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[ Page 17 of 76 ]
From: Aaron Crane Date: 12:43 on 08 May 2007 Subject: It's a _modifier_ key, dammit Sometimes the small hates are the most consuming ones. My desktop uses Gnome. I mostly like it; it's certainly not hate-free, but it's not the topic of today's rant. OpenOffice.org.o.OoOO.Oooo runs on my Gnome desktop. I don't really like OpenOffice, but some idiot has sent me a picture as, of all things, a PowerPoint presentation, and I need to be able to look at the benighted thing. So. Now I can Alt+Tab between the thing I'm actually working on, and the stupid picture stuffed into the stupid PowerPoint document. Check something in OO. Switch back to code. Check something in OO. Switch back to code. Check something in OO. Swit-- no, wait, what was that in the PowerPoint document again? Oh, but now what's happened is that I hit the Alt key, then released it without doing anything else. Whoops, bad mistake. Because, unlike every other application I ever use, OO feels the need to make that mean "activate menu bar". Please note that there are already _two_ fucking keyboard shortcuts for activating the menu bar (F6 and F10), not to mention that Alt+F has exactly the same behaviour as F10 then F. But two shortcuts are apparently not enough: OO also has to make one of my precious, precious modifier keys behave in a completely stupid and counter-intuitive manner. Now, I know why OO does this: it's to emulate the broken behaviour of Windows. But, here's the thing: if I wanted my system to behave like Windows, don't you think I'd be using Windows? And on the contrary, if every other menu bar I ever use doesn't make me want to STAB PEOPLE IN THE FACE, don't you think that fitting in with that would be a good plan? Nnngggghhhh.
From: Zach White
Date: 04:08 on 05 May 2007
Subject: How do I hate CPAN, let me count the ways...
So I'm installing RT because we need some sort of ticketing system at work.
I build a box, install everything I can from packages and check to see what
has to get installed by hand. Only 4 perl modules missing, not too shabby.
So I run "make fixdeps" which supposedly uses CPAN to install what's
missing. Mistake number 1.
Install module Date::Format
You didn't configure CPAN shell yet.
Please run `/usr/bin/perl -MCPAN -e shell` tool and configure it.
*** Error code 1
I guess including a set of sensible defaults for CPAN is out of the
question.
Ok, so I run that, it asks if I'm ready for manual configuration. Knowing
I'll just end up hitting enter a bunch I decide to let it pick defaults
which should be sensible. Mistake number 2.
CPAN: Storable loaded ok
CPAN: LWP::UserAgent loaded ok
Fetching with LWP:
ftp://ftp.perl.org/pub/CPAN/authors/01mailrc.txt.gz
LWP failed with code[400] message[FTP return code 150]
Fetching with Net::FTP:
ftp://ftp.perl.org/pub/CPAN/authors/01mailrc.txt.gz
Couldn't fetch 01mailrc.txt.gz from ftp.perl.org
No matter what it does CPAN can't seem to fetch that URL. I can fetch that
URL with curl. I can fetch it with FTP. I can fetch it with lynx. Why can't
perl fetch it? Even with lynx -dump?
So, maybe I shouldn't have gone with the defaults. I find a friend who
actually uses the collection of bugs known as perl and ask him how I
redo the cpan config.
A bunch of enter pressing later followed by picking a couple sites and I've
configured it.
Is it really so hard to include a sane set of defaults with CPAN? Why must
I go through these acrobatics? In 2007 do we really need to make each and
every person who uses perl set paths to programs that are standard and
located in the path? Is it part of some conspiracy to wear out my enter
key? How many questions can a(n) (in)sane person put in one paragraph?
-Zach (Who was mostly sane before starting on this nonsense today)
From: Yossi Kreinin Date: 14:28 on 29 Apr 2007 Subject: If you hate spam and you hate software, you're really going to hate this. Check this out: spam with software-weenie-like subject lines! "You can create a window with the open method." Reeeeeally? I thought I could create file descriptors with it. Check the man pages, motherfucker! "This function can be used to pan and scroll around logical screens that are larger than the displayed screen." People. This guy is the electronic Unabomber. Prolonged exposure to such bullshit has to result in some form of lethal brain damage. This spammer should be prosecuted for murder. The message bodies are apparently in German. Is GUI programming an increasingly popular activity in that country?
From: Simon Wistow Date: 08:43 on 29 Apr 2007 Subject: uTorrent I was recommended uTorrent last year and have been using it since. I was generally pleased with it - my two issues being that when it was on then I couldn't open new sockets - no new SSH connections, no reading web pages, no starting up the daemon that's part of my current project. I accepted this. I presumed it was because, somehow, it used up MAX_SOCKETS or whatever. Either way there seemed to be nothing in the FAQs about it so either it was unreproducible (whihc seemed unlikely) or it just was. But it was fine. I'd just run it at night. However, what was more annoying was the fact that someitmes it would run for hours. I could leave it running Friday night, get back Sunday evening and it would still be running. Other times however, and this was far more frequent than running for hours, suddenly all download pseed would drop to zero. And stay that way. Restarting it usually helped but often it would get itno a spiral. The 'uptime' would get less and less and less until it was unusable and I'd tend to reboot my machine and also cycle the router because, well, voodoo sometimes works. Again, nothing in the FAQ. I guessed it was a Windows issue - maybe resource starvation or something. Sockets not being freed. Annoying but plausible. Then someone reccomended Azeureus to me. They'd never heard of these problems they said. So I gave it a try. Oh my! First off - I can surf the web and open new connections when it's on. Hurrah! Ok, so someitmes it can be a bit laggy but I dpn't mind because ... It seems to be about twice as fast. I don't know if that's me ascribing all kinds of wonderful to it but I swear it seems to be getting the same torrents I was downloading with uTorrent at double the download rate. Which is good because I need that, err, iso of Debian right now. *cough* And it hasn't stopped downloading at all. Rarrrr! So, in summary uTorrent == the suck Azeureus == t3h w1N!!!!1111
From: Jeremy Stephens Date: 18:02 on 27 Apr 2007 Subject: Not a hate, but funny I figured y'all might appreciate this. Below is a copy of the software license distributed with Syck, a YAML parsing library (http://whytheluckystiff.net/syck). --- This software is subject to either of two licenses (BSD or D&R), which you can choose from in your use of the code. The terms for each of these licenses is listed below: BSD License =========== [... BSD license details ...] D&R (Death and Repudiation) License =================================== This software may not be used directly by any living being. ANY use of this software (even perfectly legitimate and non-commercial uses) until after death is explicitly restricted. Any living being using (or attempting to use) this software will be punished to the fullest extent of the law. For your protection, corpses will not be punished. We respectfully request that you submit your uses (revisions, uses, distributions, uses, etc.) to your children, who may vicariously perform these uses on your behalf. If you use this software and you are found to be not dead, you will be punished to the fullest extent of the law. If you are found to be a ghost or angel, you will be punished to the fullest extent of the law. After your following the terms of this license, the author has vowed to repudiate your claim, meaning that the validity of this contract will no longer be recognized. This license will be unexpectedly revoked (at a time which is designated to be most inconvenient) and involved heirs will be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Furthermore, if any parties (related or non-related) escape the punishments outlined herein, they will be severely punished to the fullest extent of a new revised law that (1) expands the statement "fullest extent of the law" to encompass an infinite duration of infinite punishments and (2) exacts said punishments upon all parties (related or non-related).
From: Roger Burton West Date: 11:18 on 26 Apr 2007 Subject: Dear Google, It's so very thoughtful of you to link to files on our web site which are explicitly excluded from your spidering, on the basis that some other file somewhere else links to them and has a title that might possibly be relevant. That's why I'm now banning you from the entire site rather than just the bits we didn't want you to link to. Oh, and by the way, stop spamming that technical contact address (which only you have ever been given) with "how to increase your traffic"; we aren't advertising-driven like you, and our traffic increases quite nicely without your help. You've already done your best to kill USENET. Oddly enough some people don't see this as a point in your favour.
From: Ann Barcomb Date: 09:48 on 24 Apr 2007 Subject: https://dlenote.ed.gov deserves my contempt Following my policy of naming and attempting to shame educational websites which are required yet suck (previously I complained about applyyourself: http://ann.hates-software.com/2006/10/01/e37116e6.html), I would like to express my utter contempt for https://dlenote.ed.gov, a website which allows students to sign a Master Promissory Note which in turn enables you to accept a loan. This is a government website, and as such, I feel that they should be bound to adhere to standards of accessibility instead of targeting their site at specific browsers. I'm used to just ignoring these so-called 'requirements'. In this case, you are entitled to a choice of two operating systems: Windows and Mac. You're allowed two browsers: IE 5.x and Navigator 4.x. You must also have Acrobat Reader 4.0 or 5.0. Well, I'm not going to install Navigator (does anyone use it?), and I'm sure as hell not going to install IE, nor will I install Acrobat Reader. No worries, right? I can view the site, if I disable the popup blocker and enable plugins. Sure I can. But what's this in step 2? To proceed further, I must click on a checkbox which says "I agree to use an electronic MPN and have the required hardware and software. (Your response will be record and made part of your completed MPN.)" The MPN is a legal document. So I can't agree to this condition because it isn't true. Luckily, there's an alternative--it's called the paper form. Welcome to the modern era, where technology is enabling us and stupid management decisions are disabling us.
From: Andrew Black - lists Date: 12:16 on 22 Apr 2007 Subject: ZIP Code: Please enter a valid ZIP Code. Ahhh - please can you merkins learn that you are not the only country in the world...
From: peter (Peter da Silva) Date: 17:05 on 21 Apr 2007 Subject: Mail programs that don't tell you where links are going. Even Apple ****-ing mail does this. If someone puts a link in an HTML mail message, the only way to see where the link is going before you get there is to copy the link and paste it somewhere, or view source. Making the link show up in hovertext or in a status line would reduce the ability of phishers to fool people by about thirty Raffles Units (the standard unit for measuring the effectiveness of a con job), and it's something that I've just assumed Apple, Microsoft, and everyone else would figure out any day now. But no, this must be one of those things that's obviously not obvious.
From: David Cantrell Date: 16:48 on 20 Apr 2007 Subject: Sourceforge: an apology (and Mailman: some hate) I have ranted several times about Sourceforget's customised mailman allowing non-subscribers to post to mailing lists despite being configured not to. Cos I was *sure* I'd turned that option on. Oops, it was turned off. I hate it when I'm the PEBCAK. Mailman is still hateful though. The user interface is that to turn a feature on or off you need to clicky on a button-ish thing, and then scroll the page and clicky on another button. That's bad. While it might be OK in some situations (like, say, when you're deleting a customer from a database) it's not acceptable in this case. What I had done, obviously, was do the first clicky and thought "right, I've turned that on" then hit a link to switch to another page of options, promptly throwing my changes away. FWIW, in my own interwebnet applications, I don't use radio buttons, I have links which the user clicks to immediately submit their choice to the server. For forms with text fields, I also keep the number of options per page low so that a reasonable user won't have to scroll to find the submit button. It'll be right in front of him so it's more immediately obvious that he has to hit it.
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Generated at 10:28 on 16 Apr 2008 by mariachi