How to annoy your customer with usability problems

1. You can’t download the software. you have to buy it and ship it on a CD set. You HAVE to buy it with headphones, and you HAVE to pay extra taxes for the shipping.
2. During the installation process, multiple DOS windows pop up (netsh.exe and others) that look pretty scary to the uninitiated eye.
3. You HAVE to install from the CD. to get around that you will have to MOUNT a cd or crack the program.
4. if the software has an update, it downloads the whole software again in full and you need to go through the whole installation process.
5. You CANNOT copy paste the activation key into the software. you have to type it by hand like an idiot.

Which software am I talking about?

Comments

[chrissie1]

Games.

[Steven]

That must be Philips software. While I love their hardware, their software still sucks.

[gm]

It's gotta be Rosetta Stone. It's the only software I have run into that is that brain dead.

[Neil Barnwell]

iTunes?

[Roy Osherove]

You got it, it was rosetta stone!

[Skip]

My guess is Dragon Naturally Speaking. I recall being disappointed with getting yet another headset and the silliness of the install in general.... As in, how to annoy your customer...

That being said, once loaded and trained, the program works nicely. I've bought, installed, uninstalled, and given away every name-brand Voice Rec program out there over the years. Multiple versions of some. D-Nat (as I call it) 9 is the first to actually work well enough to bother with. I'm sure D-Nat 10 must be as good.

Funny thing is, the MS Language Bar is pretty decent these days, doesn't cost you a dime extra, doesn't require a separate activation code or CD or installation or umpteenth headset.... I actually use it more often than D-Nat. Specially for the quickie tasks where I don't need a separate audio file.

Cheers!

[Me]

Rosetta Stone?

[Srdjan]

Rosetta Stone?

[Jason Rendel]

Pretty sure thats Rosetta Stone.

[Murat YILMAZ]

Windows :)

[cristi]

Nero AG shit.

[Edward]

Sounds like Dragon Naturally Speaking...

[Skip]

So, Roy... Out of curiosity, what language are you intrigued with enough to put up with these annoyances? You didn't fall for the Farm Boy hoping to impress the Italian Supermodel bit, did you?

[Roy Osherove]

Skip: Arabic.

[John Griffiths]

Yep, i second Windows,

or worst still Adobe Flash, that installer is annoying as hell. you have to authorise the download, then authorise the install and then sometimes by chance it wants to restart the whole machine for the update.

i mean honestly, it's Flash?

[sch]

For No.4 TortoiseSVN.