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More on software
By Wolfie | January 24, 2008
Since buying the iMac, I’ve been using a lot of different software packages to get various things done - lots of different newsreaders, office applicatons, image manipulators, browsers and so on - and so far have not had to buy a single piece of software; the concepts of open source, donationware and freeware are ones that I can whole heartedly get behind.
Most of the software that I’ve used has been excellent; designed to do a particular task, which it does well. If I’ve later replaced it with something else, that’s usually more down to the aesthetics than the functionality. As an example, I used Shrook as my newsreader of choice for many months but have recently changed to NetNewsWire - not because there’s anything wrong with Shrook, just because I prefer the layout of NetNewsWire.
I’ve also switched from using Microsoft Office on my old Windows laptop, to OpenOffice and now to NeoOffice; all do roughly the same job, with certain variations (no Outlook equivalent in Open or NeoOffice) but why pay hundreds for the Microsoft product when the others are available free? There isn’t anything that I used to do in Office that I can’t do in NeoOffice.
The one common thread that I’ve found in all of this software is useability. Its been easy to install, easy to configure (if required) and easy to use. This even though a lot of it has been “hobby” type software, developed by one guy in his bedroom, just to fill a software hole that he had at the time.
But over the last two or three weeks, I’ve been seeing the other side of open source software. I’ve been looking at software that is used on a mass scale, which you’d think would mean more developers, more of a professional attitude behind it and even greater usability for the end consumer. But you’d be wrong; if anything it’s the exact opposite.
Take the struggle I’ve been having with shopping cart software. All of the packages that we’ve looked at within the office are open source and available for install through Fantastico. Fantastico is a great little routine, because it lets even the complete novice install something like Wordpress or phpBB in about three clicks of a mouse. Where it falls down is that the ease of install is not matched by the ease of use of what you’ve installed.
Take OSCommerce, for example: after you’ve installed it and you point your web browser to where the admin section should be, you get a message telling you that you need to make a change to your .htaccess or php.ini files to turn on register_globals. Are you going to know how to do that (or why you need to)? Are you also going to know that by doing so you’re opening up a big security hole on your web server? You shouldn’t need to be hacking around in .htaccess files just to get the thing to run.
But even if you successfully install the software, the user experience is not necessarily any better. As I said in my earlier post on this subject, the backend for Zen Cart is just horrible. The functionality is all over the place - so far I’ve found at least two places each for credit card settings and postage settings: why aren’t they all in the same place? - and while you can do a lot of things from the admin panel you can’t do everything. So you have to start hacking around.
And this is what I don’t like; you shouldn’t have to go hacking around in a piece of software just to change the title text for a box, or to make it green instead of blue. And if you want to add a postage method, you shouldn’t have to create copies of files, edit them to change references and upload them through FTP. Alright, it’s not difficult if you know what you’re doing - but that’s the point; do you? Just because I haven’t paid for this piece of software, why does it have to be difficult to use?
At this point, you’re wondering why if it’s so bad I don’t just go and buy Actinic or one of those other commercially available packages and quit complaining. True, you do get a better user experience, but you also get a hefty cost involved. I see Zen Cart and it’s competitor products as entry-level systems; the solution for someone just starting out that doesn’t have the £800 - £1,000 to spend on Actinic because their business isn’t turning over anything yet - but it’s never going to if they can’t get the software to work.
I’m singling out Zen Cart here but that’s only because it’s the software I’ve been using most recently; I’ve spent a lot of time reading support forums for Zen, Wordpress, phpBB and lots of others and the over-riding message seems to be that the simple stuff is too difficult. And it shouldn’t be; this is software that is aimed at a mass market. This isn’t alpha- or beta-version stuff; the Linux-type hacking to get it running should have been developed out by now.
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I’ve re-written this post about three times and I’m still not sure I’ve really got my point - and my reasons - across very well. Maybe it’s just that after using so much good open source software on a personal basis, I’m just disappointed to see that the commercial stuff doesn’t live up to the same standard. I don’t mind hacking around when I’m just doing it for my own interest, but at work I’ve got time constraints: I need to get this done, I need it to work without all the faffing about.
Categories: Technology |
Tags: Problems, Software
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:: Aaron Wakling had this to say:
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Aaron Wakling
9:45 pm :: January 24th, 2008:: Wolfie had this to say:
@Aaron Wakling:
10:18 pm :: January 24th, 2008Thanks Aaron; good to know you like what you found at The New Wolfs Howl