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Can you share a few examples? Google seems to be leaning more toward "normal users" but I enjoy the software nonetheless. Are you sure you are the intended use

by bcook 11y ago

Can you share a few examples? Google seems to be leaning more toward "normal users" but I enjoy the software nonetheless. Are you sure you are the intended user? Catering to a different userbase might be their intent.

rcheu 11y ago
I think an obvious example is Hangouts. It's easily the worst messaging app I've used in years. It consistently fails at reliably delivering messages. It's very common for me to send a message on my laptop, and then have the response only show up on my phone, or vise versa. The read marker will often jump around, and people that just messaged me 3 minutes ago will have "last seen 5 hours ago" under their name. Google chat was a product that reliably sent messages to people, told me if someone was online, and was fast, too.
- maaarghk 11y ago
  That's interesting, I have the exact opposite experience. I use Hangouts regularly, on two Macs, a PC and on my Android phone and I have never experienced any of that stuff, except maybe the "last seen" being out of sync - but that's hardly a dealbreaker.
  - V-2 11y ago
    I used Hangouts intensively for video daily meetings throughout a software project that spanned for several months - on different machines (on my work laptop, mobile phone, sometimes my home PC). These meetings weren't big - typically 3 to 5 people - but when it worked for everyone at once, without reconnecting, rebooting etc., we cheered. This was an unusual occurence. I had Hangouts crash - especially on Android - I had it request a browser plugin to be installed over and over again, and I never managed to get it to work on Firefox (switching to a different browser for Hangouts only proved easier), I had no audio, or distorted audio, or people dropping out of calls... I'm glad your user experience wasn't as abysmal as ours, or rcheu's, but in my opinion you're a lucky one One good feature it has is that it recognizes keyboard tapping, and suggests you put yourself on mute when it's detected
- mfukar 11y ago
  I don't mind the presence inconsistencies, & the read marker only rarely "desyncs" for me, but the notifications are absolutely horrible. I chat on one device and replies trigger notifications on 3...drives me nuts sometimes.
dave2000 11y ago
The camera app on Nexus devices just has none of the features any vaguely competent photographer needs, and that's ignoring the crap API Google has made available. OpenCamera should be the stock app (well, with a slightly more sane settings page).
userbinator 11y ago
Google seems to be leaning more toward "normal users" The unfortunate thing is that these "normal users" today don't seem to have gotten much better at using computers compared to the generations before, despite having literally grown up with them. Dumbed-down software certainly isn't helping them become more advanced users.
- bcook 11y ago
  Shouldn't software (or anything else) be made optimal for the majority of people that will use it? With common apps like web-browsers, email, & chat, pushing everyone to become an advanced user is nonsense.
  - TeMPOraL 11y ago
    Somehow stoves, microwaves and machines live with complex interfaces and nobody complains. Cars are also a good example - it is expected of everyone to take a few dozen hours of driving lessons to familiarize themselves with the UI of the machine, and again, nobody complains. Creating the expectation that every program should be fully usable from the get-go is the problem, because the only way to achieve that is to remove its features to the point it barely does anything. Hell, nobody complains that Photoshop is complicated. It is expected of you to read some tutorials in order to use it effectively. I'm not saying the interface should be obtuse for a reason. But the current trend of sacrificing features to simplify the UI is simply dumb. Market-driven, yes, but just dumb. We could do much more with technology we have if not for it.
    - EliRivers 11y ago
      I agree with your sentiment (a modern PC is a very complex beast and it's not reasonable to expect to be able to operate it without learning about it first), but my stove's interface could not be simpler. One turny knob. Turn it to pick the heat setting, from "OFF" to "LOTS". I don't think I've ever used a stove more complex than that.
      - 11y ago

by bcook 11y ago

rcheu 11y ago

I think an obvious example is Hangouts. It's easily the worst messaging app I've used in years. It consistently fails at reliably delivering messages. It's very common for me to send a message on my laptop, and then have the response only show up on my phone, or vise versa. The read marker will often jump around, and people that just messaged me 3 minutes ago will have "last seen 5 hours ago" under their name. Google chat was a product that reliably sent messages to people, told me if someone was online, and was fast, too.

maaarghk 11y ago
That's interesting, I have the exact opposite experience. I use Hangouts regularly, on two Macs, a PC and on my Android phone and I have never experienced any of that stuff, except maybe the "last seen" being out of sync - but that's hardly a dealbreaker.
- V-2 11y ago
  I used Hangouts intensively for video daily meetings throughout a software project that spanned for several months - on different machines (on my work laptop, mobile phone, sometimes my home PC). These meetings weren't big - typically 3 to 5 people - but when it worked for everyone at once, without reconnecting, rebooting etc., we cheered. This was an unusual occurence. I had Hangouts crash - especially on Android - I had it request a browser plugin to be installed over and over again, and I never managed to get it to work on Firefox (switching to a different browser for Hangouts only proved easier), I had no audio, or distorted audio, or people dropping out of calls... I'm glad your user experience wasn't as abysmal as ours, or rcheu's, but in my opinion you're a lucky one One good feature it has is that it recognizes keyboard tapping, and suggests you put yourself on mute when it's detected
mfukar 11y ago
I don't mind the presence inconsistencies, & the read marker only rarely "desyncs" for me, but the notifications are absolutely horrible. I chat on one device and replies trigger notifications on 3...drives me nuts sometimes.

dave2000 11y ago

The camera app on Nexus devices just has none of the features any vaguely competent photographer needs, and that's ignoring the crap API Google has made available. OpenCamera should be the stock app (well, with a slightly more sane settings page).

userbinator 11y ago

Google seems to be leaning more toward "normal users" The unfortunate thing is that these "normal users" today don't seem to have gotten much better at using computers compared to the generations before, despite having literally grown up with them. Dumbed-down software certainly isn't helping them become more advanced users.

bcook 11y ago
Shouldn't software (or anything else) be made optimal for the majority of people that will use it? With common apps like web-browsers, email, & chat, pushing everyone to become an advanced user is nonsense.
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  Somehow stoves, microwaves and machines live with complex interfaces and nobody complains. Cars are also a good example - it is expected of everyone to take a few dozen hours of driving lessons to familiarize themselves with the UI of the machine, and again, nobody complains. Creating the expectation that every program should be fully usable from the get-go is the problem, because the only way to achieve that is to remove its features to the point it barely does anything. Hell, nobody complains that Photoshop is complicated. It is expected of you to read some tutorials in order to use it effectively. I'm not saying the interface should be obtuse for a reason. But the current trend of sacrificing features to simplify the UI is simply dumb. Market-driven, yes, but just dumb. We could do much more with technology we have if not for it.
  - EliRivers 11y ago
    I agree with your sentiment (a modern PC is a very complex beast and it's not reasonable to expect to be able to operate it without learning about it first), but my stove's interface could not be simpler. One turny knob. Turn it to pick the heat setting, from "OFF" to "LOTS". I don't think I've ever used a stove more complex than that.
    - 11y ago