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| Re: This one applies for all comments about software by Commander Tansin A. Darcos 10/16/2015, 8:19pm PDT | ||||
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Fullofkittens wrote:One of the things said about commercial software (as in proprietary) is how much of it becomes bloated, feature-laden crapware because the publisher has a laundry list of things marketing says they "need" to improve to keep competitors from taking customers with their release. So they put all these new features that most people don't use, then their competitor notices and has to match the checklist feature for feature to "stay competitive" and so feature count and bloat goes up, and you get a feature-list arms race. Any wonder why a typical video game today has the play time of, say, a TV series (40 hours) and has a budget of upwards of ten million US dollars, and thus costs about $60 a copy? Look at the typical open source app such as the drawing program Inkscape or Open Office/Libre Office, nobody makes suggestions lf features for "gee whiz, wouldn't it be nice if we could do _ same as product X does," if they propose something its because they can use the feature and the devs see that the need for that feature has a consensus that others would use it. You get "necessary functionality" when those who need and will use a function want it and the number needing it is a reasonable portion of the client base. You get "bloaated crapware" when people push for functions not because they are significant and neessary, but because it's thought they'd be a good idea, regardless of actual need by real users. On the other hand, what is or isn't necessary can be a matter of opinion. I think it's said your average app only has about 20% of its functionality used by 100% of its users, and everything else has declining usage functuality. But what is critical and what isn't may depend on how you use an app and what you use it for. A game with a macro recorder might be of very little use in one game and critical in another. (it's used with a version of Portal to add a new element to the game: in addiyion to portals you have time synchronization and replay). Some might consider "save everywhere" to be critical to win a game by some and "save scumming" or almost cheating by others. One man's feature can be another man's bug, and for others the game isn't even playable without it. |
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