about this stuff). I had a motherboard from them die for a cheap FX office PC that I built for a family member. Finally, they have the worst possible advertising campaigns that are outright misleading most of the time. And don't even get me started on things that I haven't experienced like their garbage RX 5700XT's.

 

I hate every corporation to some extent just for existing, but in the PC world ASUS can just be particularly frustrating even though they make some good products.

[kaiju_wars]

6 minutes ago, GodSeph said:

I dont understand why all the love for steam. I guess alot of people dont have to deal with the refunds/returns or scammy people on their platform. Steam has a terrible way to refund products and they have a non existent customer service. If any other company did this they would be scrutinized everyday. Yet Steam is held as this god tier store when in reality they were just the first big one to create integration properly. Now people compare them to the other emerging stores and bring other online stores and communities down because its not steam. Valve as a company has had silly practices and have not listened to their community on multiple occasions yet people still think they are the best. This was the same for Bethesda and now everyone hates them, I wonder what Valve would have to do to become in the same boat? Maybe release a predatory card game that nobody wants and try to push it and lie about a 1 million dollar tournament that never happend? Dont get me wrong I use Steam and enjoy purchasing games and playing with the integrated friends list and communities. But lets not kid that some parts of their customer service side is abysmal and that should account for some opinion. 

As far as returns on Steam go, I think they're amazing.  I've returned quite a few games on Steam.  Hell, I had almost 10 hours in Far Cry 5, and I told them the truth in my reason for returning it. "It's disappointing.  It removes a bunch of little things, sure, but enough little things to add up that it doesn't feel like the full far cry experience, I'd like my money back."

Sure enough, I got my money back even then.

[Zando_]

2 minutes ago, Anomnomnomaly said:

however, Samsung released a smartphone with capacitive touch screen and rounded corners at least 6 months before the iPhone launched. So as usual with Apple it's a case of stealing other peoples ideas, refining them in some way and then comes the marketing genius to convince the masses that it's their invention...

Holy shit you're giving Apple a lot of credit if you think they can grab someone else's design and implement it that well in only 6 months... 

Aha it was a full year before, and from LG, not Samsung: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LG_Prada

 

"The LG KE850, also known as the LG Prada, is a touchscreen mobile phone made by LG Electronics. It was first announced on 12 December 2006[2][3] and was created in collaboration with Italian luxury designer Prada.It was made official in a press release on 18 January 2007.[1] Sales started in May 2007, retailing for about $777 (600 euros).[5]

It is the first mobile phone with a capacitive touchscreen.[6] The KE850 sold 1 million units[7][8] in the first 18 months.[9] A second version of the phone, the LG Prada II (KF900) was released December 2008.[citation needed]

The LG Prada was announced shortly before Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the [10] iPhone on January 9, 2007.[11][12] After the release of the iPhone the head of the LG Mobile Handset R&D Center was quoted saying he believed Apple had stolen the idea from the KE850 after it was announced as part of the iF Design Award.[13][14]^"

So they announced it in 2006, but not officially till 2007 (which was when the iPhone launched)? 

This seems to be the reason why Apple is credited for the first modern smartphone though: 

"In January 2007, Apple Computer introduced the iPhone.[47][48][49] It had a 3.5" capacitive touchscreen with twice the common resolution of most smartphone screens at the time,[50] and introduced multi-touch to phones, which allowed gestures such as "pinching" to zoom in or out on photos, maps, and web pages. The iPhone was notable as being the first device of its kind targeted at the mass market to abandon the use of a stylus, keyboard, or keypad typical of contemporary smartphones, instead using a large touchscreen for direct finger input as its main means of interaction.[44]

The iPhone's operating system was also a shift away from previous ones that were adapted from PDAs and feature phones, to one powerful enough to avoid using a limited, stripped down web browser requiring pages specially formatted using technologies such as WML, cHTML, or XHTML that previous phones supported and instead run a version of Apple's Safari browser that could easily render full websites[51][52][53] not specifically designed for phones.[54]"

Multi-touch screen, properly mass market, actual web browser and fully fledged mobile OS that had the App store and such added to it with later updates. 

Considering the LG is this:

And the iPhone is this:

Apple might have yoinked the general "full touchscreen with minimal nav button(s) on the bottom chin" idea? But to implement a 1st gen product in a year.... eeeh they were likely working on them around the same timeframe. I don't think you can call it stealing if two companies get the same general idea for a device. By that logic every OEM to ever make a laptop has blatantly stolen from every other OEM to ever make a laptop lol. They're all based off a very similar design. 

I guess it's more whoever got it to mass market first gets the prize. I didn't even know about the LG one, seeing as it was made with Prada it was probably some upscale thing hardly anyone even had. Whereas the iPhone was pitched directly to the masses, likely why it's credited with the achievement of first modern smartphone. 

So at best, Apple did come up with their own designs and just came to similar solutions, at worst they pulled ideas from other people, put their own spin on it, and executed it well.

But hey, they were the first company to popularize removing the headphone jack so... yay? Is that an achievement? 

 

13 minutes ago, Anomnomnomaly said:

You've be surprised at how many people who aren't as tech aware as the people on forums like these... swear blind that apple invented everything they've ever made... Because they've bought into the idea that apple is cool, it's fashionable, it makes you more likeable, it shows how successful you are... Now before anyone things I'm just bashing apple for the sake of it... I'm not... I'll happily sit here and slag of the 'idea of apple' all day long... and the fanbois/goils that buy in to the bullshit marketing (across any brand really). For those who enjoy the products because they offer a simpler approach to the user experience... No problem at all... I'm considering getting an iPod classic myself if I can find a decent second hand one because my current car has an ipod dock built in to it... but it only accepts the old style proprietary connection... But I've seen the prices people expect for stuff that's now over 10yrs old and all it does is reinforce my view that apple products and the fanbois/goils who worship them are insane. 

That much is true lol. I have an iPhone, Mac, and Apple watch because I enjoy the ecosystem, not because they're "cool". I game in my free time, that's why I run Windows 10 and enjoy that ecosystem (for the most part) at home. Dabbled in Linux too, sadly it doesn't have enough software support to be a main OS for me in any near future. 

Classic iPods are damn nice, I have a... 80GB 7th gen iPod Classic, IIRC it cost me around $60. Maybe overpriced for it's age? They were decently expensive when new, and yeah Apple devices do hold their resale value for an insane amount of time. To their credit, they usually last long enough to keep that resale value in the first place lol. Great for people selling, not for people buying though lol. Thankfully mid-2012 MBPs just hit the "not overpriced anymore" period, they're reasonably priced now. Used to be $500+ for a 13", now they're around $250 or so for the most part. Given how they perform with an SSD/more RAM swapped in (and a good lot of the ones being sold do have an SSD and 8-16GB RAM), that's a fair price. I have a mid-2012 at home, tis still fine for most use. Work laptop is a base model 2019 13". 

Do need to buy more music to actually load on my iPod lol, I mostly use Spotify tbh.

 

 

[steelo]

 NVidia really turned me off after reading about how they misrepresented their products using slower vram and selling the GPU at full price. It's been a while but I think that was the GTX 1030?

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Microsoft - I was first disappointed with them when Win 8 came out, not to mention Steve Ballsmore's (sic) insane, childish antics, and it's been downhill ever since, especially after Sadist Nutella (sic) replaced Ballsmore (sic). I dropped MS Office 10 in favor of LibreOffice quite a while back. The final nails in MS' coffin for me were the underhanded tactics to trick or otherwise force people to downgrade to Win 10, the increasing number of bad and outright broken monthly updates for all their OSes, the spying and forced, frequent updates that reset settings and often rendered some third party programs inoperable, and the slow drift toward advertising support and a subscription, cloud based service. While I'm still learning how to use it, I'm happily using Linux Mint pretty much all the time now.

 

Adobe - Adobe Flash Player was always buggier than a flophouse bed but Adobe would take its sweet time patching the security issues. At one time, Adobe Flash Player was pretty much the only game in town for watching videos until people got tired of its insecurity and developed safer replacements. I dropped Flash a long time ago and don't miss it. Acrobat Standard was my go-to for creating and editing everything but the very basic PDFs. Each new version (which one had to "downgrade" to every other version to avoid losing the very needed security updates) had fewer features but cost more. The final straw for me was when Adobe switched to a cloud based subscription model. I have dumped everything Adobe and now use Quoppa's PDF Studio Pro in Linux (Adobe doesn't have any Linux products, btw). PDF Studio Pro fits between Acrobat Standard and Pro in number of features, costs far less than Acrobat Standard, and versions never expire (new versions are for added features). I can use Gimp in place of Photoshop (which I never used anyway).

 

EVGA - I once ordered three tiny USB 3.0 header extension cables. I was charged an enormous amount for shipping and, when I received the order, it was packed in an enormous box filled with dozens of large air pillows. I repeatedly wrote them asking why they used such grossly excessive packaging and never got a response. I will no longer use their products or otherwise do business with them.

 

HP - HP has a habit of abandoning older products when a new OS comes out. Their toner cartridges are DRMed with an expiration date that prevents changing settings after a certain date to discourage people from refilling them (although I don't know why; the drum usually was starting to wear out just before the toner ran out). I had to toss a perfectly good laser printer because the only cartridges available were already expired and HP didn't come up with a driver for it for Win 7. I bought a monitor that was supposed to auto rotate the screen when you went from portrait to landscape and back. When it failed to do so, I contacted their tech "help" and was told I had a missing file in my computer but couldn't tell me what it was, then told me I had to contact the computer manufacturer to get it, never mind I didn't know what the missing file was and I would have to pay an outrageous price for tech help since the computer was out of warranty. I avoid HP like the plague now.

 

Acer - I've owned two netbooks, a desktop computer, a mouse, and a keyboard of Acer's. The netbooks died within a year or so of getting them. The desktop lasted five years but I was constantly replacing parts. The keyboard was meh (it came with the desktop; I quickly replaced it with the one I had from my previous, seven year old Gateway). The mouse was unusable (it also came with the desktop). The top shell was so flimsy, the weight of the palm of my hand would click one of the buttons. I will never own another Acer product again.

 

Epson - I had an Epson inkjet printer and flat bed scanner. The inkjet's print head was constantly getting clogged and I had to waste ink cleaning the heads before I could use it every time. I couldn't just use the black cartridge to save money. I had to replace the color ones, too, when they ran out of ink. It was an expensive PITA and one of the happiest days of my life was listening to it smash into the bottom of an empty dumpster. The flatbed scanner did a great job when it worked but I frequently had to take it apart to retime the belt. I will never own another Epson product.

 

Lenovo - I have three Lenovo notebooks. I liked them because the first two worked well and were easy to work on (swapping drives and RAM, and cleaning dust out of the inside. The third one was better in some ways (it's a UEFI system, for starters) but worse in others. It has one less USB 2.0 port (and the remaining one is in an inconvenient location).  The boot order has to be changed every time I insert a bootable USB drive (a major PITA!). The directions claimed the only way to get into the BIOS was to put a small object, like a bent paperclip end, into a small, hard to see hole in the side (I've since found that one can use the F2 key while holding down the Function key). While getting to the drive and RAM is easy, getting into the rest of it to clean out dust is far more difficult. The two final straws were when Lenovo started putting difficult to find and remove malware on some of their models in addition to the usual easy to remove crapware (fortunately, none of mine had the malware). When the battery on one of my older Lenovos had wore down to 1/3 it's orginal capacity, I tried to get a replacement for it and found out that, not only did Lenovo not sell them any more (understandable), the bastards had DRMed the computer so it wouldn't take after market batteries (inexcusable!). Lenovo is now high on my Specialized High Intensity Training List (make an acronym of the first four words).

 

Apple - I've never owned an Apple product and never will because of their "walled garden" (MS i heading there as well), they are grossly overpriced, designed to be difficult to impossible for consumers to modify or repair, have illegal warranty policies (at least, here in the SSA), have been using shady repair practices, etc. 

 

Samsung (except for their SSDs; those rock!) -  Mostly for piddle poor customer "service" and tech "help". The directions that come with their products will tell you what the product can do but not how to do it.

 

GE (aka Gouging Electric; I dubbed them with that moniker when I was still worked in warehousing for an electric and irrigation utility) - Overpriced and product quality has been going downhill. I had three of their microwaves, each one great at first but each one lasting for a much shorter time than the previous one (I now have a new LG but I'm not impressed with it). Hotpoint is their budget brand but parts for them are outrageously expensive.

[Mihle]

MSI laptops. The one I got had utter shit build quality.

(I was stupid and only looked at specs/price when I get it tho but still, that laptop should not have existed)

[Roswell]

4 hours ago, Anomnomnomaly said:

Jobs was a genius... at marketing... a liar and a thief for almost everything else an unbelieveable narcissict and one of the most unpleasant people to work for apparantly. Apple haven't 'invented' anything that they currently get lauded for... First mp3 player... the iPod... nope... 3yrs earlier... The smart phone... nope... iPad... nope... airbuds... nope... laptops.... nope.

 

if anyone can think of anything they have actually invented, and been the first to market with over the last 20yrs... Please let me know and don;t forget to provide source for the claim.  I do enjoy being proven wrong. 

They don't claim that they invented these things, so I don't know why you're mad about it.

 

As far as why they're praised for some of them, it's because they were the first to succeed in mass adoption and pushed the entire industry forward.

[Anomnomnomaly]

2 minutes ago, Vitamanic said:

They don't claim that they invented these things, so I don't know why you're mad about it.

 

As far as why they're praised for some of them, it's because they were the first to succeed in Mass adoption and pushed the entire industry forward.

All I can think to say to you is... chookity  

[EldritchMoose]

I have a couple, and from the replies in this thread, I'm not alone in my reasons:

 

Apple: I like a lot about them, I really do. I prefer OSX to any other OS I have used to date. I like their general design aesthetic and when it comes to linking multiple devices to one another, I have not seen anyone pull that functionality off as well as Apple did. I received a free upgrade to my 2GB iPod Nano due to a series of malfunctions that they decided to replace rather than repair. However, it seems that after Steve Jobs died, their build quality went to shit. I can no longer justify the "Apple tax" on new devices because my trust that their products will stand the test of time is just gone.

 

Ubisoft: I haven't bought a full-priced game of theirs since Assassins' Creed 2 because their draconian DRM solution prevented me from playing the game I had bought for full price in the store. Their official response on the matter blamed loss of revenue due to piracy and subsequently made me want to pirate the game just so I could play it. Since then, they've just come to embody the industry's worst aspects, never making any decision that couldn't be accurately summed up as "someone told us we'd make more money this way." and generally lowering the quality of their games.

 

EA: Does it really need to be explained? I grew up playing games made by great studios like Maxis and Westwood with names like Command & Conquer, Theme Park and Dungeon Keeper. EA bought them, killed them and added insult to injury by releasing "Free to wait" mobile games full of microtransactions. It's so blatant that Dungeon Keeper mobile literally had a demon on screen telling your to spend more money.

 

Activision Blizzard: You know which games I spent a lot of time playing when I was younger? Diablo and Diablo 2. Fun fact: I own a Collector's edition of Diablo 3 because I was convinced it would be everything I loved from the previous games and more. I hoped it would add to the lore (I also have 7 tie-in books) and provide me with a sufficient amount of enjoyment come release day. Then release day came, and with it the same fucking problem that AC 2 had years prior: the "always on" requirement for the game apparently didn't extend to the verification servers. I played through the game once and never again. Diablo 3 was the first indication that the Blizzard I had grown up with, was being supplanted. In the years to follow, Blizzard games saw their quality decline and it became more and more apparent that the company had left its traditional values behind to make way for profit margins. The final straw for me was last year's debacle where they "justified" firing nearly 800 people right after bragging about having had their most profitable year to date by saying they "could do even better." I have not spent a single cent on an Activision or Blizzard game since.

 

Epic Games: Another one of the companies I grew up with. Hell, I have the soundtrack for One Must Fall 2097 on a playlist on my phone. Look, I'll be the first to admit that it would be good to have a suitable competitor to Valve in the PC gaming sphere, but what Epic is doing is akin to taking hostages just so they can be let into the exclusive club. And doing it under the guise of "being better for developers" while working their own development staff to the bone is just fucked up.

 

Aside from all this, the industry itself sucks more and more these days and truly good games are few and far between. Games have skyrocketing budgets due to A-list celebrities being hired without anyone having asked for them, and all the while every bit of potential revenue has to be squeezed for maximum profit. What used to be an unlockable costume in a full-priced game has now become paid DLC. What used to be a complete game is now a broken unfinished mess even after the day one patch and you'd better hope the game meets the unreasonable expectations because that promised roadmap is more like "guidelines". It used to be that if a game was successful, it would receive an expansion or some other additional content. Nowadays if a game isn't successful enough, it may never even receive all the content that was promised before launch, even though the industry will still happily charge you the full price on the promise that they'll deliver a passable product later.

[mr moose]

My grudge is not against the companies or the agencies and governments, but against the general population who with their ignorance, ideals, desires or whatever drives them, enables these organizations to bend them over a barrel.    STOP buying DLC and it will cease to be a thing, stop downloading apps that give someone you don't know access to your information.  STOP subscribing to services that could be sold as a complete product instead.  Stop pirating content it only fuels the lawsuits which make ISP's and cloud services more expensive for everyone.    We live in a capitalistic world (which is important for development) that  unfortunately means people will capitalize on everything including human ignorance. 

[Arika]

21 minutes ago, mr moose said:

unfortunately means people will capitalize on everything including human ignorance

And i don't think they will ever run short on this. which is weird considdering we have access to the world's combined knowledge, but i guess people pick and chose what information to believe when its conveinient to them

[mr moose]

1 minute ago, Arika S said:

people pick and chose what information to believe when its conveinient to them

Which is why I hold a grudge against them.  

[Mira Yurizaki]

14 minutes ago, Arika S said:

And i don't think they will ever run short on this. which is weird considdering we have access to the world's combined knowledge, but i guess people pick and chose what information to believe when its conveinient to them

The most dangerous thing you can do to a person is tell them their reality isn't true.

[mr moose]

9 hours ago, Mira Yurizaki said:

The most dangerous thing you can do to a person is tell them their reality isn't true.

In the fields I swim, we call this dismissing someones experience.  Even though they maybe living in a delusion, we have to understand that that delusion is as real to them as the earth is round to us.   

[Boyohan]

On 1/9/2020 at 12:27 AM, Anomnomnomaly said:

Does anyone else have a grudge against a company related to tech/gaming that nothing could ever convince you to reconsider? 

Razer

never again....

 

I have had three products of Razer: 2 mice and 1 headset. 

Can't remember the exact year I bought them but some time in the years 2005-2007. 

They all broke within 6 months.

.

The headset was the worst because the problem wasn't there all the time.

Once in a while one side of the headphones just completely died until I smacked it lightly on the side.

I returned them but the factory sent them back to me saying "they work fine"...

After a while i just threw them away not caring about the money. 

 

I bought a new mouse during the same time and that would periodically freeze for 2-4 seconds until it started working again.

I got a new mouse and it had the same problem. 

I returned it again and asked to get a logitech mouse instead and I haven't has a problem since. 

In hindsight the problem with the mouse was probably software related but at that point I didn't care because my new logitech mouse worked perfectly. 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I forget to mention Logitech. Logitech steadfastly refuses to write Linux drivers for their products. While there is a non-Logitech program for pairing up devices on their Unifying receiver (it works but it can be a bit tricky to use), their isn't a reliable one for programming the macro keys for their keyboards that have macro keys. This means I will not be able to use the macro keys on the 510s keyboards I have in Linux. Thanks a lot, Logitech!

[Sauron]

17 hours ago, Curious Pineapple said:

Security by obscurity does work when the hardware terminates itself with any attempt to gain access to it's internals. Try to read another applications memory? Hard reset.

That has nothing to do with the software being proprietary or not.

[Chrizl1990]

On 1/9/2020 at 12:27 AM, handymanshandle said:

Honestly, I'm starting to grow a grudge against AMD simply because of the fanboys. Sincerely, someone who's owned quite a bit of AMD shit in the past decade.

But can't the same be sound about Intel ... and I though they had a larger number of them tbf.