Biggest Tech Disapointment in 2012

[Rey]

i said the exact same thing that scott did about windows 8. after talking with todd and mestevo i decided to give it a shot. i could always go back to win7 which i loved. solid OS. after using win8 for over a month now i can say i love it. boot up and shutdown times are so much quicker. without doing any hardware upgrades the PC runs better under windows 8. i haven't seen anything yet that would tell me this is another windows millennium or vista. i've had every windows OS since 3.1. so far so good. i even like the start screen,the one thing that was keeping me from making the move. i did add the start button to the desktop but find myself using the start screen more and more. i agree that most apps are useless so far imo on a regular pc. touchscreen is a different story.....

jay makes a great point on win8 being a problem for corporations. that's why we will stick with win 7 here.

 

[RandallA]

I'd go out on a limb and say Apple in general. Even though I am thoroughly satisfied with my iPhone 5, I can't same the same about OS X Mountain Lion, iCloud, iOS 6, Photo Stream, iTunes 11. Two years ago, Apple could do no wrong. Now, they seem to be having a hard time releasing a solid product at launch.

The whole reason I switched to the Apple ecosystem in 2007 was to get away from the Windows headache. Apple stuff Just Worked. Sad to say, that doesn't seem true today.

Thank you. I thought I was the only one that didn't belong to the iSheep clan. Apple has good products but they're over hyped and over priced.

 

[Anole]

W8 sux; iP5 not so much

I never touch a new Windows release until SP2 comes out for it.
So my dislike of Win8, is more in the annoying saturation marketing and product placement.
Already a few are making a case for W8, but I've got months (or years) to be wary and avoid it.

Nobody is ever happy with new iPhones, and yet they fly off the shelves.
Most folks can't even spell NFC, but there was a lot of vocal criticism it was missing from the 5.
Last year it was no LTE, but just-in-time, it's here in the 5.
I'm not impressed with what little they did with the screen, but hardly a major blunder.
Expect more hand-wringing when the 5S comes out 4th quarter 2013.
... and big sales numbers.

Oh wait. Isn't the world suppose to end tomorrow?
Guess this is all irrelevant.
.

 

[Foxbat]

Oh wait. Isn't the world suppose to end tomorrow?
Guess this is all irrelevant.
.

We'll know after 11:12 UTC, a little over six hours from now. Oh, wait, wrong thread...

But back to topic, if the world does end, then the Biggest Tech Blunder of 2012 will be Technology not preventing it from happening.

 

[DodgerKing]

2012 had a lot of things going on for it in 2012, but it also had some disapointments as well.

So what do you think were the big disapointments and why?

For me it was...

The Apple iPhone 5 - It's the phone we have all been waiting for for a few years now, and because its a milestone number we expect a lot from Apple, instead we get a phone which should have been called the iPhone 4S+ as its just like an iPhone 4S with bigger screen and a new connector which makes all of our docking stations, radio and cables we have collected over the years useless. Sure it might have a faster CPU but in the end its the same old iPhone we have been running for years.

I love the phone. Then again, I am going from a 3GS to the 5 so that is a huge jump for me.

Windows 8 - The next generation of Windows took a trip back to the land of what the hell is this?! It might be nice if you have a touchscreen but if you are a computer professional there is no way you want this piece of crap software update on your office desktop PC. Whats with these Windows 8 apps anyways? Is this an OS or a phone emulator? And where the hell is the X button to close out these programs. I can't see ANY business wanting to move to Windows 8 until they do point of sale types of things. This is not a Windows Upgrade, its a downgrade. And the 1980's called and Colleco wants it ugly color menus back!

Could not agree more. This is Windows 7 with the best thing from Windows 7 removed (you can add it back with third party software), replacing the start menu with a less practical start screen for most PCs. It is only more functional with touch screens.

 

[jevans64]

I have been playing with Windows 8 for a while. Stability and quickness is equal to or better than Windows 7. What MicroSoft is trying to do is eventually make a single OS that would work on smart phones, tablets, laptops, and desktop systems. It is really meant for touch screens, at least for the Metro part and pushing / pulling application windows. I was fine with having a tile for the Desktop and setting it up like a traditional Windows 7 desktop. Windows 8 makes much more sense when used with a touch panel, something businesses probably won't upgrade to for some time. Window 8 doesn't make much sense in a business environment but maybe that will change with Surface Pro. I can see a few executives having a Surface Pro to replace their laptops when traveling.

 

[harshness]

Windows 8 may not be a disaster for home use but it is one of the biggest disasters for corporations. It is going to be a training nightmare and is going to cost medium to large companies millions if not billions of loss productivity and training.

It is about time that the end users have to suffer at least as much as the IT staff in a Windows changeout. The previous version changes cost IT departments dearly but this one gut punches the users.

As long as Microsoft can create a domain setup that requires six or more separate servers to run, everyone's job is secure.

 

[riffjim4069]

The Ceton Q DVR which never materialized wins my Dud of the Year...well, that and reasonably priced OLED TVs - three years and counting.

 

[riffjim4069]

I have been playing with Windows 8 for a while. Stability and quickness is equal to or better than Windows 7. What MicroSoft is trying to do is eventually make a single OS that would work on smart phones, tablets, laptops, and desktop systems. It is really meant for touch screens, at least for the Metro part and pushing / pulling application windows. I was fine with having a tile for the Desktop and setting it up like a traditional Windows 7 desktop. Windows 8 makes much more sense when used with a touch panel, something businesses probably won't upgrade to for some time. Window 8 doesn't make much sense in a business environment but maybe that will change with Surface Pro. I can see a few executives having a Surface Pro to replace their laptops when traveling.

What Microsoft is doing is positioning Windows market share behind just about every Tablet and Mobile Phone OS out there and, in the process, attempting to create a massive set of security vulnerabilities which affects the desktop, tablet and mobile platforms all at the same time. Unfortunately, I think they may succeed.

 

[JohnL]

The DirecTV DirecTIVO HD, using a hardware platform that is 3 years old, with no Whole home support. TIVO has become irrelevant. RIP TIVO.

 

[navychop]

What Microsoft is doing is positioning Windows market share behind just about every Tablet and Mobile Phone OS out there and, in the process, attempting to create a massive set of security vulnerabilities which affects the desktop, tablet and mobile platforms all at the same time. Unfortunately, I think they may succeed.

Ain't it the truth. And I don't think they can see it that way.

 

[meStevo]

Ain't it the truth. And I don't think they can see it that way.

Then why is every app in a sandbox?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[John Kotches]

Logitech has introduced a trackpad that should make working with windows 8 easier.

Unfortunately they have priced it with an MSRP higher than the Apple version.

I use a magic trackpad under Parallels and it is far better than a mouse would be.

Cheers,

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 using Tapatalk 2.x

 

[whitewolf8214]

i said the exact same thing that scott did about windows 8. after talking with todd and mestevo i decided to give it a shot. i could always go back to win7 which i loved. solid OS. after using win8 for over a month now i can say i love it. boot up and shutdown times are so much quicker. without doing any hardware upgrades the PC runs better under windows 8. i haven't seen anything yet that would tell me this is another windows millennium or vista. i've had every windows OS since 3.1. so far so good. i even like the start screen,the one thing that was keeping me from making the move. i did add the start button to the desktop but find myself using the start screen more and more. i agree that most apps are useless so far imo on a regular pc. touchscreen is a different story.....

jay makes a great point on win8 being a problem for corporations. that's why we will stick with win 7 here.

Thanks for review Rey I have been debating to move up to Windows 8 but after seeing your review and many others I will be taking the plunge

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Disagree about iPhone 5. It is fast, has a large screen, much improved os , yes the dock connector switch is a pain but it is a better connector.

I like the extra screen size but love how light it is and how smooth everything is.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

But frustration: iTunes 11, can't figure out basic things. But could care less about cover flow being gone.

 

[DodgerKing]

Disagree about iPhone 5. It is fast, has a large screen, much improved os , yes the dock connector switch is a pain but it is a better connector.

I like the extra screen size but love how light it is and how smooth everything is.

I agree. It is a real noticeable improvement when you go from a 3GS to the 5.

But frustration: iTunes 11, can't figure out basic things. But could care less about cover flow being gone.

I also agree with iTunes 11. But I do disagree with you about coverflow. Coverflow is the best feature APPLE OS uses on many of their programs, and it was the single best feature in iTunes that really made the interface better than any other music software. If you look at the complaints dealing with the changes from iTunes 10 to 11, coverflow is the biggest complaint of them all.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I agree. It is a real noticeable improvement when you go from a 3GS to the 5.

I also agree with iTunes 11. But I do disagree with you about coverflow. Coverflow is the best feature APPLE OS uses on many of their programs, and it was the single best feature in iTunes that really made the interface better than any other music software. If you look at the complaints dealing with the changes from iTunes 10 to 11, coverflow is the biggest complaint of them all.

Never used cover-flow at all, and not a fan of it in landscape mode on the iPhone, so for me it was not an issue. I just struggle trying to find all of the normal features in iTunes. But I understand for those, like you, who loved cover-flow, how its absence would be annoying as hell.

 

[Neutron]

I don't understand why MS didn't allow Windows 7 to mature more. Look how well Windows XP did all those years! From an IT standpoint having a major release like Windows 8 not 3 years after Windows 7 was released is a logistical nightmare. I know companies who are still just now releasing Windows 7 into their corporate environments.

I haven't had a chance to play with it but I hope MS fixes the issues with creating Windows 8 images that was such a pain in the ass to do with Windows 7. Sysprep broke a lot of customized settings in Windows 7.

 

[navychop]

Sing it out loud, brother!