bad software.

I'm not sure if bad software affects me so much because I make software. But I regularly use software that I expect to just work (I don't expect this of all software), but it doesn't.

These are some examples.

· · ·

Sometimes I build iOS apps, which means I have to use ~~OS X~~ macOS. I'm often slowed down by the interface, and simple tasks become onerous for a keyboard-loving, tech-savvy person like me. These are some frustrations:

Finder
- Tabs open to a default folder, not the current directory.
- No easy way to show/hide hidden files.
- Moving files via keyboard shortcuts is tedious. There was no way to learn that right-clicking, then holding down Alt reveals a "Move files here" option.
- When viewed as a list, pasting files into folders doesn't work as expected — even when the desired subfolder is selected, the file get put in whatever folder you're looking at at the top level.
- Apparently I'm not the only one.
Cmd+Tab-ing to an application brings all its windows to the front, often obscuring something I need to do across windows, (e.g. drag and drop a file into the browser).
- It also brings all windows to the front on all monitors, so it potentially obscures other applications on other monitors that I need to see.
- And the picker always shows on the primary monitor in a multi-monitor setup, even if your cursor is on another monitor (something Spotlight respects).
Some programs stay open after the last window is closed. I have to look at the top bar to see why keyboard shortcuts in the predominant window aren't working.
You can't minimize certain windows, like upgrade / installer modals.
I'm often slowed down by a lack of Delete, Home, and End keys and their equivalent key combinations.

Xcode

Don't get me started on Xcode. Xcode is the worst IDE I've used. It is probably only "great" to people who code exclusively in Xcode.

It is impossible to customize it to work like any other IDE I use, which means more cognitive load every time I use it, and I lose all speed benefits of the muscle memory I've developed from working in more sane IDEs. They have no respect for developers who even settle in to Xcode's idiosyncracies, moving and removing functions and UI elements and keyboard shortcuts without warning on each (mandatory, of course) version upgrade. Here are some suggested improvements:

Let me delete an entire line, no matter where I am on it, with one key combination. Ctrl-A-K-K is absurd.
Tabs should strictly represent files. This isn't a web browser.
Why the fuck is the default behavior of Home to go to the beginning of the document? Where else in the world of computing is this behavior used as much as go to beginning of line?
The Delete key on a dedicated keyboard doesn't work by default.

Luckily there's AppCode, which doesn't seem as likely to have been built by one person who lived alone in a cabin in the woods.

· · ·

Amazon Kindle Fire. I decided to browse Amazon. I would never shop on a phone if I didn't have to, but doing it on a 10" dedicated purchasing device seemed like the right time to at least see what the experience is like.

The device just updated but is still running its bastardized version of KitKat. It provides no standard Android way of switching apps, ensuring that my shopping experience is both painful and uninformed.

The home screen says "Books" at the top; I press it. My entire screen prompts me to start my 30-day trial of Kindle Unlimited, which will later only be $9.99/month. Sounds decent, but I don't care right now. I press back because I can't find a skip button within 1 second. I decide to just press the system Search button this time. I assume it searches Amazon — not whatever app I'm in, like the Android of yore.

My assumptions are rewarded: I type and find the book on Amazon matching my exact search terms, as well as ones that don't. I click. It's just like the browser. I find a tiny "Download Sample" button; it says "Processing..." (whatever that means). I then press Search again. I type my next recommended book title. I tap the first auto-suggested item and save myself a word. I'm taken back to the default Books page.

I've now lost faith in my purchasing device.

· · ·

Winners

There are some companies, devices, and softwares are so unabashedly anti-user that they deserve to be enshrined here, as bastions of how to shit on the consumer in style.

Amazon Kindle Fire Special Offer Edition. For $15 cheaper, you can buy this Special Offer edition of the popular e-reader device, which turns your lock screen into an ad. While many people undoubtedly enjoy the savings this option grants them, it is atrociously incomparable to the revenue Amazon is making off of these ads. Not only do they obscure the "slide to unlock" mechanism, the ads are essentially impossible to ignore.

Amazon, combined with its unintuitive "unsubscribe" mechanism, takes the cake for this ingenious move. It is my hope that the market is soon flooded with TVs for $20 off that play a 30 second ad every time you turn them on; with new cars sold for a whopping $50 off, equipped with stereos playing ads the second you start its engine. The possibilities are endless. You could get $75 off your new house for installing a smart billboard that hangs in your foyer; $10 off your trans-Atlantic flight to watch ads the whole way; or 50¢ off your monthly phone bill to hear an ad before you can answer every phone call.

iPhone 7. I'm not so pissed off of this because I've never had to use the device, but: removing the headphone jack. I don't need to tell you how unnecessary it was, because you know that already. I don't need to tell you about the innumerable times I would be pissed off because I own previously-connected devices that are now incompatible, because you know in your rational monkey brain how absurd it is to purchase a ticket that adds another entry fee to all the devices you already own.