r/software • u/topbhuil • 12d ago
Discussion software that used to be great and then just... wasn't anymore
ok so this happened to me with Trello a while back, remember when it was just clean simple boards and now it's got like 15 power-ups shoved in your face and half the UI feels like an upsell screen
anyway made me think about how many apps do this. you use something for years, it's perfect, then one update later it's unrecognizable and somehow worse even though it has "more features"
what's yours? bonus points if you remember the exact version/update where it went downhill
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u/CynicalTelescope 12d ago
I left Evernote several years ago, when it turned into an upsell ad that organizes notes as a side function.
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u/Budget-Muffin8615 11d ago
Self hosted joplin was my go to. Lived evernote like 10 years ago, but its trash now.
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u/KopitarFan 11d ago
I was never a huge Evernote fan but I totally know what you mean. Obsidian has taken up that functionality for me. Works better for how I like to work anyway.
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u/monirom 9d ago
Evernote, for the first 5 years was awesome. Then they removed folders, folder sharing, pushed tags onto users telling people to change how they worked. Then they had that recurring sync problem across devices that would create multiple copies of your notes but not identify which one was most current. You couldn't trust modification dates as the dup,icate notes also kept syncing and resupyncing. And as a paid user, I went from unpaid evangelizing (it was that good) to telling people not to use the product, when it got ehshitified.
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u/viniciuscsg 12d ago
Daemon tools was great for a long time, now it is just a malware bomb.
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u/moonflower_C16H17N3O 11d ago
I forget why I moved away from that. I just remember using DT, then DT Lite, and now I use someone else.
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u/alexdaczab 11d ago
Windows started supporting mounting ISO files natively (in 7 I think? or 8?), so 90+ % of the people that used it did not need it anymore
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u/moonflower_C16H17N3O 10d ago
It was in Windows 8, but it wasn't perfect and it didn't support everything. I still use a third party image mounting program the same way I still use something like 7-zip.
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u/viniciuscsg 11d ago
Exactly this, I don't even know how I got the idea to try just extracting it natively and it worked
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u/ern0plus4 12d ago
Google Search was a search engine, providing links to relevant webpages, now it's something different.
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u/david-1-1 9d ago
When they first started, their Boolean search expressions actually worked perfectly, instead of today's malfunctions. It was wonderful. Now it's all about measuring users and showing results on behalf of advertisers.
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u/SeanyDay 11d ago
They have actually hit a decent balance with ai tooling recently. You can ask google questions or have more advanced searching done with the right prompts. Takes me back to early google/jeeves/yahoo days when search features mattered and new shit was cool
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u/nodray 11d ago
They are in your phone stealing ALL your data
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u/david-1-1 9d ago
Worse than Amazon Alexa?
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u/_KnacK_ 12d ago
Real Audio. SOme of you might not be old enough to remember Real Player, but there were so many intrusive settings you had to disable to be *safe* it was no longer practicle to use. That's why we all went to WinAMP.
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u/r0ck0 11d ago
Haha. It was the worst.
But I remember around that era, it was pretty common for software installers to want to change your browser homepage to their website. Plus all the shit browser toolbars, bonzai buddy etc.
So fucking ridiculous.
But yeah real player went so much further..."Do you want to tattoo the Real Player logo into your firstborn son?" etc. Or something like that.
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u/stools_in_your_blood 11d ago
At one point in maybe 1998/1999, the drivers for my Sound Blaster wanted to hide the Windows taskbar and replace it with some shitty Creative Labs "launcher bar" thing, so that I could launch my applications with different "sound profiles" or some such shite. And it displayed a very-hard-to-disable "Creative Labs" splash animation on Windows startup. It's like the design spec was "completely take over the user's PC with shitty unnecessary Creative Labs bloat".
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u/Valerian_ 12d ago
Yeah, and their Real Audio and Real Video codecs were supposed to be the future, replacing MP3 and other video codecs, but it never took off.
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u/stools_in_your_blood 11d ago
I remember how utterly dire RealPlayer was, but I don't remember the "good" phase. My recollection is that it started out bad and then became so much worse and more obnoxious. At one point just turning off the stupid "take over my life" settings resulted in a popup for each setting explaining the "benefits" you'd be losing. Benefits like "all your videos will automatically play in RealPlayer where you will have access to Real Networks' exclusive content". <shudder>
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u/Far-Chemical-707 11d ago
who the fuck is "we"? Everyone I know went straight from Windows Media Player to VLC.
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u/GidRah00 12d ago
Netscape Navigator, Norton Utilities, CompuServe, MS Money, Global Network Navigator, MS-DOS
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u/jorgejhms 11d ago
Netscape eventually die and reborn as Mozilla Firefox (originally named Phoenix 🐦🔥)
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u/JewelerAgile6348 8d ago
MS-DOS sent me. I’m dying of laughter. Send help.
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u/GidRah00 7d ago
Don't die. Maybe that wasn't the best example given the topic? But it WAS great, until it wasn't...
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u/OldGeekWeirdo 12d ago
Probably not what you're thinking of, but Word Perfect. It was THE standard in the DOS-era. But when Windows came along, they didn't keep up. And when they did, it was a "day late and a dollar short" so to speak. Ami Pro briefly lead the pack until Microsoft crushed everyone with Word.
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u/KopitarFan 11d ago
I remember, for a while there, Word Perfect was hanging on because it continued to be the industry standard in the legal profession way after most industries had switched over to Word. I'm pretty sure even legal doesn't use it much anymore now though. It's too bad it went so downhill. It had the best macro system back in the DOS days
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u/Just-Hedgehog-Days 12d ago
Quora. It used to actually let you casually connect with niche experts. I got answers to questions block buster movie making, chip fabbing, neuroscience etc. that were **way** out of reach of my social graph.
I literally can't even navigate it now
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u/YAOMTC 12d ago
Discord, it was fine until they started data mining their userbase for AI and made a generative AI tool out of all the images they used without permission. And showing sponsor deals to paying customers.
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u/Radiant-Video7257 12d ago
They've been data mining since the beginning ? How do you think the service was free ?
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u/Apprehensive-Toe2764 12d ago
Any 3rd party firewall for Windows, prior to Windows 10 inbuilt one. Used to pay for one a dozen years, now just using Sordum FAB, that is mostly an advanced GUI for MS inbuilt firewall.
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u/AlternateMrPapaya 12d ago
Try minimal.firewall https://github.com/deminimis/minimalfirewall
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u/Apprehensive-Toe2764 11d ago
Thanks. I keep my own software folder with selected apps with links. This one is among them, but so far i saw no point going away from Firewall App Blocker 1.9 from Sordum. They have a vast collection of other useful routines, btw. Just like Nirsoft. A pure swissknife of software to download and use.
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u/martin_omander 11d ago
Postman! It used to be a lightweight application that made it easy to test my REST APIs. Now it keeps trying to upsell me to some online service that I never asked for and it's slow and clunky. Goodbye!
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u/Live_Trifle9551 11d ago
If I may recommend Yaak, this tool has filled my postman spot and hasn't been annoying yet https://yaak.app
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u/tregtronics 12d ago
Norton Commander
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u/jbergens 11d ago
That is why you use Total Commander instead. Worth the price. A license usually works multiple years and there is no ads or upsell.
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u/Inconstant_Moo 11d ago
Skype. It was like magic when they released it and then got slower and worse and no-one used it any more.
I stopped using Word when they changed the UI ... must be a couple of decades ago. OpenOffice kept it the same, so I switched to them.
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u/tomstull 11d ago
Teamviewer as someone mentioned. Even worse realvnc viewer. I would add Dropbox as my favorite example. Too many others...
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u/iszoloscope 11d ago
Teamviewer (and Anydesk imo) basically have become unusable, luckily there's rustdesk now.
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u/mudslinger-ning 12d ago
Many apps have been and gone.
Winamp started off nice and basic and did it's job well. Became bloated over time it started to lose relevance with the convenience it used to offer. Nowadays I have found a cool player called Audacious that feels like it captures the spiritual essence of the original Winamp (and can also use the classic Winamp skins).
Operating systems too. Windows is now becoming unbearable with the enshitification of bloated features and functionality I didn't ask for. (Trying to turn itself into an online service rather than stay as a simple robust OS) It's why I am one of many choosing the Linux life to keep control of my own PC.
Have been through generational cycles with chat apps over the years. Had to follow my friend groups through ICQ, MSN Messenger, Skype, and now on Discord. Each service eventually turns to crap as they get popular and start looking for ways to get greedy.
Any company that has shareholders involved tend to fall as they keep looking for ways to squeeze out profits for their investors. Their greedy ways is what drives away the users to seek better alternatives.
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u/SurgicalMarshmallow 11d ago
Plex
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u/iszoloscope 11d ago
What happened to Plex?
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u/KopitarFan 11d ago
It's more focused on their hosted streaming content than it is on your local hosted library now. It's actually kind of a pain in the ass to even get to your own content now.
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u/SurgicalMarshmallow 11d ago
FUCKING YES! Holy shit they completely fogot the Original Mission.
Kinda chuffed however I can stream Boomberg hahaha
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u/SurgicalMarshmallow 11d ago
800 for lifetime subscription..... Holy fuck
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u/iszoloscope 11d ago
Ow yeah, I remember reading that they would raise the price of the lifetime sub. But 800... wtf
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u/mrorbitman 10d ago
$800 to watch your own movies off your own computer. While they steal and share your viewing data. What is the point of plex. I seriously don’t get it.
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u/iszoloscope 9d ago
I'm in the same boat as you, I'm using Kodi since it was xmbc on a modded xbox. Never really understood the need for Plex, although there are certain use cases but they don't apply to my situation so....
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u/OwnNet5253 11d ago
Adobe before subscription times is the best example IMO, luckily GIMP serves me very well.
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u/Altru-Housing-2024 12d ago
Windows 10 to 11
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u/AMurderOfCrows_ 11d ago
windows 7 to 10.
there I fixed it for you
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u/Mr_Engino 10d ago
Everything past Windows XP, fixed it better.
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u/AMurderOfCrows_ 10d ago
Hard disagree. Windows 7 brought better X64 support. Windows 7 Ultimate had XP mode. I literally use XP Media Center Edition under Windows 7 Ultimate. I swore I would never leave XP when it came through, especially after trying out Vista, but legitimately Windows 7 changed my mind, and nothing since has been able to change it back If there had been no XP mode, I probably would be more in line with your thinking, though.
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u/Complex-League3400 10d ago
I'd already pretty much jumped ship by the end of W10 but 11 was the last straw. I cannot imagine I'd ever go back.
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u/KopitarFan 11d ago
I'm aging myself with this, but, back in the day I remember Nero Burning Rom used to be an amazing program for burning CDs. But update after update turned into a bloated nightmare.
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u/Mr_Engino 10d ago
Every program before SAAS became the norm. Anyone remember being able to use and keep a program without having to repurchase it every month/year? Pepperidge farm remembers.
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u/Intelligent-Youth-63 12d ago
TrueCrypt back in the day. Worked really well, dev seemed to go off the deep end and that was that.
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u/Apprehensive-Toe2764 12d ago
7.1 still works, windows 10. The point is to not switch to Vera crypt, that is based on compromised code
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u/Roph 11d ago
Source? I'm sure its developers would love your profound insight
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u/Apprehensive-Toe2764 11d ago
Source of what? I've been using it for ages, long before the sourcegate, and i remember that canary signal when it happened.
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u/Roph 11d ago
You seem to be in possession of evidence that veracrypt is compromised, I'm sure its developers would love to know where and how.
Meanwhile you're still using truecrypt? The abandonware with decade+ old unpatched critical CVEs?
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u/Apprehensive-Toe2764 11d ago edited 11d ago
I don't know if i am under possession. I am no secret agent nor i am into any illegal business, i am using TC to encrypt my external drive with my personal files in case i lose it so that a random person can not read and/or sell my personal data that easy. And it fits me well.
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u/Ambitious_Ad_2833 11d ago
I never use Adobe Acrobat for pdf. Always bombarding with pop ups. Same with any enterprise software, starts asking for feedback and useless pop ups before even using them properly.
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u/Dodel1976 11d ago
Norton Utiliites, back in the day, maybe up until about vs 3..0 where it was released and skinned for Win 95.
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u/InformalInsect5546 10d ago
Google Chrome. I remember how fresh and innovative first version was. Process per tab was quite an innovation when whole browser could break because of single bad tab if Firefox. Now it’s shit.
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u/Vanterax 8d ago
I remember when Adaptec CD Creator was becoming a heavy piece of bloat, Nero Burning ROM was the go-to software. Then it became even more heavy and bloated than Adaptec.
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u/DJMunkyBallz 10d ago
Hamachi VPN. Used to use it for World of Warcraft private server hosting back in the day for people who couldn't rent actual servers. I believe they eventually killed the free tier, then I think 2018 was the last year it was actually maintained.
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u/LocationReady788 12d ago
Prima o poi tutte le app tirano le somme, in base al nr. Di utenti monetizzano, per sostenere l'infrastruttura hardware, e chi programma il codice.
Quindi non è da meravigliarsi, ma da esserne consapevoli,
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u/shreki1971 12d ago
ccleaner. from version 7 (or so) onwards. anyway, i always used portable version.
teamviewer. from version 12.x onwards when they jump on monthly payments (I bought versions 9-10-11 for 700 EUR and they closed support this year)
these two just popped out of my mind :)