tx

After following the web sphere for a while I've grown a little bored of web sites: seriously, how many slightly different ways of "discover and share from anywhere!" can there be? Perhaps I'm not a typical Internet user: I have no issues with "finding relevant content", my email is not "overloaded" and I find it trivially easy to stay in touch with people I care about. Even downloading free music isn't that hard. I open about one or two accounts on various web sites every week but never use anything except for google services and a couple of forums (including this one). When I forget my password, or even feel lazy to deal with a login form, I usually move on.

But I do have computer-related problems that need solutions and web sites won't help. For instance I do a lot of photo/imaging work and RAW converters along with Adobe's monopoly in image processing is frustrating. I also haven't found a backup program that my friends could use without my help. Online "equivalents" of these two problems only make me think "are you serious?" I also always wanted to have a magical CD, that can, with a click of a button, convert a brand new Dell or HP computer into NORMAL tool, not infected by intrusive shitware beyond recognition.

Look at a typical non-technical user running Windows: the bastard is ALWAYS in some kind of pain: I get phone calls regarding some kind of computer problem all the time. People at large fight with their computers on a regular basis, isn't that a problem worth solving?

What I am seeing is that a whole class of real, everyday problems is being completely ignored and most of the development moved on to building online time wasters in pursuit of a piece of advertisement money. But what is happening around me is this: after wasting half day on reddits, youtubes and diggs, people just moan and get back to work - muscling their way through current crop of desktop software. This is why Apple kicks so much ass if you can afford it. But even Apple software often feels like a bare minimum they had to provide in order to avoid being just a browser launcher.

Am I the only one who feels that innovators got chased off desktop by Microsoft a long time ago and they never went back?

Is there some kind of software that you want?