Favorite Software Developers/Least Favorites?

[Scott Baret]

Just thought I'd take a survey here to see what everyone likes...

My top 3 favorites:

1. Broderbund: Print Shop, Kid Pix, Banner Mania, Mac Globe, Carmen Sandiego, Shufflepuck Cafe, the Cyan titles (Spelunx, Myst)...the list goes on. Probably my favorite company of all time for software.

2. Claris: MacWrite II/Pro, MacDraw II, ClarisWorks, Resolve, and FileMaker II were excellent.

3. Interplay: can you say Battle Chess? Mario Teaches Typing is pretty sweet too.

My bottom 3:

1. Sierra: I don't recall them ever developing a good game for Mac...the one I recall the best was one from elementary school called Mixed Up Mother Goose...I used to hate when we had to play this in computer class because I could never figure it out and the teacher wouldn't give me the manual to study...

2. Real Networks: I've never liked Real Player software and I think a lot of you can share the same feelings about this.

3. Software Toolworks: their stuff just always seemed second rate to me.

I'm neutral on Microsoft. While there are some products of theirs that I don't really like (Office 2007, Vista, Word 6 for Mac, WorksSuite 99, Access) there are also a lot that I like (Excel, Word 98 for Mac, FrontPage, Microsoft Learning DOS, DOS 5/6, Works 2.0 for Windows, Windows Entertainment Packs). Some of their stuff I'm completely neutral on (IE, Works for Mac, Windows 95, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 3.1). I know a lot of folks will probably say it's in their bottom three, but you have to look at all the positives they've come out with. Remember--Microsoft brought you Vista, Apple brought you System 6.0.6.

 

[II2II]

Top 3:

Apple, for creating HyperCard and Clarisworks. It is also easy to respect a company that ships products like Graphing Calculator and Grapher with their operating system. Hey, playing with a cool calculator a heck of a lot deeper than playing solitaire.

Microsoft, let's face it: Microsoft's business model allowed the personal computer industry to flourish in an era when companies like Apple, Atari, and Commodore were selfishly trying to control the platform. They also made some pretty decent products (Word 5.x for the Mac and Windows NT/2k/XP among them).

FLOSS, for creating a universal banner that many bickering Unix vendors were unified under. This allowed Unix to continue on as the only major competing user interface metaphor to the WIMP model adopted by Apple and Microsoft. They also provided a social model where hobbiests could continue to be movers and shakers in the computer industry.

Bottom 3:

Apple, for being the roller-coaster of the computer industry. Their major products have used four CPU architectures and five operating systems. They, like Commodore, also managed to blow an (approximately) decade long lead due to horrid project mis-management.

Microsoft, for producing some of the least imaginative, most bloated, and dangerously buggy software from a major software development house. Just compare many Microsoft products to their contemporaries to see what I mean. Their business tactics were also savage, resulting in the premature death of many interesting competing products.

FLOSS, for believing that that the seat of power was within their reach and all but abandoning the Unix philosophy to try and achieve that crowning glory. Also for diminishing the status of major Unix vendors -- which will end up weakening Unix's role on servers and super-computers in the long term.

 

[iMac600]

Top 3:

Adobe, for rolling out the Photoshop and professional media development lines used so commonly today. Their vision saw us meet the image editor and take it about 5 steps further.

Connectix, for somehow making a PC emulator for the Mac that ran at a decent speed, was fully capable of just about everything the PC could support and just seemed to get better and better every time, they coded it well and never let themselves or the users down with a release.

FLOSS, to an extent. The influence this has had changed the industry forever, and in turn delivered some great examples of products from operating systems (BSD), to office suites and even games. However this community at times is known to get a little big headed, just look at the massive number of users who believe Linux is a good first timers/beginners operating system, when clearly it isn't at that stage yet. That aside though, the majority aren't like that.

Bottom 3:

Apple. They are, in my book, fairly poor when it comes not only to their mis-management of architectures which has seen a rollercoaster ride across the entire span of the Macintosh, but also placing eye candy over design and requirements (eg. iPhoto 6, Leopard). Finally, their stance on cutoff points in frustrating, a good example being Leopard, there is absolutely no reason it shouldn't run on Dual 800s or even just all G4's outright, it's planned obsolescence and I hate it. Period.

I'm not sure of the other two. They will come to me eventually though.

 

[paws]

I absolutely hate Native Instruments and Adobe. Hateful money-grabbing hacks.

As is well known, I'm not horribly impressed with recent Apple software either.

 

[Christopher]

Apple, making software idiot proof since 1984

Seriously... Apple, because its only company that makes its software and hardware.

Sony, because their big a** CRT's are awesome.

Epson, because their printer's work forever and their ink is cheap.

Firewire, because USB sucks.

Pioneer, because their equipment blows stuff off of my shelves.

 

[wood_e]

Top 3

Adobe - many advancements over the past few years

Sourceforge!!! Excellent source for free stuff that works great

Apple (pre 1999) - Most software from apple was nice during this period

Bottom 3

Microsoft - Vista is a travesty of an OS PERIOD. It is a nightmare to customize and tailor to the needs of my clients. Microsoft works (in the past) ironically doesn't work with office. Office 08 for mac has weird and stupid incompatibilities with Windows exchange servers... ugh... theer's plenty more...

Apple - Lets face it - OSX is a memory hog and OSX would be SIGNIFICANTLY faster without all the polished, candy buttons & useless effects. Give me a skin with normal 2D buttons and I would be grateful. The intel switch - making your platform obsolete is a great marketing job, but screws people who bought oh lets say... G5s for 4+ grand (not me). Cyberdog, opendoc.... need I say more?

AOL - Give me a friggin' break. AOL has always been a turd and it continues to do so. If it wasn't for the computer illiterate this company would cease to exist.

 

[luddite]

Beagle Brothers were pretty cool!

I mostly like Adobe's software, though they're quite expensive.

Apple software is generally pretty well designed and I'm mostly in favour of their "idiot-proofing" (I think most complaints about that come from users who are really too advanced to be using iWhatever in the first place).

My least favourite developers are amateur OS X java programmers who manage to make their windows too small so you can't access the quit button and then you have to force quit because they didn't include a quit in the application menu and then when you do manage to quit the program (that never actually did anything in the first place) you suffer random crashes that get worse and worse until you have to reinstall the system.

 

[Christopher]

i need to add my least favorite....

Epson software, because it has this OS 9/X UI and is very slow.

Quicktime MP2, Airport 802.11n. useless pay little money for something so tiny that should be included with the mac/quicktime software.

Microsoft, yes they do make a few good things, but ever since ballamer came along they to be going down a bit more.

 

[Charlieman]

Anyone who provides their apps as preinstalled demo craplets on a consumer PC must go into the least favourite category. In particular the developers of PaintShop Pro who destroyed a mid-range image editor by adding bloat.

Anything from Symantec is contemptible. Fortunately, it took the a while to kill off the Think C and Pascal developer tools.

Anything from Computer Associates -- "where good software goes to die". They killed off CricketDraw and CricketPaint. In the server world, they destroyed ArcServe (tape backup).

I like that bloke who makes Graphic Converter, because the app does exactly what is required and does not try to do too much.

I like Adobe apps a bit. PhotoShop Elements is almost right for families wishing to twek their holiday snaps. I use it at work, but I always use something else at home.

Google Earth is brilliant most of the time. The pictures of Leicester were dreadful until recently, however, so I am glad that Microsoft provides an alternative.

 

[Charlieman]

Microsoft, yes they do make a few good things, but ever since ballamer came along they to be going down a bit more.

The second clause is just so, so true. According to Wikipedia (correctly on this occasion), "Steve Ballmer joined Microsoft on June 11, 1980". And Microsoft have been going down so much since that date ;-)

--- Company History ---

Ballmer was taken on by MicroSoft for his marketing wisdom. Following his appointment, MicroSoft cancelled the project (code name MS-DOS) to create an operating system for the IBM 5150 PC, conserving programming resources for the more promising Commodore 64 platform. On the day that IBM executives visited MicroSoft at their headquarters, Gates and Ballmer were attending an informal drag race in their Porsches. Consequently, Digital Research won the contract for the IBM PC operating system, and CP/M-86 became the standard PC operating system between 1981 and 1995.

The launch of the MacIntosh platform in 1986, provided an opportunity for MicroSoft to rejoin the race as application developers. When personally offered pre-production MacIntosh computers by Steve Jobs, Ballmer declined, saying "If you can't deliver the graphics on a NorthStar Horizon, they ain't worth doing". He emphasised the point by eating a chair. MicroSoft's Word (word processor) and Excel (spreadsheet) applications were minor hits for the Sinclair QL.

Under Ballmer's guidance, MicroSoft resisted radical change. A skunk programme (code name Windows) to create a graphical user interface running on top of CP/M-86 was cancelled, and MicroSoft declined the opportunity to participate in IBM's OS/2 project. However, MicroSoft maintained their dominance in delivering Basic language environments for computers such as the Bulgarian Pravetz-82 Apple II clone.

OS/2 was conceived as a next generation operating system, that could use new hardware features whilst maintaining a degree of compatibility with popular standard CP/M-86 applications such as Lotus 1-2-3. Early implementations of OS/2 were clumsy and the alternative DR-GEM operating system became the standard. Today, Digital Research dominate the market for PC operating systems and for DR-GEM productivity applications.

For many years, MicroSoft survived on sales of the legacy Trafficator productor. The company is now under Chapter 11 protection whilst auditors try to sell their promising BeOS operating system for PCs.

--- Paul Allen and MicroSoft ---

Paul Allen, a founder of MicroSoft is sueing Ballmer for mismanagement of the company. From a six foot dinghy in Seattle harbour, Allen is reported to have said "What the **** has this ******* ****** done with all of my ******* ******* money. *** hole. Where the **** is the yacht that I was promised?"

Edited: GEM for Windows wrt Digital Research.

 

[luddite]

Apple - Lets face it - OSX is a memory hog and OSX would be SIGNIFICANTLY faster without all the polished, candy buttons & useless effects. Give me a skin with normal 2D buttons and I would be grateful.

Personally I'd be happy if the essential functionality of OS X could be dished up with a 1-bit GUI a la System 6, but I honestly don't think Apple's market share would be all that great if they chose that path.

 

[Kallikak]

Top 4: Apple, Adobe, THINK and Metrowerks

Bottom 3: Microsoft, Corel and Symantec

 

[tmtomh]

Best:

- Apple

- Panic (Transmit rocks, Audion was the best OS 9 mp3 player out there IMHO, and in general they're really nice and talented people)

- Hamrick (Vuescan is a killer app, exp. for OS X, and is updated about every five minutes [] ]'> )

Worst:

- Quark (can't believe no one else has named them yet)

- Symantec (terrible products, huge fear-mongers in lame attempts to sell their crappy software to OS X customers)

- Intuit (Drops much of their Mac support while their CEO is on the Apple Board - Niiiiiice... [xx(] ]'> )

Best,

Matt

 

[Temetka]

Top 3:

Barebones Software - They make bbedit

Apple - Thanks of OS X. Windows what?

Ambrosia - EV Nova stole my life.

Bottom 3:

Lucas Arts - Where's the darned PPC version of Star Wars Galaxies?

Apple - What with the more reboots and Windows like way of installing updates?

Real - Their software always and without fail borked my PC's and 1 or 2 of my Macs. Will not touch with 10ft pole.

 

[Scott Baret]

I would have to say my least favorite piece of Apple software is Software Update.

 

[Christopher]

I hate software update, the icon is a Jack Russell fucking Tailor.

 

[Temetka]

You seen that video too?

 

[iMac600]

I thought it was a Jack Russell f***ing Terrier...

 

[LCGuy]

Best 3: Broderbund, Ambrosia (their older games are as addictive as all Hell!), Casady&Greene (RIP :'( Btw I can't believe nobody's mentioned them yet!))

Worst 3: Symantec (the Sony of PC maintenance software developers), Real ('nuff said), Epson (great printers, but Mac support sucks)