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What annoys you to no end?
Josh:
Subscription-ware is different than pay per version, I hope anyways. Subscriptions do annoy me. Paying for upgrades does not so much because you are alerted to this on most websites.
Trillian offers the subscription method which, in my opinion, is STUPID for an instant messenger program. antiviruses make sense and I think ESET got it right in that they provide a/v definitions AND program updates through their subscription.
40hz:
NPR & PBS Fundraisers. :down:
Look, I know they depend on contributions. (And I do contribute BTW.) But these constant "mini-drives" and program "hostage-taking" tactics are just flat-out infuriating. Especially when a segment isn't getting the numbers they're looking for and the announcers start getting a little confrontational with their tone and their comments.
And it's especially annoying to listen to yet another fundraiser (in February, March, and June!!!) when you already contributed during what was called the "annual drive" back in January.
I know a bunch of people who have since stopped supporting NPR and PBS because they got sick and tired of the constant begging and program disruptions.
I long for the good old days when they did a single (month-long) annual fundraiser. :Thmbsup:
Just my 2ยข
Innuendo:
Josh, I have no problem paying per version, but having my time ticked off on a calendar before a program shuts down chaps my cheeks. :)
PBS is in trouble. Back in the days before cable they filled a niche, but their niche has been over-run by the Discovery & History Channels and others like them. NPR stopped being relevant when all of their broadcasting was overcast with a "We're going to teach you the right things to think in order to be a 'properly' enlightened person."
I haven't listened to NPR in years...and haven't watched PBS in *decades*.
Josh:
But does your program really stop working after that time? Most of what I have seen is that the program stops receiving whatever the subscription gets you but it works still.
40hz:
PBS is in trouble. Back in the days before cable they filled a niche, but their niche has been over-run by the Discovery & History Channels and others like them. NPR stopped being relevant when all of their broadcasting was overcast with a "We're going to teach you the right things to think in order to be a 'properly' enlightened person."
I haven't listened to NPR in years...and haven't watched PBS in *decades*.
-Innuendo (June 07, 2009, 01:45 PM)
--- End quote ---
Actually, I think they're in trouble more beause they abandoned their high quality and standards in order to become what they believed would be "more appealing to a younger audience." Not only did that attitude alienate their old viewers, it also insulted their so-called younger audience by implying they were either too stupid or immature to appreciate and understand the original goals of public broadcasting.
As far as History and all the other edu-channels stealing PBS's thunder is concerned, I think that's just an excuse. The cable "smart channels" might have been a threat when they first came out. But not any more. There's as much (or more) pseudo-science (ghost hunting, crypto-zoology, UFO conspiracy theories, "ancient" prophesies, etc.) programs as there are real history and scientific shows. And while Top Gear may be a pretty cool show, I still wonder why my cable provider is running it on the Discovery Channel.
PBS's problem is that their shows are simply not as good as they used to be. Even such perennial favorites as Nova have become spotty at best. And with the exception of a few specials, most of the news "reporting" is about as in-depth as a CNN "Special Report." And the same goes for NPR.
BTW: I never got the impression NPR was ever in the habit of telling you what to think. The only time I ever heard that advanced was as a "talking point" by the emerging neo-conservative movement back in the Regan Era, who succeeded in getting virtually all government support pulled from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for such "controversial and inflammatory" programs as Death of a Princess. But to each their own, I suppose. Some people see other people who ask difficult questions as a threat rather than an opportunity.
:)
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