In tech stuff, what's a little thing that just...bothers you more than it should?

[XodiumRetro]

So it goes, this is inspired by some goings on with my M1 MacBook, but before I launch into that, let me explain what I'm asking: To put it simply, say an update was pushed to an app you use that moves something in a very subtle way. Or a new revision of some hardware you use was released that's inferior in a niche way that only you seem to notice and it bothers you a LOT and generally anyone else would tell you that you're overreacting. That's the gist of what I'm asking, pretty much.

As for my own story: Earlier last month I took the upgrade to macOS Monterey, mostly because I really needed the AirPlay features for something. Ended up sticking with it because it was stable enough for a beta. However, I still use iPods, and as you might gather from that, it means I don't really do (nor have an interest in) music streaming, I do it all local and am building a CD collection as we speak. Previously, macOS allowed you to turn off Apple Music, so it wouldn't constantly nag you to join/show stuff that requires a subscription in Music.app.

Monterey, unfortunately, took away that option. So now Apple Music is on all the time, and as you'd expect, it nags you at random to join AM. It doesn't do this ALL the time, maybe once every day/12h or so. But it's still taking up real estate in Music.app, AND it's an ad I have to dismiss to get to my local library.

Despite it taking mere seconds to tell AM to shut up, it still just...intensely bothers me that Apple won't let you shut it off in Monterey. So much so that I actually rolled back to Big Sur because of it. (Well, that and general Monterey bugginess.)

That's my example for this thread. Is there anything for you guys that in the grand scheme of things might be small, but just bothers you VERY intensely, moreso than usual?

 

[KnobsNSwitches]

"What really grinds my gears is..."

I dislike the trend in software that's childish or...overly-familiar in communication, maybe? Example: if my corporate Outlook inbox is empty, there will be a little image of a palm tree and a message like "All done for the day! Take a break!" or something like that. Slack also has flippant messages that just rub me the wrong way. Just "0 messages" would be preferable to me.

Is it a big deal? Nah. But it fits the theme o' this thread...

 

[max1zzz]

I really hate the way the windows 10 (and presumably 11) home don't let you set up a local account when you install it unless you (a) disconnect the PC from the internet or (b) enter "user" as a MS account, then enter a junk password at wich point it comes up with a error saying "something went wrong" and FINALLY gives you the option to create a local account. And even then it will nag you after a few days to sign in with a MS account.....
MS's official instructions is make a MS account, sign in and then sign back out if you only want a local account but why the hell should have to make a MS account in the first place!

Really I have SAAS on all desktop OS's, but at least Mac OS just gives you the option to not sign in to a apple ID!

Oh and don't get me started on Cortana. I'm sure her little intro speech is novel if you only install windows once, but after hearing it several times a day for the last 6 years it starts getting just a tad annoying!

 

[reallyrandy]

escaping characters while coding!

 

[trag]

The term "SCSI voodoo".

SCSI works if it's configured properly. If it worked and it stops, it was probably configured wrong and one was lucky it worked as long as it did.

 

[Branchus]

I'm against software updates just for the sake of it. Software companies trying to think up new and useless features to justify the subscription fee you're paying for their software. Fix the bugs first please!

 

[ScutBoy]

When you call someplace like your bank or credit card company, and the automated system has you say your name, account number, what your issue is, etc.

Then when you get to the operator, the first things they ask you are your name, your account number, and what your issue is, etc.

 

[MindThreat]

I'm against software updates just for the sake of it. Software companies trying to think up new and useless features to justify the subscription fee you're paying for their software. Fix the bugs first please!

I have a Thunderbolt card in my Ryzen system, so that I can attach external GPUs and add it in my render loop. If you know anything about AMD and Thunderbolt it’s that they don’t work together or not supported because it’s an Intel technology so they want to keep it to Intel?

Either way, a firmware update to the card caused it to no longer function in my system. It didn’t brick it, it was perfectly visible just no way to be activated. Everyone said you had to pull the chips from the card and flash them back to a previous firmware but I thought that was absurd.

Finally after putting up a fight and some back and forth with the manufacturer of the card (they wanted to know why and just kept pushing for more details as to what could be wrong, I just said it worked before and now it doesn’t please just provide the file and tool) and to my surprise, they finally provided me a tool that would down flash the firmware to original and it has worked perfectly ever since.

 

[alex_santos]

So it goes, this is inspired by some goings on with my M1 MacBook, but before I launch into that, let me explain what I'm asking: To put it simply, say an update was pushed to an app you use that moves something in a very subtle way. Or a new revision of some hardware you use was released that's inferior in a niche way that only you seem to notice and it bothers you a LOT and generally anyone else would tell you that you're overreacting. That's the gist of what I'm asking, pretty much.

As for my own story: Earlier last month I took the upgrade to macOS Monterey, mostly because I really needed the AirPlay features for something. Ended up sticking with it because it was stable enough for a beta. However, I still use iPods, and as you might gather from that, it means I don't really do (nor have an interest in) music streaming, I do it all local and am building a CD collection as we speak. Previously, macOS allowed you to turn off Apple Music, so it wouldn't constantly nag you to join/show stuff that requires a subscription in Music.app.

Monterey, unfortunately, took away that option. So now Apple Music is on all the time, and as you'd expect, it nags you at random to join AM. It doesn't do this ALL the time, maybe once every day/12h or so. But it's still taking up real estate in Music.app, AND it's an ad I have to dismiss to get to my local library.

Despite it taking mere seconds to tell AM to shut up, it still just...intensely bothers me that Apple won't let you shut it off in Monterey. So much so that I actually rolled back to Big Sur because of it. (Well, that and general Monterey bugginess.)

That's my example for this thread. Is there anything for you guys that in the grand scheme of things might be small, but just bothers you VERY intensely, moreso than usual?

It appears Apple got rid of this (screenshot) in Apple Music for Monterey. I am not sure what's up with this as I have not installed Monterey. I am trying to find more evidence of this on Apple's site

According to https://www.apple.com/apple-music/

It seems that the missing Restrictions icon is part of some consolidation effort on Apple's part. It appears to have been moved to Screen Time, https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/music/mus84ee80ad/1.2/mac/12.0.1

 

[alex_santos]

I'm against software updates just for the sake of it. Software companies trying to think up new and useless features to justify the subscription fee you're paying for their software. Fix the bugs first please!

True on fix bugs but it is literally impossible to make bug free software today. There are and will likely always be bugs — software just breaks sometimes.

Sometimes yes, known bugs are not fixed in some release cycles, there can be several reasons for this, regression testing is one that takes time when there may be little in some dev cycle. Even on release, the number of users who report a bug may not have identified how to reproduce the bug or it is intermittent, making it difficult for developers to fix. Sometimes steps to reproduce are evident but the bug may affect only a small group of users who are not considered to be relevant dare I say. Safety and some business critical concerns are invariably real focus points on testing so as to prevent injury, harm to a person or business and in some cases even death can occur due to software bugs.

Eliminating all bugs is fairly impossible today but there are good testing procedures to quickly and effectively reduce them. Granted I suspect you are talking about the bugs that are just screaming in your face in which case, yes it should be fixed, at some point, especially if they contribute to poor experiences or unexpected results that require work arounds etc.

 

[XodiumRetro]

Isn't this available in Monterey? You rolled back to BigSur though.

View attachment 721

Ha, I wish. It actually isn’t. They removed the tab entirely, I guess intending you to use Screen Time for restrictions. It isn’t present in Monterey’s Music.app.

 

[alex_santos]

Ha, I wish. It actually isn’t. They removed the tab entirely, I guess intending you to use Screen Time for restrictions. It isn’t present in Monterey’s Music.app.

I use Apple Music myself, I actually love it but that does mean you have to of course. I was wondering what the main driver was that made the experience so discouraging, enough to cause you to roll back to BigSur? You mentioned something about ads showing up constantly, asking you to become a Apple Music subscriber, was it that or something else? The fear of losing an existing local music library?

 

[alex_santos]

Ha, I wish. It actually isn’t. They removed the tab entirely, I guess intending you to use Screen Time for restrictions. It isn’t present in Monterey’s Music.app.

You might want to consider blocking the appropriate domain that manages Apple Music streaming. Search for "Music" here https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210060

You can edit the file to include the domain

edit like this or with your favorite editor:
sudo nano /etc/hosts

add this
127.0.0.1 www.domaintoblock.com

exit the file and test

The other thought that came to mind (a day later) respective to this, although I would check the Screen Time preference first, is to use Little Snitch (not free) or similar to block specific outgoing connections on a permanent basis which may give you the desired affect.

 

[XodiumRetro]

I use Apple Music myself, I actually love it but that does mean you have to of course. I was wondering what the main driver was that made the experience so discouraging, enough to cause you to roll back to BigSur? You mentioned something about ads showing up constantly, asking you to become a Apple Music subscriber, was it that or something else? The fear of losing an existing local music library?

It absolutely wrecked my local music library, which arguably is the most sacred set of data I own considering I've been building it since I started getting into computers (like 2002 or so). Marked a bunch of tracks as unplayable due to region restrictions. Replaced a bunch of original albums with revised versions with different songs. Mismatched some other songs. Also replaced all explicit songs with clean versions. It was a huge mess I really had to work at to clean up.

But yeah, it was basically the ads. My brain just...the way it works, sometimes the most tiny of problems will annoy me, and with something as in-your-face as the AM ads popping up, it was either roll back to Big Sur, or teach my Mac the definition of defenestration.

I hate that my brain is like this. But alas.

 

[XodiumRetro]

I really hate the way the windows 10 (and presumably 11) home don't let you set up a local account when you install it unless you (a) disconnect the PC from the internet or (b) enter "user" as a MS account, then enter a junk password at wich point it comes up with a error saying "something went wrong" and FINALLY gives you the option to create a local account. And even then it will nag you after a few days to sign in with a MS account.....
MS's official instructions is make a MS account, sign in and then sign back out if you only want a local account but why the hell should have to make a MS account in the first place!

Really I have SAAS on all desktop OS's, but at least Mac OS just gives you the option to not sign in to a apple ID!

This really frosts my cookies too. I actually tried it once and didn't get very far, because I use a password manager for most everything. So of course, when you sign in with an MS account, it wants you to log in with your MS account password. Which...yeah. Good luck.

Before that, I think I also tried it and it instantly corrupted my user profile. Swore it off after that.

Though I think local accounts are easily supported, they just hide them behind a dark pattern. Even installing Win10 Pro (though Home might be different), they hide it behind the Domain Join Instead button.

I have a Thunderbolt card in my Ryzen system, so that I can attach external GPUs and add it in my render loop. If you know anything about AMD and Thunderbolt it’s that they don’t work together or not supported because it’s an Intel technology so they want to keep it to Intel?

Either way, a firmware update to the card caused it to no longer function in my system. It didn’t brick it, it was perfectly visible just no way to be activated. Everyone said you had to pull the chips from the card and flash them back to a previous firmware but I thought that was absurd.

Finally after putting up a fight and some back and forth with the manufacturer of the card (they wanted to know why and just kept pushing for more details as to what could be wrong, I just said it worked before and now it doesn’t please just provide the file and tool) and to my surprise, they finally provided me a tool that would down flash the firmware to original and it has worked perfectly ever since.

Oh man don't get me started on Thunderbolt! I actually have TB3 on my PC laptop (Dell Precision 7720) and...anyone who knows my YouTube channel knows that thing has been a right pain in my neck with Thunderbolt/USB-C, since they share the same port. Microsoft changed something with Win10 20H1 and up, and ever since then USB-C devices don't work properly, and I do have a number of them. Enough to make it fairly annoying.

What'll usually happen is I'll plug something in to USB-C, and if audio is playing it'll stutter for a second almost like the machine's heart stopped for a split second. Then usually it'll be picked up by the OS for 5-10 seconds before being forced to disconnect. Sometimes this bricks the port until the machine is restarted, sometimes I can try again. Bugged Intel, Microsoft, AND Dell over this, and all of them just pointed at eachother and none were a big help.

It's a shame, because that machine is really nice. But just that little thing...infuriates me greatly.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Disappearing scroll bars. Annoying AF.



Thankfully the feature can be disabled. Unending iOS app store credential requests also grind on the nerves a bit.

 

[Drake]

When other markets get super cool stuff but Canadians are left in the cold... figuratively and literally!

@Kay K.M.Mods trade maple syrup for Fujitsu!?

 

[Kay K.M.Mods]

When other markets get super cool stuff but Canadians are left in the cold... figuratively and literally!

@Kay K.M.Mods trade maple syrup for Fujitsu!?
View attachment 1176

Right, It looks like a Fake Compact mac for me...lol
I worked at an instrument store that doubles as Apple's distributor in early 1990.
I was not a Mac person in charge, but I knew the word of Trojan by that time...
Isn't it a PC for about the same time? It is not very detailed.

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