Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Top 10 Disappointing Technologies

Posted by timothy on from the top-10-lists-are-a-disappointing-technology dept.

Slatterz writes "Every once in a while, a product comes along that everyone from the executives to the analysts to even the crusty old reporters thinks will change the IT world. Sadly, they are often misguided. This article lists some of the top ten technology disappointments that failed to change the world, from the ludicrously priced Apple Lisa, to voice recognition, to Intel's ill-fated Itanium chip, and virtual reality, this article lists some of the top ten technology disappointments that failed to change the world." But wait! Don't give up too quickly on the Itanium, says the Register.

18 of 682 comments (clear)

  1. What about the CueCat?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I've got some barcodes that need scanning!

    1. Re:What about the CueCat?! by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Funny

      No, CueCat doesn't apply. You can only be disappointed by things for which you had some hope.

    2. Re:What about the CueCat?! by Bowling+Moses · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Now if I could just find a use for all those damn AOL CDs in the attic."

      CD FIGHT!!! Seriously it's a lot of fun as long as nobody minds a few scratches. Back, oh god, 10 years ago a friend of mine interned at Microsoft and was on their developer network. If Microsoft made a CD for distribution anywhere in the world, any version, he got it. He had 300+ by year's end. We had about 15 guys in the dorm hucking CD's down the hall and stairwells. Everybody still had the correct number of eyes and nobody needed stitches, just a couple bandaids. And what else are you going to do with Windows 98 OSR 50.2.4.6.A-4 in Swahili?

    3. Re:What about the CueCat?! by DECS · · Score: 3, Funny

      I guess it can't stop you from typing, but at least it will prevent you from talking.

    4. Re:What about the CueCat?! by jimicus · · Score: 2, Funny

      And what else are you going to do with Windows 98 OSR 50.2.4.6.A-4 in Swahili?

      Mbaya kopo tafadhali nataka baridi ita daktari.

  2. Just as disappointing as... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    This first post!

    1. Re:Just as disappointing as... by interkin3tic · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yes, first post technology never really panned out. It is sometimes funny as a second post though, but the joke really is on the AC there.

  3. Re:Macintosh was not a replacement for Lisa by mfnickster · · Score: 3, Funny

    Flamebait!? How? This is documented on Folklore.org among other places.

    Fucking crackhead mods, you're ruining Slashdot!

    I'm going back to posting anonymously. :P

    --
    "Slow down, Cowboy! It has been 3 years, 7 months and 26 days since you last successfully posted a comment."
  4. Number 1, without a doubt by Bitflicker · · Score: 2, Funny
    It's DLLs, hands down. I remember very clearly when they first erupted onto the scene, like something oozing from an immense, infected sore. The pundits were all agog over how DLLs would lets us customize every little part of Windows with third-party snap-in modules. Their favorite example was a universal search and replace dialog and engine.

    Of course, these ninnies had no idea what they were talking about, and they didn't know enough about programming to tell the difference between a documented API and the semantics of that level of communication between pieces of software.

    Instead of the promised wonderland, we were lured into a dark alley where Microsoft beat us with a sock full of kruegerrands and then proceeded to do all manner of horrible, system destabilizing things to us.

    Oh, the binary horror...

  5. Re:I stopped reading... by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 5, Funny

    But did anyone promise that ubuntu would kill off MS or something?

    Ubuntu pretty much considers the fact that MS hasn't been killed off, or at least humbled, to be a bug.

    Promise? No, but they're trying.

    --
    Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
  6. Uh, what about the SEGWAY???? by Xonstantine · · Score: 5, Funny

    Talk about the most ridiculously overhyped invention in recent memory...for a damn scooter.

  7. my friend... by CAIMLAS · · Score: 5, Funny

    My friend, Duke, just read the article, and man is he pissed.

    --
    ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
  8. If only this had come out in a month from now! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Then it could have included Wolfram Alpha.

  9. If Sony executives had wrote this list by nausea_malvarma · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...it would have included the Internet, since nothing good ever came out of it. Period.

  10. Wolfram Alpha? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Too soon?

  11. Re:I stopped reading... by siddesu · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Has Ubuntu saved the unwashed masses from the evil empire yet?"

    The unwashed masses have been saved from the evil long time ago.

    It is the people that wash that are still enslaved.

  12. Re:I stopped reading... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I don't want to nitpick but KIA went bankrupt...

    "
    However, Kia's bankruptcy in 1997, part of the Asian financial crisis, resulted in the company being acquired in 1998 by South Korean rival Hyundai Motor Company, outbidding Ford Motor Company which had owned an interest in Kia Motors since 1986
    "

  13. Re:Failed Technologies: All RISC Chips by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    SPARC is very much alive, Sun has repeatedly claimed that SPARC is their majority seller.