New software doesn’t always mean better software

[bamalli]

New software doesn't always mean better software


When a software company releases a new version of a product in theory, the product is supposed to improve. Ideally, the software becomes faster, easier to use, and maybe includes a few features that make it more useful along the way.

More often than not, what happens is that a once useful program becomes a bloated mess. Rather than fixing old bugs, the new version adds bugs and leaves ones that were from a previous version unaddressed. The new version runs more slowly, takes more resources, and occasionally the interface changes making it impossible to remember where common commands are stored.

Plus, there's always the issue with feature creep. In order to justify charging for a new feature, a vendor will add in all sorts of new features, the vast majority of which will never be used by anyone. But they look really good on the press release and in the product spec sheet if nothing else.

Going backwardsIn many cases you can avoid the hassles by not upgrading altogether. If you've made the mistake of doing an upgrade, you can always try uninstalling the old version and reinstalling a previous version.  This, of course, is usually only useful where you have the original CDs.

In the cases where you've downloaded the software, the complications increase. Many times when a vendor revs software that's available only for download, they'll take the previous version off of their Web site. Unless you still have the original installation program, you're out of luck.

For such a situation, you might try Oldversion.com. This site serves as a repository for previous versions of many software packages like Reader, RealPlayer, AIM, and others. It's a pretty good place to start when you want to downgrade to a previous version.

Remember however, that downgrading to a previous version can cause problems on its own. Along with all of the other junk that can be introduced into new versions, security patches may be added as well. By downgrading to an old version, you may be opening yourself up to these now-unpatched vulnerabilities. So, way the costs and benefits before downgrading.

[HUSNAA]

You are very correct about the hype surrounding software upgrades. I remember when I started using ERMapper version 6.1 or 6.2, the very next yr, an upgrade was released and as my university always renews its software licences every year, we got the new upgrades. When the vendors shipped the software itself, they didnt bother to change the manuals at all. They shipped the manual of the previous software with nothing added, which went to show that there was NOTHING new added to the software, and I still have never used more than ten functions for the whole software and now the company has been acquired by Leica geosystems  makers of ERDAS Imagine and I have switched to a different software altogether.

[gogannaka]

Remote sensing Husnaa. No wonder you're such an environmentalist  :D
The course i so much wanted to study.

What do you actually do?I liked the name so much.