Pressured to keep "innovating", there are many software-makers that release versions which, to be honest, just plain suck. They sucked so bad in fact that this is why sites like OldVersion and OldApps exist.
Here are 3 software titles where the newer version is worse than the older, and why:
Skype
The makers of Skype ticked off not only Windows users but also Mac users with its latest version of the software. On Windows specifically, the software can easily balloon up to 500,000K of in-memory use just by sitting in the tray, whereas version 4.2 uses only 36,000K.
Mozilla Thunderbird
Thunderbird has been going from bad to worse ever since the introduction of version 5. Thunderbird 6 is the current version and it still doesn’t do Windows Aero right. In addition it continues to bloat up like it’s stuffing cheeseburgers in itself like it’s going out of style.
Old Thunderbird 2: ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/releases/latest-2.0
Old Thunderbird 3.1: ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/releases/latest-3.1
mIRC
This software fortunately is still relatively trim for what it is, however what also happened is that it became very slow to launch with the introduction of version 7. Why? This is a chat client. It’s just text! Can’t imagine text being slow? In mIRC 7 it is.
What older titles work better for you?
Post your comment below of any older software that works better for you, and why you use it. Be sure to list the platform (i.e. Windows, Mac or Linux) and the version number!
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i ditched mIRC 7 for Xchat, have found it to be alot quicker and use less memory.
i still use macromedia fireworks8/flash8/dreamweaver8 because the macromedia versions use less resources than the Adobe versions, and as i dont do anything to advanced i can still get everything done. plus the interface is different so it saves me from learning a new interface
Cheat Engine! I used to be able to get through HARD games on the Internet with an Older version of Cheat Engine, but NOW, there are TOO many options to be able to find the right one!
Omnipage 15 recognizes my multifunction device as a scanner and printer. Version 18 would allow me to run through the tests, apparently successfully, when “setting up” my scanner, but when I went to actually scan something, it said I did not have any scanner attached and to run the scanner setup (which I had just done, and had done over and over). Their tech support took a couple o days to respond by email and told me they were bumping the case up a level. Over a week later I received a reply to try the latest software update. By then, I had already returned the software and received my refund. This was a definite regression. Another one of their products also recognized my scanner correctly.
Donald
Ubuntu Linux version 11 is unusable to me. I went to a -lot- of trouble to switch back to 10.04. The GUI stinks on version 11. I won’t upgrade again until they drop that horrible desktop.
Ubuntu Linux version 11 is unusable to me. I went to a -lot- of trouble to switch back to 10.04. The GUI stinks on version 11. I won’t upgrade again until they drop that horrible desktop.
You can switch to LXDE, I did this. Or install Xubuntu-theme.
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Bio Products
For me it’s Acrobat 6 Professional. I’ve never left it. Had no reason to. Then when the office bought a new departmental scanner, it came with Acrobat 9. I made the mistake of installing it. They took the concept of the FULL Professional Acrobat and DUMBED it down to a READER interface.
Note to programmers: Professionals USE the Professional Version for a REASON. We Learned the Interface and we need to see the relevant control menus in the SAME PLACE we always expect them to be. Professionals have COMPLEX Scanner needs– so don’t simplify scanner controls down to kid-birthday-photo levels. Grandma’s and Girlfriends use READER because that’s all they need.
My other mention is WordPerfect 6– Yes the DOS version. I have it running in XP full screen (Which the last OS it’ll run in) WordPerfect 6 is the true Word-Processing Professional’s tool for a writer. It doesn’t try to anticipate or autocorrect or auto-bullet or auto-scheme or auto-font-change or auto-anything. All that functionality is there–if and when the User wants it and ONLY when the User wants it. Microsoft Word is too much of a helpful busybody when all I want is a program that just behaves like a typewriter.
Microsoft Office. Can’t stand the ribbons – all I want is my customizable button bar!!
Why doo they always claim these horrible changes are to make the programs “more user-friendly” – when all it does is make everybody who has ever used the program go scrambling to find how to do the simple things that used to be so easy and obvious!
Any Firefox version before these last 2 versions.. When you use a few tabs the browser crashes..