Computer Industry Today - Half-baked crap sold for big $$$

[ASTRIDPESHEK]

I sit here and look at the DAZZLE video hardware I'm packing up to take back for a refund at Best Buy. It's the 3rd one I've tried, it doesn't work. And I sigh - is it me, or is a lot of the technology we have today only half-baked products and a lot of the so-called "professionals" like doctors or engineers just mediocre hacks who are bumbling around without a freakin clue?

It's almost like we have a whole generation of developers and engineers, etc. who are sloppy, incompetant, or just too darn lazy to take any pride in their work.

Microsoft is an example in the software industry - if there's a new application that consumers want, they hurry up and toss out a kludged-up one to retail that only works 70% at best. This is to kill any competition - to hook people on it first. Afterwards, they issue a patch or two to get the product up to maybe an 85% reliability level. The fact is, they never make anything work 100% and kill off competition that is working on the same type of product that is 100% reliable.

Microsoft is not alone - computer hardware manufacturers, car manufacturers, pharmaceutical firms, building contractors, electronics brand names like Sony and Panasonic ...... pushing junk that doesn't work as advertised or is so cheaply made that it doesn't last more than a few months if it even worked at all. But they want top dollar for it. I made the mistake of buying a Ford Contour - 16 recalls for defective parts or bad engineering designs. Stuff that some engineer should have had the common sense to NOT do or some parts supplier shouldn't have made so cheap. Ever get in a crowded elevator and hope that OTIS actually *tested* that it could the weight its certified for? Or get in a plane and hope that some schmuck at Airbus didn't rivet 4 rivets out of 6 on a wing, then say screw it because he was tired and wanted to knock off work early? Or that doctor taking your appendix out really knows what he's cutting?

Doesn't anyone *care* anymore? Doesn't anyone *test* anything anymore? Has our society become so lazy that it's content with half-baked junk and stupidity?

[Matty_Cross]

Originally posted by ASTRIDPESHEK
I sit here and look at the DAZZLE video hardware I'm packing up to take back for a refund at Best Buy. It's the 3rd one I've tried, it doesn't work.

So you've gotten 3 of these cards, and they all don't work. Either you have really bad luck, or there is an incompatibility between the card and most likely your motherboard. Although, the possibility that the card is a peice of poorly manufactured crap isn't unlikely.

My worst experience with crappy hardware.... 5 network cards.. the drivers installed by Windows worked for it. Put the latest drivers from the manufacturer on the computer.. it would fry the NICs... You'd think that one wouldn't have escaped the testing phase would ya....

[Pooh-Bear]

The problem isn´t capitalism then? IMHO a growing demand for higher and higher profits has become a vicious circle where they have to push out crap to make stock analyzers happy for that year.

[proactive]

I had the same problem with 3D graphics cards. I returned it over and over again until I found the problem on my own PC.

So I'm gonna ask you this question: Have you tried to upgrade your AGP drivers? After I did that I had no problems at all. There are two kinds, mine is called ALI AGP for the AMD chipset, and some other kind for Intel.

If you haven't tried that yet, you should. Could be the solution.

[proactive]

Creating software is difficult. About 80% of all projects are not successful.

You can often blame this on the administration, because the don't accept a late release date, and then the developers have to cut corners at the sacrice of quality. And because the software industry is sort of a 'new' industry, it's difficult to scedule a project.

You can try to tell the adm. that, ok, we can release in 3 months, but then you won't get as many features. But surely they're not gonna be happy with that answer.

What happens is the development team have to work overtime for 4 weeks, and they finally release a crappy product thery're not satisfied with.

I think of the problem this way: Say you want to build a house, and you call two companies to hear how long it will take. Company no 1 says it will take a year, but it might be 3 months late. Company no 2 says it will take exactly 1 year, although they know it might be three months late. Of course company no 2 gets the deal. That's what happens in the software industy nowdays.

[ASTRIDPESHEK]

Dazzle was hardware, no drivers like a video card .... basically cables RCA in and RCA cables out.

Except - it's junk. And technical support didn't exist. And their manual was .... well, lots of clipart and very few words. Dazzle has a ton of Better Business Bereau complaints against them now and at least two lawsuits for merchantability.

They were selling a product that never worked and never would work - it was a con.

My groan was about hardware and software in general. (Actually anything now that you can buy - cars, videocameras, tvs ..... so much junk, a good thing there's Consumer Reports out there.) Doesn't anyone take any pride in what they do? Isn't there any testing? I realize about having to push a product out and deadlines - but pushing out product that doesn't work in the first place to unsuspecting consumers? That's just ridiculous. It's like selling a defibulator to fire departments across the country that you know don't work.

It also calls into question one thing that has bothered me for a long time. If people who write software and engineer hardware are so lax about what they do - what's to say your surgeon, airlines pilot or car mechanic really know what they're doing? Kind of scary to think that your pilot may have been flying on sheer luck until your flight .....

[thesecretfire]

Well, in the case of airline pilots, you can at least be assured by all the checklists, redundancy and training. Even when doing recreational aviation, if you follow all the procedures (Which they do do in commercial arilines) there isn't a very large possibility of making a mistake.