A List of People Who Need To Stop Writing Software:

[Feuer Frei!]

Spot on!


Sony

New Sony laptops come with two pages in the Add/Remove list of just Sony junk.
They are also the authors of one of the worst pieces of software ever, SonicStage.


ISPs

I pay you to put a cable in my house, and let me send things up and down it; no more.
I dont want your useless anti-virus products. I dont want your Desktop Help applications. I dont want your tray icons. I dont want your proprietary browsers. I dont want an e-mail address with you. I dont want your website as my home page. I dont want your help when I typo a domain name.


Symantec

Somewhere along the line you decided to protect people from their own computer, rather than protect the computer itself. You have never once written a piece of software that didnt slow a machine down to a painful crawl. Every machine I have come across that has had Norton on it, has had a virus and multiple spywares still there. Your product is so bad, its own uninstaller does not work. You sell a false sense of security, nothing more.


McAfee
Your product is slow, useless, impossible to configure and relies upon passwords, activation and Internet Explorer just to do its job. It fails on every level.


Printer manufacturers

A Printer driver is a folder with one .ini file, and a couple of .dlls and thats it.
It is not a 50 MB download. It is not an IE Toolbar, and Side Pane. It is not half-baked photo software. It is not a splash screen when your computer starts. It is not a tray icon.


Yahoo

If Microsoft bought you, your software would actually improve.
The Yahoo Toolbar is like AIDS. You have to be careful what software you download, otherwise youre bound to get it from one of them along the line.


Nokia, and other phone manufacturers
You seem to be under the impression that you are the only piece of software on the computer. Youre happy to rear your ugly face at every boot. You make a simple thing like syncing seem like surgery. Your software is so unwieldy, itd be easier to take up origami.


nVidia and ATI

A graphics card driver drives the screen. It does not include two context menus and a tray icon that handily reminds you that you dont have an SLI configuration every time you boot. Your configuration options shouldnt be so complex that I have to choose between a basic and advanced mode, both of which are as equally useless as each other.

SOURCE

[Platapus]

Technically those are not people but companies and descriptors of groups of companies.

[Feuer Frei!]

Originally Posted by Platapus

Technically those are not people but companies and descriptors of groups of companies.

A Terminology

You forgot Hewlet Packard!
I have 2 of thier NoteBooks here and spent DAYS dumping just pure JUNK!!

I spend several days going through the install files on the recovery disks to avoid the base install crap should I need to recover!

[antikristuseke]

format and clean OS install, saves you the trouble of removing crap manually.

[joea]

Originally Posted by antikristuseke

format and clean OS install, saves you the trouble of removing crap manually.

Uggh should have done that with my HP desktop. A bit late now I think.

[papa_smurf]

Printer manufacturers

A Printer driver is a folder with one .ini file, and a couple of .dlls and thats it.
It is not a 50 MB download. It is not an IE Toolbar, and Side Pane. It is not half-baked photo software. It is not a splash screen when your computer starts. It is not a tray icon.

Exactly, I just want my printer to print, nothing more.

[Penguin]

I am glad I bought my HP laptop with FreeDos as the only software included

But the article forgot the biggest software-Nazis of our time: Apple

Hey, if I want to install a damned codec like quicktime, I just need a codec, no permanent connections to apple, no freaking other malware. And yes, I rwalize that there is a QT-pro version available, you don't have to remind me any time I open a qt-file.

Then there is this crappy thing called itunes. Why the hell should I install a god-damned store system and 6428GB of other features if I just want to copy music files from my computer to a portable player?

So sorry, dear Macintosh company, I don't buy your overpriced, metrosexual, hipster hardware and I don't use your crappy software either, even if it's for free.

[Herr-Berbunch]

Originally Posted by Penguin

Then there is this crappy thing called itunes. Why the hell should I install a god-damned store system and 6428GB of other features if I just want to copy music files from my computer to a portable player?

That's along similar lines to OP's ref to Sony's Sonicstage - some years ago I bought a teeny-weeny little Sony Walkman MP3 player only to find that you had to use Chronicstage to put music on. Not only that but there was no default to import as MP3 and it all had to be in Sony's crappy Atrac3 format. So my entire iTunes library had to then be copied in to Sony's software to then be converted to Sony's proprietary format meaning I could've ended up - had I been less savvy - with the same music library three times.

The only issue I have with iTunes is the constant nagging about QT and it's constant need to update - disabled now so all is well. For mp3 downloads I usually use drm-free Amazon, and then import into iTunes.

[Takeda Shingen]

Originally Posted by Feuer Frei!

Sony

As the makers of Vegas video editing software, I hope that Sony continues to make software.

McAfee

My experience is quite the opposite. Having come from Symantec, I find McAfee simple, self-sufficient and very effective.

Yahoo

Yahoo's Fantasy Football programs are the best on the internet, bar none.

nVidia and ATI

I have had no problems with cards or drivers from either of these companies.

[Penguin]

Glad I never had anything to do with Sonicstage.
I remember Atrac3 - no bad codec. But hats off to the brilliant marketing decision by Sony to add DRM at a time when mp3 was already the de-facto standard for portable devices...

Regarding QuackTime: there is a no frills alternative: QTalternative. Sadly they don't have the newest qt-codecs included, but it might be worth a try.

[MH]

Sonic stage by Sony is worst peace of software ever devised.
I had it when i was using MD and it was terrible.
Nokia's OVI suite with its latest incarnation is cumbersome.
Nvidia provides foolproof settings.
If one wants to have more useful options there are lots of third party utilities.

I see sony are the number one spot, does that mean their the worst?

[antikristuseke]

Originally Posted by Penguin

So sorry, dear Macintosh company, I don't buy your overpriced, metrosexual, hipster hardware and I don't use your crappy software either, even if it's for free.

You actually used Mac and free in the same sentence?

[joea]

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

That's along similar lines to OP's ref to Sony's Sonicstage - some years ago I bought a teeny-weeny little Sony Walkman MP3 player only to find that you had to use Chronicstage to put music on. Not only that but there was no default to import as MP3 and it all had to be in Sony's crappy Atrac3 format. So my entire iTunes library had to then be copied in to Sony's software to then be converted to Sony's proprietary format meaning I could've ended up - had I been less savvy - with the same music library three times.

The only issue I have with iTunes is the constant nagging about QT and it's constant need to update - disabled now so all is well. For mp3 downloads I usually use drm-free Amazon, and then import into iTunes.

Actually itunes music is DRM free also-just saying.