Quote:
Originally Posted by kacir
It is inconsistent with the operating system, it is radically different from all other pieces of software.
The first time I used it, it took me a very long time to figure out how to jump out of the book, how to add book into the reader, how to do lots of little things ...
I have no such problems with other programs. I use FreeBSD, Linux, Windows (all previous versions). I have used QNX, BeOS, I have played with OpenSolaris, several Unixes, and of course Mac OSX, yet I can not remember feeling so frustrated with software. I am an alpha geek and I usually enjoy playing with and discovering cool features in unusual pieces of software. I occasionally teach windows, AutoCAD, various office products, special SCADA-HMI software. As a part of my job I design user interfaces for SCADA-HMI programs used in operator rooms to run factory.
With inconsistency I mean
- when the program is maximized and the TaskBar in Windows is in "Auto hide" mode, the task bar is not shown when I go down with the mouse pointer. I have never had such problem with other SW. I find this extremely annoying due to my preferred workflow.
- Drag & Drop from other programs (Explorer, Total commander) does not work.
- Drag & Drop inside the Sony Library program does not work in some places, and works in unpredictable ways in other places.
- I can not save the book to the disk (I mean save under name I chose in the directory I select). I have "purchased" a book (with the $0 pricetag) on a windows computer at work and I wanted to take it home on an USB stick. I had to play a detective and it took me lots of effort to find a book on disk (file with meaningless cryptic name in a funny directory created automatically by Sony Software) and copy it on USB stick
- The color scheme is different than in the rest of the system. What if the user needs a high contrast color scheme?
- there are lots of little things that I can not remember from the top of my head, because I use Sony Library very seldom and it is impossible to install it under Wine here on Mint Linux.
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Uh . . . WOW . . . OK.
I think I get it. You're an alpha geek power user who runs a variety of really cool, sophisticated and specialized software on a variety of different, really cool, sophisticated and possibly specialized operating systems, and you design UIs for specialized programs for use in operator rooms to run a (probably really cool, sophisticated and specialized) factory, and you prefer to "auto hide" your Windows TaskBar while you work.
To address the inconsistencies you found the software to have: Well, I really don't know. I've never had a problem with any of those items you mentioned. Drag & Drop, downloading, importing and finding books works fine for me. I don't find the color scheme to be any problem at all.
You said the Sony Library was impossible to install under Wine and Mint Linux. I was able to install it just fine on my common Windows XP and Windows Vista systems, just like it says in the Reader Specs documentation. I don't remember reading that Wine, or Mint Linux was a recommended or compatible OS for the software though, so I can't comment on that.
Maybe that's it in a nutshell . . . Sony didn't design the software for power-users who want it, and expect it, to do much more for them, on operating systems that the average John and Jane Doe don't have (and many have never heard of) in their homes. I guess they were trying to make it as simple as possible for the average individual, whether technically-challenged or advanced, to use with its Reader. And in that respect it's adequate enough for me, my 76 year old aunt and my 62 year old sister, all of whom have varying degrees of computer ability and know-how, mostly on the low-end of the scale, if not totally inept compared to your prowess in the field.
I guess it boils down to the expectations we have of things.
And that's why Kovid and his Calibre are so special (and others like him.) He, and it, provide the tools for average people like me to crawl out from under our rocks (so to speak), advance through each stage of learning using these wonderful tools and programs to do more and more great things with our ebooks.
But even Calibre will never make my coffee in the morning, so I remain not expecting too much from a software that never promised me a rose garden in the first place.
