First - it’s been a while - I needed some time off after dealing with work and other issues closely related to the subject of this post - dealing with technology and support companies that have gone from providing prompt and competent support from dedicated teams to not even being able to check over your work on an install in less than two days, while the installation instructions for updates reference (now) missing sections and tell you to do things actively harmful to your servers if done in accordance with the directions.
Yeah. With a few exceptions* I recall, the Japanese emphasis on process improvement and better checking of placement/usability has generally meant fewer stupid problems and better fit/finish for any given level of price and features. Even generally stupid and frustrating things like lane tracking/etc. have been better implemented than their Detroit counterparts.
That said, they can all can become sclerotic. The discman/walkman era Sony and the recent Sony are markedly different in the quality of their products and how they treat their customers.
* I still don't get the placement of oil filters in 80's toyota small pickups, and holy crap those Nissan CVT's. Don't get me started on Mitsubishis. Ford at least borrowed from Mazda, and I loved my little 323.
I absolutely despise modern vehicles. Is it so much to ask for knobs and buttons instead of a god damn touch screen? I know that backup cameras are mandated, but that doesn't mean I need to be able to play DOOM while driving.
I like the display, but not the fact that everything runs through it other than steering wheel controls that are there to "help" that also don't cover all of the options, nor allow the passenger to operate the system. Especially when you conclusively prove that your software is shoddy by third party software and apps running as expected.
Some of the car manufacturers got it right with the knob-stick setup. You get tactile response, and as long as the vendor gave some thought to a menu based system you sweep through, works well.
Fair enough. I think that we can meld high technology with function, but we have to get the tech-bros out of their bunkers and actually driving the things they try to 'help' us with.
" I needed some time off after dealing with work and other issues closely related to the subject of this post - dealing with technology and support companies that have gone from providing prompt and competent support from dedicated teams to not even being able"
*pours you a drink* This round's on me brother. I feel you there. I feel you there in my bones.
I swear I'm about to see society undergo a massive regression in technology because nobody's going to want to bother any more. (Hm... quick post idea just came to me...)
"while the installation instructions for updates reference (now) missing sections and tell you to do things actively harmful to your servers if done in accordance with the directions."
Well that's concerning! As someone who just got moved into a position I have to take more active roles with servers, I'm pretty new at all this. So I just have the directions to follow, I have no idea if it's going to actively harm the servers or not. How would I even begin to figure it out without a mentorship or something to assist? Classes are ok, but they can only go so far...
"There is a difference between being invested in a company doing well and making a good product, and merely being invested in a company turning a profit. They have markedly different incentives, and different outcomes for screwing up or screwing people over. The former ties you to the organization, what it provides, its reputation, and its continued existence. The latter, well, you can always jump ship to another company or strip-mine its assets. The love of money may not be the root of all evil, but it certainly is the root of buying out successful companies and ruthlessly milking them, turning them into hollow shells with whatever workforce is still left demoralized or replaced by those with far less experience and tribal knowledge, and a compromised product or pricing scheme that treats customers as sheep to be fleeced, banking on the earned reputation until it, too, is degraded."
Well put. I loathe communism and socialism like no other, but I can't hardly believe the way so many have gone for short term gains to the point of insanity.
In so far as directions, Cisco and Microsoft have pretty decent documentation, and, at least when I was taking the respective courses back when, solid textbooks, even if sometimes they took too many pages to explain something.
This particular third party application package was something else entirely. When you see multiple instances of not just typos, but missing tables and sections you are told to refer to, shoddy sequencing, half of the manual not referenced in the installation instruction sequence because they neglected to cross-reference critical steps, and so on, proceed with caution. In a sandboxed development environment.
Ah third party. Well that makes me feel a bit better referring to Microsoft's documentation then.
Though (ironically), some of Microsoft's stuff is now also going the way of referring to pages and links that are now gone away. I've found information and posts that were literally less than a year old that no longer applied because of a recent "update."
American cars, well, American products are trash which is on par with our overall cultural output.
Yeah. With a few exceptions* I recall, the Japanese emphasis on process improvement and better checking of placement/usability has generally meant fewer stupid problems and better fit/finish for any given level of price and features. Even generally stupid and frustrating things like lane tracking/etc. have been better implemented than their Detroit counterparts.
That said, they can all can become sclerotic. The discman/walkman era Sony and the recent Sony are markedly different in the quality of their products and how they treat their customers.
* I still don't get the placement of oil filters in 80's toyota small pickups, and holy crap those Nissan CVT's. Don't get me started on Mitsubishis. Ford at least borrowed from Mazda, and I loved my little 323.
I only drive Toyotas.
I absolutely despise modern vehicles. Is it so much to ask for knobs and buttons instead of a god damn touch screen? I know that backup cameras are mandated, but that doesn't mean I need to be able to play DOOM while driving.
I like the display, but not the fact that everything runs through it other than steering wheel controls that are there to "help" that also don't cover all of the options, nor allow the passenger to operate the system. Especially when you conclusively prove that your software is shoddy by third party software and apps running as expected.
Some of the car manufacturers got it right with the knob-stick setup. You get tactile response, and as long as the vendor gave some thought to a menu based system you sweep through, works well.
Fair enough. I think that we can meld high technology with function, but we have to get the tech-bros out of their bunkers and actually driving the things they try to 'help' us with.
" I needed some time off after dealing with work and other issues closely related to the subject of this post - dealing with technology and support companies that have gone from providing prompt and competent support from dedicated teams to not even being able"
*pours you a drink* This round's on me brother. I feel you there. I feel you there in my bones.
I swear I'm about to see society undergo a massive regression in technology because nobody's going to want to bother any more. (Hm... quick post idea just came to me...)
* Raising a glass *
Thanks, man.
I had a 2010 Compass and boy was that a mistake
"while the installation instructions for updates reference (now) missing sections and tell you to do things actively harmful to your servers if done in accordance with the directions."
Well that's concerning! As someone who just got moved into a position I have to take more active roles with servers, I'm pretty new at all this. So I just have the directions to follow, I have no idea if it's going to actively harm the servers or not. How would I even begin to figure it out without a mentorship or something to assist? Classes are ok, but they can only go so far...
"There is a difference between being invested in a company doing well and making a good product, and merely being invested in a company turning a profit. They have markedly different incentives, and different outcomes for screwing up or screwing people over. The former ties you to the organization, what it provides, its reputation, and its continued existence. The latter, well, you can always jump ship to another company or strip-mine its assets. The love of money may not be the root of all evil, but it certainly is the root of buying out successful companies and ruthlessly milking them, turning them into hollow shells with whatever workforce is still left demoralized or replaced by those with far less experience and tribal knowledge, and a compromised product or pricing scheme that treats customers as sheep to be fleeced, banking on the earned reputation until it, too, is degraded."
Well put. I loathe communism and socialism like no other, but I can't hardly believe the way so many have gone for short term gains to the point of insanity.
Yeah.
In so far as directions, Cisco and Microsoft have pretty decent documentation, and, at least when I was taking the respective courses back when, solid textbooks, even if sometimes they took too many pages to explain something.
This particular third party application package was something else entirely. When you see multiple instances of not just typos, but missing tables and sections you are told to refer to, shoddy sequencing, half of the manual not referenced in the installation instruction sequence because they neglected to cross-reference critical steps, and so on, proceed with caution. In a sandboxed development environment.
Ah third party. Well that makes me feel a bit better referring to Microsoft's documentation then.
Though (ironically), some of Microsoft's stuff is now also going the way of referring to pages and links that are now gone away. I've found information and posts that were literally less than a year old that no longer applied because of a recent "update."