Top-10 Technology Disappointments in 2006

[romans11]

Had to vote broadband on this one. When I moved to Chicago last month, I couldn't just get DSL without a phone line (I use vonage), so I went cable. Turns out I could have saved more from ordering through some website besides the cable compnay directly as they were offering a better 6 month deal (29.99 vs 39.99). But why on God's green earth am I still expected to pay 49.99 after six months for a 6MB connection. My friends in Toyko just laugh at me as only those who live in the middle of nowhere in Japan (there are some rural places left) get speeds that slow. And I am downtown in a MAJOR US city. Much of Toyko now has 100MB throughout.
Yes DRM sux, but if it still takes hours to download a HD movie, then I won't even run into the DRM thing 'cause I won't download it in the first place.
Now I know there are children dying of AIDS in Africa, so I am a moron for complaning about my Internet speed, but dang it, if the cable company would charge me $20 less I month, I'll friggin' donate the whole thing to AIDS relief. How 'bout it Comcast? Deal or no deal.

 

[pmr]

For example 24mbps speed here relates to the download speed, upload may only be 1mbps).

The regular subscribers like me have just been upgraded from 4mbps to 8mbps! 1mbps on the other hand is now almost entry-level.

Cheers,

tpi2007

Net de 2M com 128k de upload....

cabovisão...

yeah, and drm sucks big time, but I´m waiting for the total crash of MS Zune. If gates wasn´t the richest guy on the planet, I´d laugh at his face without any reply....

 

[WGruener]

Thanks guys for your feedback. There is a lot of insight in those posts and we will keep them in mind for articles that will appear in the not-too-distant future.

As they popped up, let me comment about a few items that we did not include. AMD's product line, not just Quad FX, was a hot contender that just barely missed the top-10. AMD did a marvelous job on working with new customers, but underestimated Intel.

It is too early to call Vista a disappointment, it's not even out yet 🙂 But I am certain we will have plenty to say about it next year. The Optimus keyboard had really no impact at all, if there is a disappointment with that then it is the manufacturer who needs to step down its arrogance. But who cares?

PhysX, yes, there's a point. Disappointing a bit, but can you blame a company who is being caught between SLI physics, Crossfire physics and multicore physics? Look around and there are signs that Ageia may be obsolete once physics matures. My guess: It will be acquired or will be dissolved. Physics right now is a developing topic and we will have to keep our eyes on it.

Wolfgang

 

[nukemaster]

I have to say it was accurate...

It's a shame for sony's bad year... but they pissed me off most with there damn LCD screens....such crappy color and response..... Nice looking case tho....

As for ipod....well its sad that people think Ipod is the only MP3 player in the world....Not that they are bad devices.....

Wireless N.
Wireless sucks....I use it....as i have to...but it needs to move off the crowded 2.4ghz and stay away from the 5 area where phones are going. Cordless phones are just getting good again....lets not ruin that...Also microwaves mess it up and Blue Tooth does bad things when it's near....They need to work things out....

 

[Onus]

A few of these were a toss-up, but two stood out. Some did not affect me personnally, or did so in different ways.

1. Ipod
I'm deaf in one ear. Until someone makes a single earpiece that carries both channels and sounds reasonable (oogly Plantronics-style headsets aren't it), all the MP3 players are disappointing because to me they are useless. Modding a set of earbuds to mono and clipping one off isn't that hard, so perhaps I don't care enough.

2. IE7
Meh. I haven't tried it. I might, or maybe I'll try Firefox.

3. HDTV
I don't watch enough TV to care. Hopefully within a few years this market will mature a little.

4. Viiv and Live
A solution (at least in name) in search of a problem.

5. Draft 802.11n
I think most people have had the sense to ignore this, or are geek enough to know what they're getting. I'm inclined to think that companies dumb enough to have rolled this out anywhere it mattered are getting what they deserved.

6. Zune
See #1.

7. Broadband
Bingo! This one affects me daily, when I think of what it is costing to get a merely half-decent speed from the only cable broadband provider in my area. They can be talked down on price for a few months at a time sometimes, but there's no excuse for the poor quality and high price of broadband in the US. Don't get me started on the capacity/condition of the power distribution grid.

8. DRM
This was a close second, but only because it can be ignored and I don't lose anything. I just won't buy difficult DRM-yoked content. I'll buy the DVD or go see the movie.

9. UMPC
An expensive toy. Does anyone really need this?

10. Sony
Yeah, but the solution is too easy; don't buy Sony. The market will fix this one, and Management classes now have another ream of material for case studies and analysis. The lessons-learned may actually be useful.

 

[Fulmar]

I voted for Sony for obviously reasons.

However, 2nd place goes to broadband internet. For one, Charter is awful and has gotten worse. 3mb 2 years ago was 39.99, then 44.99. Now I have 5mb on a year discount for 49.99 (reg like 59.99 or something), but their 3mb is still the same price.

1) The only other competition Charter has in my area is AT&T Yahoo would only works for 1/2 of the city I live in, which is about 70,000. AT&T is cheaper, but access to it is horrible. So Charter can charge and increase their charges whenever they please w/o and really problems in competition.

2) Charter tech support. Last year and prior I got dumb people but they were America or Canadian. This year, I have almost perfected my Indian voice of them saying "Thank you for calling Charter Technical Support, my name is Kevin (LOL yea right) how can I help you?" If you can get past the language barrier, the lag time from calling India is annoying.

AND THEN THEY TRY AND SELL YOU MORE CRAP WHEN YOU'RE DONE WITH TECH SUPPORT

3) Instead of waiting for 20 minutes on hold for an operator, they now have an voice automated troubleshooter. Wow, please let me just talk to the Indian.

 

[dean7]

Sony all the way! Shame on you, Sony!

Second, of course, is DRM. But I kind of struck at DRM already by voting Sony 😉.

 

[BWMerlin]

I voted DRM as I believe it does nothing but hinder users enjoying something they have paid for and is holding back new technology.

For all those complaining about broadband suck it up, come live in a country that falls below what you get in the US then you have something to complain about. Broadband here in Australia has been rated just above what 3rd world countries get by some industry observers and spokes people. Many areas here in OZ cant even get basic broadband (adsl) and are still on dial up and this isn't limited to rural areas but major city black spots where broadband isn't available.

 

[slim142]

Sony, should have brought more PS3 to USA

DRM, sucks f*ck micro$oft because of that and the other companies too

Intel viiv who really uses that

Zune, c'mon microsoft you have enough money to make more advertising!

802.11n, I thought you were gonna be faster, more secure and get at greater distances T_T

HDCP, why you came so late? we should have see u around when the 6600 cards were coming out! 1080P who really knows about you when people is buying a new LCD tv? 10% of the people? c'mon!

 

[glowinggreenlemming]

DRM gets my vote. Protecting peoples' intellectual property or whatever is a good idea but DRMs seem to fail to actually stop or even hurt pirating and in general mainly cause problems for legal consumers. I think you could add microsoft and sony as subpoints under DRM and it would not be far from the truth.

 

[gm0n3y]

Sony, should have brought more PS3 to USA

Uh, they screwed over the rest of the world way more than the US.

 

[infornography42]

Sony, should have brought more PS3 to USA

Uh, they screwed over the rest of the world way more than the US.

I prefer to look at it as saved the rest of the world from being tempted to purchase another rushed and broken Sony product.

 

[gm0n3y]

Fair enough.

 

[SunnyOverHere]

This was a pretty loaded survey and article. Not much journalism and a lot of huff and puff bias and opinion. I like a good read that has reasonable and professional insight.

I'm a Tom's Hardware fan but I have to say that the format and articles are thin and DISAPPOINTING in 2006.

Sony as being #1 disappointment. As frustrated as I am with my PS3, I find it odd that a whole company as a whole would be the #1 disappointment. Not much of a survey when it looks like maybe 100 people participated.

 

[gm0n3y]

Thats a negative way of looking at it. The article was just supposed to be a light summary of the major negatives in the tech industry for the year. All of the topics in the article have been covered elsewhere on this site many times (many links were provided in the article). I wouldn't expect or even want the author to re-iterate all of the news that I read over the past year on this site. Even if I wanted to, I could have click the links. There have been quite a few less than spectacular articles on Toms the last few months, this wasn't one of them.

 

[WGruener]

SunnyOverHere,

we do appreciate every feedback, it’s the interaction between readers and us that keeps us going and makes this industry interesting. Our view can be biased and sometimes it is necessary that someone tells us that we are off base (though I do have to say, after being with Tom’s Hardware for almost 4 years, that it is the most knowledgeable staff I have worked with in my career.)

In this specific article, I mentioned in the very beginning that it is a subjective ranking. Anyone could list different entries (mentioned in the article), but I felt that it may be interesting for many, what would be chosen by someone who is dealing with IT announcements 365/24/7. And it’s not like I’ve thrown up a headline and said “Xyz is crap” – in fact, I think that the explanations were pretty extensive.

I’d challenge you to let me know what “puff bias” was in the article. I used common sense to take a second look at many products and behind what marketing departments are trying to sell you. If you were interested in the unbiased news behind those opinions (which we do not include in our news coverage by the way) you could have clicked on the links that were supplied. This article was not about providing lots of numbers, you get enough of those throughout the year in regular stories anyway.

For Sony being chosen as a #1 disappointment, please head back to page #10 and you can see why I chose Sony as a whole. I could have mentioned a lot more about why Sony was a big disappointment, but I left it that the company had a really bad year and, I’m sure they now about it all too well. I can’t judge Sony on the inside, but on the outside, the company is failing terribly right now.

Take Stringer’s marriage statement: Yes, there are misunderstandings and I do have those with my wife as well. But at least we both talk English. Sony does not (for examples click into the headlines in the article.)

The survey is not scientific, of course. But I personally find it more interesting to not only encourage you to provide feedback to the article, but also see an overview what the majority of the posters thinks.

Wolfgang

 

[torque79]

thank you for that post. I think a lot of people on the forums lose perspective of what website they are visiting. this is not CNN.com, this is a technology website written for informational AND entertainment value. If I wanted just factual reporting of tech specs, what do I need this website for? I'll just attend Sony.com, maxtor.com, intel.com, etc. I enjoy reading the opinions of a tech editor, who gets to play with a lot more hardware and gadgets than I'll ever see. They give me ideas and good suggestions, and even sometimes help change my opinion. I appreciate that you can write your own biased (or not) opinion, and spark good debate and discussion on the forums. I think you're doing your job!

Actually, I am surprised any of the negative posters even spoke up here, after so many posts agreeing with the editor on just about every element of the article. Look at the poll, just about everything has some votes in it, so obviously they were some good choices that we agreed with!

 

[crazypyro]

i had to vote Broadband internet in America. Our speeds or utter garabage compared to the rest of the world even Canada. We pay upwards of $80 for an 8mb downrate with only 1-1.5mb upstream, rest of the world gets 2x-5x that speed for half the cost, its ridiculous.

and the people that vote Zune, remember this i am no stretch a fan of the zune like all Microsoft products overhyped, and overrated. But like all Microsoft products they took the "Build First, Fix Later" approach, they didn't care how well it worked, as long as it worked and they created an install base for which they can unload they're updates, and other ways to infect your life. Look at the Xbox 1 and the 360, loads of problems but the consoles worked, they were able to improve them later, Zune will be no different.

Inclusion i agree with 80% of tgd's top 10, kudos.

 

[WGruener]

Even the most experienced editors and industry analysts are human and I doubt anyone could compile such a list without sparking controversy. I do not mind negative feedback; what I do mind is pointless insulting feedback, which, however, you can't really avoid. In this case, it appears that at least one reader (out of more than 80,000 on this article, by the way) was really, really (I mean, really!) hurt that Sony came in at #1.

We will have a series of top-10 articles until the end end of the year, some with a more positive touch (rather than "disappointments") and some what one could really consider more "fluff" articles (I think geek.com called it that way) that have more entertainment value, but hopefully will motivate people think about certain issues that are just out of balance in the IT industry.

Look for these articles every Monday and Friday. Don't take them personal, just consider them as a judgement from a few people who are dealing with these topics around the clock.

Thanks to all of you. This post has tremendous feedback value for us.

Wolfgang

 

[gm0n3y]

Its hard to imagine that anybody would take issue with Sony being named as the #1 disappointment this year. That is pretty much the most obvious choice.

 

[infornography42]

So when can we expect to see a big expose writeup on DRM technologies?

Its obviously a hot button issue with this crowd so it is practically begging for an article on it.

 

[WGruener]

yes, that was one of the most important feedbacks of this post, I agree. We will be looking at a couple different angles and will be working on it.

 

[enewmen]

I think broadband includes high-speed 3G-4G cell phone service. Korea, Japan, China, etc. has such a high percent of people on broadband because many simply connect their cell phones to the PC. It's cheap (cheap as in $20 a month unlimited) and no silly 2-year contract. I lived an Asia a few times, I see people do this. Even the rice-village in Thailand had easy access to GSM/GPRS (really). When I go back to the States, people have no idea what I'm talking about. If UMPCs want a jump-start, start with wireless broadband in the U.S. ! Then maybe there will be something for the UMPCs to connect to when on the road.

 

[jimbobhickville]

I think an often overlooked disappointment is the DVD format. They increasingly are making them more and more annoying. It seems standard practice now to disable the back, forward, and menu buttons during the FBI warnings, and in many cases, that lame "downloading is illegal" ad. I've even seen many DVDs that don't let you skip the movie trailers they tack on the beginning of the DVD (or that require you to use Fast Forward instead of Track Forward to skip them). It's becoming ridiculous. When I stick the movie in, the movie should start playing immediately. If I want to change something, I should be able to hit the menu button to get to the menu, but it shouldn't be the default. And the FBI/anti-piracy stuff should be printed on the packaging, not on the DVD itself (same goes for the "The commentary track does not represent the opinion of Fox, or any other company, so don't sue us, please" crap). I'm about to the point that I'm going to quit buying DVDs and just pirate them, for nothing else but to eliminate the hassle. Remember when DVDs were promoted because they were easier to use than VHS? Yeah, not any more.

I guess that could be lumped in with the DRM, but I don't have experience with DRM'ed stuff because I refuse to buy anything with DRM of any kind. It's about time that we, as consumers, quit putting up with this kind of nonsense.

 

[c4onastick]

What about Vista?

I whole heartedly agree. Vista has to be in the top ten disappointments of '06. (Although its not released yet, RC's were awful). The "rolodex alt-tab" thing? So similar to what OS X has had for over a year now. Dock-able apps? Again OS X and Fluxbox. Transparent windows? How about again, OS X or any Linux window manager.

I will secede that DX10 is/will be awesome. Its BS that microsoft will only ship it with Vista. I'll bet that the performance benefits of DX10 will come crashing down with all that "fluf" that microsoft has running in the background. If I wanted a flashy desktop I wouldn't spend hours running through setup menus and registry keys turning all that crap off.